Miami-Area Mortgage Broker Caught In Cops' Crosshairs

In Homestead, Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• After years of writing millions of dollars in mortgages based on bogus information, Homestead broker Yvette Valdes is under investigation by the county's fraud task force. Miami-Dade detectives said they will start examining Valdes' records, a day after The Miami Herald revealed she was a key figure in the network of a New York lender convicted in a massive, mortgage-fraud scheme.

• While at least eight in the Tampa area have been convicted in the case, Valdes still sells loans from a storefront office [...].

• Police are expected to examine more than 100 mortgages that Valdes and co-workers wrote at Sandkick Mortgage between May 2004 and September 2005. The newspaper found the documents are rife with red flags: non-existent employers, grossly inflated salaries and sudden increases in the borrower's net worth.

For more, see Police probe loan broker's actions (Miami-Dade police are investigating Homestead mortgage broker Yvette Valdes, a key figure in the network of a New York banker convicted in a mortgage-fraud scheme).