Mortgage Fraud Attorney in Michigan

Under the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (FERA) you can be charged for bank fraud, wire fraud or conspiracy. The 2009 law allows federal law enforcement to prosecute a variety of fraud allegations including those associated with mortgages. There is a statute of limitations of ten years for prosecution of these charges. However, if an individual leaves the country to avoid charges there may be an extension to the ten-year timeframe.

The two areas typically investigated by the FBI are as follows:

• Fraud for Housing – occurs when borrowers use illegal action in order to gain or maintain the ownership of a home.
• Fraud for Profit – when mortgage brokers, bank officers, appraisers or other professionals in the housing industry who use the mortgage process to gain equity or cash from homeowners or lenders.

Defense for All Types of Mortgage Fraud

There are a wide range of crimes associated with mortgage fraud. Federal authorities investigate an array of schemes including the following types of fraud:

• Inflated appraisal– where an appraiser along with a loan officer or mortgage broker provide an unrealistic appraisal with a high value to get a buyer in order to close a sale.
• Illegal property flipping – when a property is bought at a lower price then falsely appraised in order to resell it at a higher price. The value is artificially inflated in order to allow the buyer to get a bigger loan than required for the property allowing the purchaser to keep the difference.