Florida "Closes The Barn Door" - Passes Emergency Rule To Reduce Convicted Financial Criminals In Mortgage Origination Business

In Tallahassee, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Cabinet on Tuesday barred white-collar convicts jailed for financial crimes from becoming mortgage brokers in Florida, imposing the state's toughest-ever rules in reaction to a scandal over lax licensing standards that allowed criminals to sell home loans. Also, Office of Financial Regulation chief Don Saxon, the state's top mortgage regulator, resigned under pressure from Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Crist.

• Amid Florida's recent real estate boom, more than 10,000 mortgage brokers and loan peddlers were allowed to sell home loans despite having criminal records that included convictions for bank robbery and drug trafficking, according to a recent Miami Herald investigation. The newspaper found some of those brokers bilked consumers for millions of dollars, while state regulators did nothing.

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• Anyone convicted of a violent crime, including murder, rape and armed robbery, will have to wait 15 years from their conviction date to be eligible for such a license. And a five-year wait will now apply to people convicted of misdemeanors involving fraud, dishonest dealing or "moral turpitude."

For more, see Crist, cabinet bar convicts jailed for financial crimes from selling mortgages (Rules bar convicts from selling loans).

Go here for summary & text of the newly-created emergency rules.