Queens County District Attorney Scores $100K In Federal Cash To Fight Deed & Mortgage Scams

In Kew Gardens, Queens, The Queens Gazette reports:

• With the mortgage meltdown still victimizing hundreds of thousands of helpless homeowners, Congressmember Anthony Weiner (D–Queens/Brooklyn) last week presented Queens DA Richard Brown with a $100,000 federal grant to continue the battle against mortgage fraud.

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• “With a combination of high property values and vulnerable elderly and immigrant populations, Queens is especially at risk for mortgage fraud. We need to do everything we can to stop this growing epidemic, and these funds will help us in this ongoing battle,” Weiner said.

• Brown also cited elderly homeowners, “whose properties go from being owned free and clear to being sold out from under them”. The DA added that while we have made some headway in prosecuting these cases, the problem is just too large to be addressed sufficiently with our current resources.

The following are among the mortgage fraud cases that have occurred, according to Brown:

• Hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from a 93-year-old Queens man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease by a man who fraudulently refinanced a property that he owned in Bayside to steal its equity,

• A St. Albans man convicted of stealing the identity of a 68-year-old Jamaica, Queens man who had been disabled as a result of a stroke and secretly selling his house out from under him and pocketing the profits,

• A Texas man was charged with allegedly using a fraudulent power of attorney to transfer his elderly aunt’s Corona house to himself and taking two mortgages out on the property,

• Two attorneys charged with selling the house out from under a Rosedale woman who was experiencing financial difficulties by engaging in an elaborate real estate foreclosure bailout scheme,

• A Far Rockaway woman charged with allegedly forging the signature of her stepfather in an effort to transfer his house to herself,

• The indictment of five individuals in connection with an approximately $2 million mortgage fraud scheme in which stolen identities were allegedly used to buy and sell three properties in Queens,

• A Brooklyn man convicted in connection with the fraudulent sale of the Cambria Heights home of a retired New York City correction officer suffering from dementia.

Any Queens residents who feel that they may be a victim of or are aware of mortgage fraud should contact his office’s Economic Crimes Bureau at 718-286-6673.

For the story, see DA Brown Gets $100 G Grant From Weiner To Fight Mortgage Fraud.

For the Queens DA press release, see Queens District Attorney's Office Receives $100,000 Federal Grant To Combat Mortgage Fraud (Federal Funds Obtained by Congressman Anthony Weiner Will Enhance Office’s Efforts).