< Back to front page Text size +

Feds look into mortgage fraud

Posted by Stacey Myers  October 16, 2008 11:36 AM
  • Facebook
  • E-mail
  • E-mail this article

    Invalid E-mail address
    Invalid E-mail address

    Sending your article

    Your article has been sent.

E-mail this article

Invalid email address
Invalid email address

Sending your article

Your article has been sent.

Federal officials have started 151 criminal mortgage fraud cases since last October, according to a
New York Times story.

That number comes from a review by researchers at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, who looked at data from the Justice Department. The Justice Department only recently began tracking mortgage fraud, so the Syracuse researchers had no previous data to compare the current caseload with. So there’s no way to tell if the 151 criminal cases represents a big increase from previous years.

Half the cases are being run by the FBI, while the FDIC has undertaken about 25 percent of them.

Most of the federal cases are concentrated in certain areas of the country, including Florida, which accounts for a large chunk of the cases, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Apparently the Pittsburgh area has produced the second highest amount of federal prosecutions, with 24 cases. Southern Florida has the most, with 69 federal prosecutions.

FBI investigators are also helping out with 1,400 other probes on the state and local level, which the FBI said is nearly double the number of cases they assisted with in 2005.

What do you think of federal investigators' efforts so far? Do you think federal officials should be doing the brunt of the investigating on mortgage fraud cases, or do you think local authorities should be handling prosecutions?

Enjoyed this post? Get blog updates delivered to your reader. Click here.

  • Facebook
  • E-mail
  • E-mail this article

    Invalid E-mail address
    Invalid E-mail address

    Sending your article

    Your article has been sent.

About boston real estate now
Scott Van Voorhis is a freelance writer who specializes in real estate and business issues.
Rona Fischman is a buyer's agent who provides a look at the local housing scene, from basements to attics.
archives