“Operation Malicious Mortgage" Takes Down Six In Alleged $8.5M Seattle-Area Flipping Scam

In Seattle, Washington, the Snoqualmie Valley Record reports:

• [N]orth Bend man [Isaac Palmer, 42,] has been indicted on charges of wire fraud for allegedly participating in an $8.5 million mortgage fraud scheme. [...] Palmer is accused of conspiring with other Seattle-area defendants(1) to defraud financial institutions while “flipping” dozens of houses in 2004 and 2005.

• According to the United States Attorney’s Office, the conspiracy involved buying homes, then flipping them at inflated prices to “straw buyers,” who were recruited to pretend to buy the houses as their residences. The conspirators allegedly falsified documents to secure the loans, then split the money from the fraudulent mortgages. The straw buyers defaulted on the loans, and the homes were foreclosed, resulting in big losses for lenders.

For more, see North Bend man among 6 named in $8.5M mortgage fraud scheme.

(1) Other defendants in Palmer’s case include Brandt and William Anderson, 47, of Bellevue, Mustafa “Marc” Khosraw, 46, of Sammamish, Kristyn Jupiter Moss, 38, of Tacoma and Zachary Joseph Namie, 30, of Seattle.