Dallas Feds Pinch Four For Allegedly Ripping Off Dozens Of Distressed Homeowners With Phony Promises Of Financial Assistance (ie. Bogus Short Sale/Leasebacks, Fake Loan Closings, Abuse Of Bankruptcy Process To Stall Foreclosures)

In Dallas, Texas, the Star-Telegram reports:

• Four Texans are accused of fraud in a federal indictment that alleges that they scammed at least 70 distressed homeowners with false promises of a new loan.
  
  The four defendants — Mark Demetri Stein, 36, of Carrollton, Richard Bruce Stevens, 51, of San Antonio, Bruce Kevin Hawkins, 52, of Desoto, and Christina Renee Caveny, 37, of Dallas — each face charges of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and five counts of mail fraud, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
  
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  The conspirators told homeowners they would use investors to purchase the homeowner’s loan from the original lender at a greatly reduced price through a short sale process, the indictment alleged.
  
  As part of the scheme, the conspirators required homeowners to start making all future loan payments to them and to ignore late payment notices sent by lenders. The conspirators also conducted fake closings for each homeowner where they caused the homeowner to pay them a large down payment on the new loan, the release said.
  
  The defendants then told the homeowners that they could sell their property back to the homeowner with another new loan, even though the conspirators knew they did not legally own the property, according to the release.
  
  The accused told homeowners to ignore notices of nonpayment from their present lender as they continued to unlawfully collect monthly mortgage payments and instructed several homeowners to file for bankruptcy and not follow up with the bankruptcy process to delay foreclosure and conceal the criminal conduct by the defendants, the release said.

For more, see Four Texans indicted in scheme to defraud distressed homeowners.