Attorney Behr’s mortgage fraud prosecutions series will continue with this portion of the article:
Dissimilar to the Florida statute, other states require “…a pattern of residential mortgage fraud…”99 to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt before being adjudicated of a higher penalty. Other states have even set out elemental qualifications for patterns of mortgage fraud. North Carolina’s legislature requires “…five or more mortgage loans which have the same or similar intents, results, accomplices, victims or methods of commission or otherwise are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics…”100 Kentucky, Georgia, Arizona, Mississippi and Nevada describe a pattern of residential mortgage fraud “…that involves two (2) or more mortgage loans…”101 Requiring state prosecutors to prove “a pattern of mortgage fraud” ensures those persons who intend to conduct schemes to defraud persons and lending institutions are truly deserving of heightened felonies. On the other hand, by not requiring “a pattern of mortgage fraud” the Florida Legislature has not only made Florida Assistant State Attorney jobs easier, but has also allowed those persons who conduct multiple acts of mortgage fraud to escape with only third degree felony convictions as long as the scheme total does not amount to $100,000.00.
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