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ILLEGAL ALIENS & THE MORTGAGE MESS (open borders, sanctuary cities fraud)
By Michele Malkin, 9/24/08
As panicked politicians prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue Wall Street, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy short-sellers and minority-home-ownership promoters for blame. But there's one villain that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis. It's no coincidence that the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave - Loudoun County, Va., California's Inland Empire, Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix - also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien sanctuaries.
Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime. A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure. Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown's impact on illegal-immigrant "victims."
A July report showed that in seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Hispanics were at least one-third of the population; in two of those areas - Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif.
Hispanics comprised half the population. The National Council of La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds to "counsel" their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10 million earmark for itself in one of the housing bills passed this spring.
For the last five years, I've reported on the rapidly expanding illegal-alien home-loan racket. The top banks clamoring for their handouts as their profits plummet, led by Wachovia and Bank of America, launched aggressive campaigns to woo illegal-alien homebuyers. The quasi-governmental Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority guaranteed home loans to illegal immigrants.
The Washington Post noted in 2005: "Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing major ethnic or racial group, have been courted aggressively by real-estate agents, mortgage brokers and programs for first-time buyers that offer help with closing costs. Ads proclaim: "Sin verificacion de ingresos! Sin verificacion de documento!" - which loosely translates as, 'Income tax forms are not required, nor are immigration papers.' "
Fraudsters also have engaged in house-flipping rings using illegal aliens as straw buyers. Among many examples the FBI cites: a conspiracy in Las Vegas involving a former Nevada First Residential Mortgage Company branch manager who directed loan officers and processors in the origination of 233 fraudulent Federal Housing Authority loans valued at over $25 million. The defrauders made and submitted false employment and income documentation for borrowers; most were illegal immigrants from Mexico. To date, the FBI reported, "Fifty-eight loans with a total value of $6.2 million have gone into default, with a loss to the Housing and Urban Development Department of over $1.9 million."
It's the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to lax Bush administration policies allowing illegal aliens to use "matricula consular cards" and taxpayer-identification numbers to open bank accounts, mortgage fraud has grown. Money-lenders still have no access to a verification system to check Social Security numbers before approving loans. In an interview about rampant illegal-alien home-loan fraud, a spokeswoman for the US General Accounting Office told me five years ago: "Considering the size of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston and other large cities throughout the United States known to be inundated with illegal aliens, I don't think the federal government is willing to expose this problem for financial reasons as well as for fear of political repercussions." The chickens are coming home to roost. Law-abiding taxpayers are going to pay for it.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09242008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/illegal_aliens__the_mortgage_mess_130482.htm
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Husband And Wife Plead Guilty To Massive Florida Straw Buyer Scheme
Juan and Rachael Torrens pled guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with their participation in a recent multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in South Florida. The defendants acknowledged as part of their guilty plea that their scheme produced over $15,000,000 in fraudulent loans, and resulted in losses of over $5,000,000 to various lenders. With Juan and Rachael Torrens‘ guilty pleas, 15 of the original 31 defendants charged have pled guilty.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, defendants Juan Torrens, the de facto owner of Amsouth Trust & Investment Corp. (”Amsouth”) and president of Countryside Land & Development, Inc., Rachael Torrens, president of 1st Choice Realty of South Florida, Inc. and de facto owner of First United Mortgage USA Corp., Daniel Ramos, Alfonso A. Muxo, a State of Florida certified real estate appraiser and owner of Palm Bay Real Estate Appraisals, Inc., and Katherine Harris, former president and part owner of Floridian Home Title Corporation, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and/or wire fraud for their participation in this massive mortgage fraud scheme. The scheme involved fraudulent mortgage loans obtained for the purchase of 28 properties located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida, and in the City of Marco Island. All except Katherine Harris have already pled guilty, and are awaiting sentence.
The Indictment also charges defendants Mario E. Diaz, Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Lellany Rordriguez, Jose Asensi, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Lizabeth Perez, Mario Blanco, Rene Rodriguez, Tamaris Angulo, Alicia Loaiza, Ester Crespo, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Erick Clavijo, Luis DeJesus Planas, Moises Llorens, Milva Roque, Aurora Ramentol, Gladys Lens, Nancy Fundora, Yanny Cruz Pavon, Roger Rosario and Jacqueline Perez-Castillo ("the straw buyer defendants") with wire fraud for their participation in this mortgage fraud scheme.
To date, guilty pleas have been entered by defendants Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Mario Blanco, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Moises Llorens, Gladys Lens, and Roger Rosario.
According to the Indictment, Juan Torrens would identify sellers of residential properties who were willing to overstate the true selling price of their properties. Daniel Ramos and Juan Torrens would then recruit and pay the straw buyer defendants to pose as buyers and ostensibly participate in the purchase of the selected properties.
Defendants Rachael Torrens and Juan Torrens would prepare fraudulent mortgage loan applications for the straw purchasers that included false employment verifications, pay stubs, income and funds on deposit, and IRS Forms W-2.
Thereafter, to support the overstated sales prices on the properties and the fraudulent mortgage applications, defendant Alonso A. Muxo would prepare fraudulent appraisals attesting to the inflated property values dictated by Juan Torrens. Roger Rosario, an employee of Regions Bank, assisted the fraud by providing, on at least one occasion, a fraudulent verification of deposit in connection with a mortgage loan application for one of the straw buyer defendants.
To effectuate the scheme, defendants Juan Torrens and Rachael Torrens, together with the straw buyer defendants, would create and submit to the banks and lending institutions HUD-Settlement Statement Forms, also known as HUD-1s, which falsely stated that the straw buyers brought their own funds to the closings.
Once the mortgage applications were approved, the lenders would wire the loan proceeds to the title company, Floridian Home Title, for closing.
At closing, Amsouth, a company owned and controlled by Juan Torrens, would receive a credit for the difference between the inflated price and the actual selling price of the property. Defendants Juan and Rachael Torrens would make the payments on the mortgage loans to maintain the loans afloat until the properties could be resold again, often to another straw buyer. When the Torrenses failed to make payments on the loans, some properties went into foreclosure, resulting in substantial losses to the lending institutions.
SOURCE Staff Reporter on 06/02/08 http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/husband_and_wife_plead_guilty_to_massive_florida_straw_buyer_scheme/
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18 arrested in SF Bay area mortgage fraud case
San Jose Mercury News | 4/15/2010 | Anonymous /
FR Posted by ProtectOurFreedom
Federal authorities have arrested 18 people in the San Francisco Bay area in a $10 million mortgage fraud case. Indictments against the defendants were unsealed Wednesday, the same day they were taken into custody. Authorities say between 2005 and 2009, the defendants misrepresented buyer' incomes, identities and other information in order to obtain mortgage loans from banks and other lenders. The defendants include current or former bank employees, real estate agents and one mortgage broker. FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler says the losses added up to at least $10 million. He said some of the defendants worked together on the loan applications and all 18 are believed to have some affiliation with each other. (Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
FR POST “It appears that Hispanic crooks were preying on legal and illegal Hispanic prospective home owners.” Hell, that was a “career choice” in Los Angeles between 2004-2006. LOL!! It apparently was a career choice throughout California land, Arizona, New/Old Mexico and Floriduh.
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CORPUS CHRISTI — (Circa 1/08) The Texas AG's Office served a search warrant on the law offices of CGT International Law Group, removing boxes of financial documents, including tax returns.
The firm's owner, Mauricio Celis (an illegal Mexican national), was indicted in November on charges of impersonating a lawyer and a police officer. Friday's raid is an indication the state is considering criminal charges. The raid came one day after investigators interviewed accountants for Celis.
FR ANALYSIS A Mexican national in the US impersonating a lawyer and a police officer? So did authorities figure out how many identities this guy has? How many SS numbers he has? How many US govt benefits he's collecting under different identities? How much money he's sent back to Mexico via Western Union or by other electronic means? How many places he's registered to vote and how many times he's voted using different identities?
No, authorities can't ask his immigration status b/c that's a federal matter (/snix). However, they can nail him for fraudulently filing official documents to obtain voting status, US govt benefits, SS cards, IRS refunds, driver's licenses, bank loans, mortgages, commercial licenses, education benefits........etc.
Moreover, if he fraudulently voted in referendums involving taxing issues for US citizens, that could entail several L/E issues.
LEGAL non-citizen visitors to Mexico are prohibited from owning land there.
LEGAL non-citizen visitors to Mexico are prohibited from protesting there.
The Mexican government is corrupt. Rotten to the core. They encourage their fifth column citizens to work here, vote here AND at home, and to wire their checks home (billions of dollars annually taking it out of our economy) and then draw welfare here (on our tax dollar).
Sedition is not protected speech.