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Real Estate Fraud Conviction, Sentence Confirmed

By Shari Allison

United States v. Baum, ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 5274316 (10th Cir. 2008)Defendant, a real estate agent, was found guilty of wire fraud and money laundering for his scheme: he was an agent for buyers who did not qualify for home loans because of poor credit; Defendant lent money to buyers for down payment; home prices were inflated on the contract; buyers agreed to pay an additional amount for remodels per a contract addendum (not disclosed to mortgage lender) that were never meant to happen and that money went into a fund to pay back Defendant, plus. The mortgage lender never knew the truth. Sufficiency of evidence: phony sales prices, undisclosed addenda, false appraisals, false info regarding borrowers supported fraud verdicts; the unperformed remodeling work was not a matter of breach of contract...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on December 24, 2008 (boomark / email).