Mortgage fraud scheme targeted at least six properties

Four people were indicted this week for an alleged mortgage fraud scheme involving loans totaling more than $3 million on at least six properties. Omar Henry and Peter Chevere of the Bronx; Lavette Bills of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.; and Kirk Lacey of Pembroke Pines, Fla., were indicted for bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. Bills was the CEO of Bronx-based MTC Real Estate, and the other three worked for MTC at various points between 2008 and March of this year, prosecutors said. Bills focused on homeowners who were facing foreclosure and convinced them to sell or transfer their homes to Bills in short sales, according to prosecutors. Bills and his co-conspirators reportedly flipped the properties to third-party straw buyers for at least $150,000 more than the short sale price. TRD

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