Word is they ripped off Posh Spice and David Beckham, along with scores of other stars in the Hills.
They’ll be going away for a little while most likely. The Feds came down hard here in Baltimore for the exact same thing a few years back. The prosecutors eventually punished people who had ancillary duties but were ‘on the fringe’ so to speak. I’m not sure of the broker-agent relationship in California but in Md the broker(s) were indicted as well.
LOL. Why not just make it an even 25m? What were they anticipating? People doing a real estate search sitting in front of their computers saying, "HMMM, What should I put into the database? Let's see, we'll start with 10m lowest figure and top price, $24 million 980 thousand. There click search and see what comes up!"
Uh, I doubt it.
Where is the link?
Why do sharks not bite realtors? Professional courtesy.
The four allegedly participated in a complicated scheme that involved inflating the price of several homes in order to trick banks into funding mortgage loans that were hundreds of thousands of dollars higher than the properties actually cost, according to court documents
Of course they all should be put away for a good long while and of course never be able to practice in either of their respective professions again. The licensed appraisers though really get my goat and should be put in front of a firing line, or at least made to pay off the difference from the real price that the homes should have been appraised at.
People sort of expect sales people to at times be nefarious and are a bit wary, but appraisers (even though one should try to make a point of getting someone independent rather then the real estate agents' recommendation, are generally deemed trustworthy.
Now who was it that said the real estate bust was the fault of the media.
OK, being in the mortgage business, I find this line laughable! It is not a "complicated scheme" to bring in an appraisal over value. It happens every day. AND! you don't "trick" a bank into anything. They either did due diligence in their appraisal reviews, or they did not.
Same old, same old... happens all the time. Once in a while someone just gets caught. (just an aside, I do not condone such practices)