Articles Posted in White Collar Criminal Defense

Mortgage Fraud Defense

Obtaining money or property by any fraudulent means, device or scheme, is the underlying criminal act for prosecutions of mortgage fraud or bank fraud.

Providing false information, fraudulent documents, and material misrepresentations of income or assets to obtain bank financing can be prosecuted as a grand theft, forged or fraudulent document charge, bank fraud, wire fraud, or the newly minted crime of mortgage fraud.

These charges originate both in state courts and federal courts. Mortgage fraud as a crime category can be prosecuted under a multiple of criminal theories. Federal prosecutors often frame these cases as a wire fraud offenses. Wire fraud is the use of interstate electronic communication systems to perpetrate or advance a criminal enterprise in which a material misrepresentation is made for fraudulent financial or criminal solicitations.

In state courts prosecutors often move these cases under a more varied scheme of criminal charges. The complexity of the undertaking by fraud can be determinative of the criminal prosecution. Often a charge of theft is easier to prosecute than a scheme to defraud. In state courts local prosecutors have a higher comfort level when charging fraud, scheme to defraud, and theft charges.

In federal prosecutions, because of the broader scope of federal criminal statutes bank fraud and wire fraud on a more commonly charged.

Because of the complexity of these cases and the documents which are presented in any mortgage application, mortgage fraud cases are often considered white collar crimes. This complexity often leads to a confusion in the minds of both prosecutors and jurors. Mortgage fraud cases are won and lost in courtrooms because lawyers cannot clearly state their case. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys skilled in the art of trial preparation focus on communicating to the jury in simple terms.

During the years of 2005 through including 2007 rising real estate sales and prices precipitated a significant increase in a mortgage fraud cases. In the year 2008 the cities and jurisdictions in South Florida, led by Miami and Fort Lauderdale witnessed the largest increase in mortgage fraud prosecutions. In the first six months of 2008 the city of Miami saw over 50 mortgage brokers and real estate professionals arrested and prosecuted under the varied criminal theories of theft, fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and grand theft.

THE POLITICS OF PROSECUTION MIAMI STYLE

Fort Lauderdale and Miami criminal courts will soon be flooded with grand theft and mortgage fraud trials.

Announcing that another 30 real estate professionals have been arrested the Mayor of Miami told reporters a total of 50 have been charaged with grand theft, fraud, mortgage fraud, forged or fraudulent documents, forgery and RICO charges.

South Florida ranks first in the US for mortgage fraud arrests.

FORT LAUDERDALE AND MIAMI LEADS U.S. IN MORTGAGE BROKER ARRESTS

Leading a list of cities that features Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Miami, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has, in the first half of 2008, arrested and charged a record number of mortgage brokers and real estate professionals.

Grant theft, wire fraud, money laundering, forged or altered documents and false fraudulent or altered appraisals lead the list of charges.

RICO and organized fraud and organized schemes to defraud in Florida can lead to prison terms of 15 to thirty years.

To date in Fort Lauderdale and Miami the Statewide Prosecutor’s office are neck-and-neck with the US Attorney in arrests.

Not surprisingly, criminal lawyers in South Florida have begun to focus their firms’ marketing to draw-in recently arrested mortgage brokers. Those new to these cases are increasingly turning to established criminal lawyers to help them once they have been retained.

Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney Ralph Behr has issued a third in a series of guides to local criminal attorneys who take on these cases. If you have been arrested have your criminal attorney contact Ralph Behr for the current guide on defending mortgage broker fraud charges.

Criminal defense attorneys in Florida increasingly are speaking out against the politically targeted and politically motivated prosecutions mounted by the US attorney in South Florida.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami have seen arrests of local real estate professionals by the federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida explode in numbers and scope.

These arrests reflect the fact that Fort Lauderdale Broward County and Miami have witnessed the greatest increase and greatest fall in real estate values.

The political fallout is very real. The headlines made big news. Those arrested for fraud and theft are increasingly facing harsh sentences.

Defense attorneys in Fort Lauderdale Miami in Palm Beach see these arrests as a new cottage industry for South Florida prosecutors.

Local criminal lawyer Ralph Behr represents several mortgage brokers accused of fraud and related crimes in South Florida, Miami and Fort Lauderale. But not the one sentenced by a local Federal Judge. Sadly Mr. Villaba, who pled guilty, was sentenced to six years and a heavy send off from the local federal prosecutor.

Fraud, wire fraud, theft, conspiracy and various bank fraud statutes are the prosecutors tools for prosecuting mortgage fraud cases. The defenses are manifold and quite complex, so most of these cases should go to trial where a jury can weigh the legal complexities.

The federal prosecutors and statewide prosecutors in South Florida are in the process of filing additional cases. Be on the lookout for more news.

South Florida criminal defense attorney Ralph Behr has issued a press release outlining the defenses and defense methods: local South Florida criminal lawyers can obtain a copy from attorney Behr’s law office in Fort Lauderdale.

Criminal attorney Ralph Behr, is representing or has been retained to counsel and advise other local criminal lawyers for over ten clients being prosecuted under the new statewide and federal task forces targeting mortgage brokers.

Criminal lawyers throughout Florida have seen a marked increase in arrests of mortgage brokers in the major cities of Fort Lauderdale and Miami .

Over 400 arrests have been made nationwide in what is now regarded as the first in a wave of prosecutions aimed at mortgage brokers and providers.

South Florida has been in the news because of falling real estate prices and rising mortgage defaults.

The prosecutions have been under theft and wire fraud criminal statutes and are both federal and state. Mortgage related crimes such as fraud are prosecuted as misstatement, misrepresentation, or omissions by an underwriter or lender.

In a press release to Florida newspapers, criminal attorney Ralph Behr announced his commitment to the fight to defend those charged with mortgage fraud.