A Missouri man, who pleaded guilty to inflating property appraisals in a mortgage scheme, allegedly forged signatures of licensed appraisers whose identities had been stolen, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Kan. Read on for the details.
(10/6/2009)
Maurice Ragland, 35, formerly of Lee’s Summit, Mo., has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said Oct. 2.
Ragland pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. In his plea, he admitted that in 2003 and 2004 he conspired with co-defendant Wildor Washington, Jr., and others to obtain mortgage loans by submitting inflated property appraisals and other false information to lenders.
The conspirators targeted borrowers with low incomes and little knowledge of the real estate industry. They urged borrowers to apply for real estate loans that were processed through various entities the conspirators controlled including Heritage Financial Investments, Legacy Enterprises, Atlantic Mortgage, Inc., T.E.R.M. Appraisers, the Real Estate Group, J.T.F. Enterprises, Liberty Escrow and AMSTAR Mortgage.
Many of the real estate appraisals submitted by Ragland and the conspirators contained inflated property values and forged signatures of licensed appraisers whose identities had been stolen. In addition, Ragland and other conspirators acted as home buyers and submitted loan applications containing false income and asset information as well as false information about the appraiser of the property and the intended use of the property.
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