Feds Left Holding The Bag On Home Seized From Alleged Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Operator

The Huntington Homes blog at The Orange County Register reports:

• It sounds odd. The home in foreclosure for $3,589,000 at 3281 Bounty Circle in Huntington Harbour is owned by …. Uncle Sam? It’s true. Here’s how it happened:

• When Edward Seung Ok pleaded guilty to his part in a $12 million mortgage fraud ring, the feds took his fancy house, [...] as part of the deal. There was some equity when the case began, but eventually, between the drop in the real estate market and Ok’s failure to make his mortgage payments on the house, the equity disappeared, says Steve Welk, assistant U.S. attorney and asset forfeiture chief.

• “When we go after real property, people usually stop paying their mortgage,” Welk says. “What we do in those situations is we allow the lender to foreclose and we come back in only if there’s money left over.”

For more, see Guess who got left with a $3.59 million foreclosure?

In a related story, see From a harbor-view home to a jail cell.

Go here for earlier posts and any available updates on the alleged $12 million equity stripping scam.