"Queen" Of Alleged "Happy Greek" Cash Back Mortgage Fraud Operation Charged By Cops

In Delaware County, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:

• A Columbus restaurant owner has been charged with running a multimillion-dollar mortgage-fraud ring that prosecutors say operated with help from dishonest appraisers and unethical, or ill-informed, brokers. Powell police officers arrested Gihan "Gigi" Zalat, 40, of Columbus, on Friday at the Happy Greek restaurant at 1552 N. High St.[...] which she co-owns with her husband. Zalat is charged with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and is being held in the Delaware County jail under a $1 million bond. Assistant Prosecutor Bill Owen described Zalat as "the queen" of a mortgage-fraud ring and said investigators have linked her to six illegal transactions in Delaware County.

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• In each case, the homes were grossly overappraised by "less-than-honest appraisers" and financed by lending institutions, Owen said. But because of the over-appraised value of the homes, thousands of dollars were kicked back to the buyers after they purchased the home under the guise of home-improvement money. Many of the properties were bought with no money down, and the homes remained vacant.

For more, see Arrest made in fraud ring (Columbus restaurateur charged in mortgage scam).

For story update, see Pair face 14 counts in mortgage-fraud case (2-22-08).

For an earlier post on this alleged fraud operation, see The "Happy Greek" Restaurant - Home Of The $5.50 Gyro Sandwich (and "Cash Back" Mortgage Fraud Operation?).