By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Gangs across the U.S. are continuing to expand, with some even moving into white collar crimes like mortgage fraud and counterfeiting, alien smuggling and human trafficking, according to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment released by the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), the FBI said. “Gangs continue to expand, evolve,…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com An FBI report shows that mortgage fraud appears to be on the rise. The FBI said it had 3,129 pending mortgage fraud investigations in 2010, up 12 percent from 2009 and up 90 percent from 2008 when the economy tanked and the real estate market was already in dire straights. The…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Trial began Tuesday in Ft. Lauderdale federal court for an FBI agent along with four local Florida cops and a former officer, who face charges of mortgage fraud involving the purchase of properties in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported. The paper reported that the six…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Despite the tough talk by President Obama and his Attorney Gen. Eric Holder, the administration has yet to file charges against the big Wall Street banks that had their hands in bad and risky housing loans, the Washington Post reports. “Nearly 1 1/2 years into Obama’s tenure, despite several…
By Allan Lengel For AOL News WASHINGTON –The Justice Department today announced the “broadest mortgage fraud sweep” in U.S. history, with criminal charges filed against 1,215 people. Almost 500 have already been arrested in a 3 1/2-month crackdown dubbed “Operation Stolen Dreams.” Authorities said the operation uncovered $2.3 billion in mortgage fraud losses and recovered…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene J. Lockhart could be playing football again, but this time behind bars. The FBI on Thursday arrested Lockhart, 48, whose nickname was once “The Hitting Machine”, on mortgage fraud charges. The feds charged Lockhart and eight others in a classic mortgage fraud scheme that involved “straw…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON – The mortgage fraud problem is growing and continues to plague the crippled real estate market. The FBI on Tuesday released the 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report which showed that mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports increased 36 percent to 63,713 during fiscal year 2008, compared to 46,717 during the same period…
Sure the FBI saw this mortgage mess way back when. And sure it was clear it didn’t have enough resources to deal with it. But back then it wasn’t a disaster. Now it is. And that’s our nature: we seldom address things until they become a crisis. Now we’ve got us a real crisis. Now…
