GREFPAC News 2012 Issue 3

GREFPAC NEWS

Official Publication of the Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention and Awareness Coalition, Inc.
A service to our members, industries and communities.
2012 Issue 3

Happy Independence Day

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States . . ."

INSIDE GREFPAC

2012-2013 Board and Officers Elected

Pursuant to an election by the membership at the general meeting on June 6, 2012, the 2012-2013 GREFPAC officers and directors are as follows:

Officers:
President: Tom Merkel, Non-Profit Organization
Vice President: Michelle Canter, Attorney
Secretary/Treasurer: Kevin Pezzani, Mortgage Lending

Returning Directors:
Matt Wade, Mortgage Lending
Ron Heckman, Appraisals
Scott Kelly, Mortgage Insurance
Annette McBrayer, Attorney
Tim Huhn, Fraud Investigation
Pam Dabbs, Consulting/Education

Incoming Directors:
Charlie Harris, Title Insurance
Deidra Cox, Banking
Lisa Lacey, Mortgage Lending
Kimberly Mays, Attorney
Ken Tromer, Information, Technology and Analytical Services
Rodney Mullins, Community

September Meeting: The Trends for Mortgage Fraud in Georgia

Back by popular demand, our speaker, Ed Gerding, Sr. Fraud Consultant at CoreLogic, will let us know the progress (or lack of it) that is being made against mortgage fraud in Georgia. Ed always provides a fascinating look at what statistics show is happening.

Sovereign Citizens and Adverse Possession Discussed at June Meeting

Representatives of the FBI, the Atlanta Police Department, and the Office of the Superior Court Clerk of Fulton County discussed the meaning behind the the terms "Sovereign Citizens" and "adverse possession," how these individuals and actions impact real estate transactions, red flags, and the financial cost if warning signs go unrecognized.

GREFPAC Holds Joint Luncheon with NAPMW

GREPFAC held a joint luncheon with the Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Professional Mortgage Women on April 17. All GREFPAC mebers were invited to attend. GREFPAC President Tom Merkel spoke on the Georgia legislature and its use of funds targeted for foreclosures and mortgage fraud.

GEORGIA NEWS

Former Top Loan Officer of Failed Bank Convicted of Bank Fraud and Cheating on His Taxes

U.S. Attorney's Office for the N. Dist. of Ga. | June 26, 2012

"This defendant used his position to make a bad bank loan to fund a one-day land flip from which he personally profited. This type of fraud, involving inflated real estate prices, did tremendous damage to our economy. He will now be punished accordingly," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. Read More

Two Augusta Businessmen Sentenced to Federal Prison for Mortgage Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney's Office for the S. Dist. of Ga. | June 5, 2012

Robert J. Demello and Raymond W. Turner were sentenced to 58 and 62 months imprisonment, respectively, based on their earlier guilty pleas to Count Two of an indictment which charged them with defrauding Southern Bank and other financial institutions of thousands of dollars by submitting false information and fraudulent appraisals relating to mortgage loan applications. Evidence presented at hearings in this case showed that multiple properties in this fraudulent scheme, some of which are located in downtown Augusta, went into foreclosure, resulting in significant losses to Southern Bank. Read More

New Law Amends Georgia Residential Mortgage Fraud Act

May 1, 2012

House Bill 237, which was signed into law by the governor on May 1 and became effective July 1, amended the Georgia Residential Mortgage Fraud Act to revise the definition of "mortgage lending process" to include the execution of deeds under power of sale and the execution of assignments. The new law also amended the Act to provide that the offense of residential mortgage fraud shall not be predicated solely upon truthful information contained in documents recorded for the stated purpose of correcting scrivener's errors, mistakes, inadvertent misstatements, or omissions contained in previously filed documents. Read More

Members of Bank Fraud Ring Sentenced in $3.7 Million Scam

U.S. Attorney's Office for the N. Dist. of Ga. | Apr. 27, 2012

According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates and information presented in the public record: Dionne Michelle Whitted and Shalena Sutherlin forged quit claim deeds on 18 different residential parcels of property which belonged to home owners, some of whom were unaware of the scheme. Whitted and Sutherlin submitted the deeds along with false financial information in support of applications for 25 HELOCs with Wachovia, Bank of America, and Washington Mutual and received in excess of $3.7 million. Read More

Police: Man Gave Tours of Stolen Homes

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Apr. 20, 2012

A husband and wife were arrested for allegedly trying to sell stolen vacant Atlanta homes. Read More

Guilty Plea Entered in DeKalb County Mortgage Fraud Case

Ga. Dep't of Law | April 13, 2012

Marshall C. Ezell, III pled guilty in DeKalb County Superior Court to four counts of Residential Mortgage Fraud for making false statements during the mortgage lending process. According to the indictment, Ezell, III sold a residential property to his father on December 19, 2005. The defendant arranged 100% financing for the $630,000 sale, and directed his father to make multiple misstatements on his loan application as the buyer of the property. Read More

NATIONAL NEWS AFFECTING GEORGIA

California, Nevada, Florida Top Mortgage Fraud SAR List; Criminals Continuing Debt Elimination and Foreclosure Rescue Scams

Fin. Crimes Enforcement Network | June 26, 2012

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released its First Quarter 2012 Update of mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports (MLF SARs) that shows California, Nevada, and Florida leading the nation in the number of MLF SAR subjects per capita. Read More

Federal Housing Finance Agency Establishes Additional Anti-Fraud Measure for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks

Fed. Hous. Fin. Agency | June 18, 2012

The initiative, called the Suspended Counterparty Program, will require Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to notify the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) whenever an individual or company with whom they do business is adjudicated to have engaged in fraud or other financial misconduct. Likewise, FHFA will consider information received from other government sources. Read More

Combatting Mortgage Fraud

Fed. Nat'l Mortgage Ass'n | June 4, 2012

Our data on loans that were originated and that we acquired after 2009 reflect that mortgage fraud has declined, yet suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network have doubled during the past five years, reaching nearly 94,000 in 2011. What explains this apparent contradiction in the data? The answer is two-fold. Read More

Fannie Mae Releases Monthly Mortgage Fraud Findings Statistics

Fed. Nat'l Mortgage Ass'n | Apr.-June. 2012

Based on Fannie Mae loan reviews completed through the end of May 2012, among all "zip3" areas, Duluth, Georgia had the sixth most loans with significant misrepresentation findings for 2012 and 2011 originations and the ninth most for 2010 originations. Read More

Interthinx National Mortgage Fraud Risk Index Drops to Lowest Mark Since Q2 2009

Interthinx | May 30, 2012

Interthinx has released its quarterly Mortgage Fraud Risk Report covering data collected in the first quarter of 2012. According to the most recent analysis, the national Mortgage Fraud Risk Index decreased by 4.3 percent from last quarter and 3.1 percent from one year ago, dropping below the 140 mark for the first time since the second quarter of 2009. At the same time, employment and income fraud risk is on the rise, up 5 percent from fourth-quarter 2011, up 18 percent over last year, and up by 37 percent over the past two years. Company analysts believe the continued increase is due to misrepresentation of borrower data to meet debt-to-income thresholds required by lenders. Read More

FinCEN Reports Mortgage Fraud SARs Increased in 2011 Even as Fourth Quarter Level Decreased

Fin. Crimes Enforcement Network | Apr. 23, 2012

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released its full year 2011 update of mortgage loan fraud reported suspicious activity reports (MLF SARs) that shows financial institutions submitted 92,028 MLF SARs last year, a 31 percent increase over the 70,472 submitted in 2010. The increase can primarily be attributable to mortgage repurchase demands. Read More

NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

Copyright 2012 Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention and Awareness Coalition, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of the Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention and Awareness Coalition, Inc. or GREFPAC names or logos is prohibited. You may reproduce a reasonable number of copies of this newsletter for your own personal use or for non-commercial distribution, but all all copies must be unmodified and must include the above copyright notice. Reproduction or distribution of this newsletter for commercial purposes is prohibited. GREFPAC cannot guarantee that material accessible from this newsletter is free of viruses or other malicious code, and GREFPAC does not accept any responsibility for any loss caused by any such code. GREFPAC is not responsible for any third party content, products or services that may be accessed through this newsletter, and the availability of links in this newsletter to such third party content, products or services should not be construed as referrals to, or endorsements of, the linked entities or the content, products or services that they make available. GREFPAC will cease providing links from future issues of this newsletter upon request from the linked party. The information in this newsletter is presented as general information and is not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as, legal advice or legal opinions on specific facts. You should not rely on information in this newsletter or its applicability to any specific questions or circumstances without first seeking your own professional's advice. GREFPAC is not a law firm and does not offer professional legal services. The information in this publication is not intended to create, and the transmission and receipt of it does not constitute, a confidential or lawyer-client relationship. The act of contacting GREFPAC will not create a confidential or lawyer-client relationship, and your communication will not be treated as confidential. GREFPAC makes no warranties, representations, or claims of any kind concerning the information available from, or the distribution of, this newsletter. GREFPAC and contributing authors expressly disclaim all liability to any person in respect of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done wholly or partly in reliance upon the use or contents of this newsletter. The information contained in this newsletter may concern allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. Such allegations may be found by the court to be untrue. All persons are presumed innocent of criminal allegations until convicted of a crime. Court opinions may be subject to the parties' motion for reconsideration, the court's reconsideration, and editorial changes made by the reporter of decisions. We are eager to make corrections quickly and candidly. An aggrieved party need not have a letter to the editor published for us to correct a mistake. We will publish corrections on our own and in our voice as soon as we are told about them and can confirm them.

UPCOMING EVENTS

AT A GLANCE

Sept. 12, 2012
Dec. 5, 2012

Quarterly Educational Meetings
9:30am - Noon
Atlanta Jr. League
3154 N'side Pkwy.
Atlanta, GA 30327

THANK YOU
2012 SPONSORS

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