Last week, Hennepin County Prosecutors sent two more mortgage fraudsters to prison for ten years. James and Wendy Ober brokered approximately $23 million in loans, according to the Federal Housing Administration, much of which was facilitated by forgeries, identity theft, and other fraudulent and predatory practices. Three northside properties were listed in the sentencing document - 4247 Sheridan Ave N (pictured above), 625 Morgan Ave N, and 1811 Upton Ave N.
Many of the business journals and other media that covered this story called the Obers' actions the "next wave of mortgage fraud." A few years back, I met with several investigative authorities who asked me this very question. They knew what the mortgage fraud of 2005-2007 looked like, but the housing crash and recession forced legal and institutional changes on the mortgage industry that made previous fraud difficult to replicate. So what investigators wanted to hear from me and other housing professionals was what we were seeing as the new fraud.
What I described to them was almost identical to what the Obers were doing. Namely...
