Feds charge 27 South Florida residents with mortgage fraud

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami unsealed four indictments today accusing 27 people in various mortgage fraud schemes against banks and South Florida homeowners, the Miami Herald reported. Charges range from mail fraud to insurance fraud to arson.

“We keep leading the nation in mortgage fraud, and that is something we are working to stem,” U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said of the alleged schemes, which resulted in losses of more than $30 million.

Two of the cases are traditional mortgage fraud schemes, the Herald said, with straw buyers using falsified loan applications to buy homes. A third case allegedly involved several crimes on a single property and a fourth case charges Miami attorney David Donet Sr. with misappropriating more than $1 million in client funds during the closing process of real estate transactions.

Twenty-five of the 27 charged are in custody. If convicted, they could each face up to 30 years in prison. [Miami Herald]