N. Virginia Code Enforcement Investigators Stumble Into Massive Straw Buyer Scam That Leads Feds To Bag 20 Suspects; As Many As 200 Homes Involved

In Fairfax County, Virginia, the Daily Press reports:

• Mundane complaints about noise and parking problems in a Washington suburb led authorities to uncover a sweeping mortgage fraud scheme involving as many as 200 properties valued at more than $100 million, officials announced Thursday. Twenty northern Virginia residents were arrested, and authorities have warrants for four other people in what they said was just the first phase of the case, related to 35 houses. Most of those arrested are facing federal charges including wire and mail fraud. Eight of the 20 were arrested on state charges of using false statements to obtain property or credit.(1) Fairfax County Police and federal officials said real estate agents and mortgage brokers used straw buyers with good credit ratings and low income to fraudulently obtain loans they would never have qualified for. Properties were sold and resold within the alleged ring.

For more, see 20 arrested in Fairfax mortgage fraud bust.

See also, The Washington Post: Family Charged In Loan Fraud (Va. 'McMansions' Allegedly Became Boardinghouses):

• The safety hazards of these new boardinghouses prompted Fairfax County to launch a Code Enforcement Strike Team in 2007. Deeper investigation uncovered the biggest mortgage fraud scheme in Fairfax history, officials said Thursday, and squads of officers arrested 20 people involved in allegedly cheating local banks out of more than $9 million.

(1) According to the story, the federal indictment states that real estate agents Ruben Rojas, 30, and his sister-in-law, Litcia Linares, 32, organized the fraudulent transactions, along with Rojas' sister, 28-year-old Lourdes Rojas Almanza, a loan officer, and his brother, Jaime Rojas. The other people charged in the scheme were straw buyers, many of whom bought multiple properties.