Fresno Feds: Duo Pocketed Bank Loan Proceeds While Simultaneously Conning High-Equity Elderly Home Sellers Into Owner Finance, Equity Stripping Ripoff

In Fresno, California, The Sacramento Bee reports:

• The founder and longtime owner of Century 21 Apollo real estate was arrested Friday and charged with defrauding banks and elderly homeowners of more than $10 million. Jim Lankford, 71, and his roommate, Jon McDade, 46, bilked seniors and lenders for 11 years, according to a federal grand jury indictment [].

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• Authorities say the men targeted seniors who owned homes free and clear and ran schemes that enriched the two with multiple loans on each property. Some homes were sold in short sales with Lankford's firm reaping commissions or lost to foreclosure, the indictment says.

• "Lending institutions did not know the loans they were extending were going to purchase property for which there was seller-backed financing, and sellers who agreed to finance the purchases did not know that the defendants had [simultaneously] obtained loans from lending institutions to purchase the properties," the document reads.

• In some cases, Lankford filed deeds with forged signatures or deceived elderly owners into signing away their homes "by telling them it had another legal purpose," authorities allege.

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• Authorities previously said Lankford was the mastermind behind erasing a $22,400 loan by filing a document in 1999 -- "signed" by a woman who had died in 1995. He faced six felony charges, but a judge threw them out because investigators discovered the alleged crime after the statute of limitations had expired.

For the story, see Feds indict Modesto men in real estate scheme.

For the U.S. Attorney (Sacramento/Fresno) press release, see Modesto Century 21-Apollo Realty Owner Charged With Defrauding Elderly Homeowners ($10 Million in Losses Alleged):

• The indictment alleges that the defendants would divert the proceeds of the mortgage loan to themselves, and would lull the elderly property owners by mailing them monthly interest-only payments.

For the indictment, see U.S. v. Lankford, et ano.