Federal Mortgage Fraud Defense Lawyer
Mortgage fraud in Los Angeles is undeniably one of the most significant areas in the country, where individuals are engaging in fraudulent activities related to homes and mortgages, a situation that demands immediate attention and action.
There's a variety of different ways that somebody can commit fraud, and depending on how severe and sophisticated the authorities determine the scam is and the amount of the loss that is involved, that will dictate how harshly they prosecute the case, what type of penalties they're looking for and what the impact will be to the person who allegedly committed the mortgage insurance fraud.
Mortgage Fraud Scams
Banks were involved in one of the biggest mortgage fraud scams in the early 2000s. Allowing people to get any information to get a loan for a mortgage instead of verifying things – and this is what caused the mortgage industry to collapse; this was also a situation that was ripe with fraud, where even the bank personnel were encouraging people to lie about how much money they made, submit fraudulent paperwork.
Some bank employees would get involved in schemes and scams related to approving loans, knowing that the mortgage would likely never be paid. The problem is if there are no restrictions put in place, then, unfortunately, evil people will attempt to take advantage of the system, which happened in the early 2000's, causing the mortgage crash.
Now, the restrictions are very tight and harsh, and getting a loan is tricky unless you have a lot of equity and a good debt-to-income ratio. So, if you're charged with mortgage fraud, you'll want to find a defense attorney who's done these cases before and knows how to handle them.
Sometimes, everything is not what meets the eye. Sometimes, there's another story to what happened. It's not necessarily the fault of the person charged for what happened; other people may be involved. The authorities may not have the whole picture. They may not have the entire story.
Mortgage Fraud Cases are Complex
Unfortunately, what I see a lot of times – especially in these mortgage fraud cases, which can be a bit complicated – they don't look at every angle. They get some evidence and information from somebody – they're busy, overworked, and don't thoroughly investigate the case. Therefore, they jump to conclusions and start prosecuting people before they have all the information.
In these mortgage fraud cases, it's crucial to sit down with a client, review everything, and get their version of events. Whether they admit guilt or have another side to the story, a comprehensive defense strategy will be developed to ensure the best possible outcome.
If, on the other hand, there's another side to the story, then we're going to sit down and break that whole thing out, we're going to get your version of events, and then we're going to get evidence through investigation to support your version of events so that if we are going to go to trial on a mortgage fraud case, we're going to have the evidence, not only to present to the jury but to attack the prosecution's witnesses to show that they're not reliable and not credible because being able to do this gives us a good fighting chance to win a jury trial case in a mortgage fraud situation.
Local Connections Are Crucial In Mortgage Fraud Cases
What I mean by this is that you want to have an attorney who has dealt with the prosecutors who prosecute these mortgage fraud cases in the courthouse where your case is pending, who has dealt with the judge, who knows the judge's tendencies, and also who knows the jury pool.
If you're going to go to a jury trial, you better know what type of jurors you're going to get and what kind of defense strategy you're going to employ if you want to have a chance to win. If, on the other hand, you're not going to go to the jury trial – which most cases don't – especially in mortgage fraud cases – because the prosecutors often have the evidence.
You're going to want somebody who knows the ropes in the courthouse where your case is pending because that person is going to have to negotiate with the prosecutors, the upper prosecutors, possibly the judge depending on the scenario that's going on – so local connections are crucial when it comes to any criminal case. Still, mortgage fraud cases are usually prosecuted by more sophisticated prosecutors who have been around the block, have authority, have seen these types of cases before, and will listen to a reasonable defense attorney who will give them the other point of view.
Please give them a peek at the client from a different perspective with character letters and several other things that can be utilized to get you the best possible result for a mortgage fraud case.
Types of Mortgage Fraud Cases
Over the last twenty-five years, I've seen all types of mortgage and real estate fraud cases. Whether it has to do with straw buyers or people inflating their income or manipulating their paperwork, I've even seen people who have stopped making their mortgage payments and then go into foreclosure and have somebody buy the house on the back end.
There are all sorts of different schemes and scams that people get themselves involved with, and the government is going to take this type of activity very seriously; these cases can be prosecuted, and you can be looking at serving time in prison, a record for the rest of your life, so you want to sit down with an attorney who has done this before and get a game plan together that makes sense for you and your situation.
This is not something that you do the same thing every time. When I design these defenses, I'm creating them for the person. What happened? What does their criminal record look like? Why did they get themselves involved with this? How much money was lost? Can we pay the money back? There are all sorts of different considerations that need to be taken into account. The person you want to consider and discuss it with you has been down this road before and had success.
Consult with Los Angeles Mortgage Fraud Attorney
At the Hedding Law Firm, we understand that sometimes good people are put in bad situations. California has been one of the hardest-hit states in the real estate market meltdown because of overinflated home values. In response, the state enacted a bill requiring lenders to contact already stressed-out homeowners about their intent to foreclosure 30 days before filing a Notice of Default. Thus, much of California's mortgage fraud has been caused by either applicants or brokers lying on mortgage applications.
Mortgage fraud and foreclosure fraud scams occur when someone knowingly and intentionally misrepresents information to obtain a mortgage. Depending on the value of the mortgage fraudulently obtained and the number of actual incidents involved, these scams can carry a wide range of penalties. Possible Penalties include jail time, probation, hefty fines and fees, restitution, and forfeiture of property.
Mortgage fraud has several different components, and the prosecutor has to prove that the misrepresentation was done intentionally and knowingly for illegal personal gain.
Although there are different types of mortgage fraud schemes, there are two different types of mortgage fraud. Traditional mortgage frauds involve defrauding the lender, such as trying to obtain a loan for which one cannot legitimately qualify. Other mortgage frauds target consumers, such as foreclosure prevention or loan modification scams in which one tries to defraud homeowners in financial trouble.
In California, the penalties are severe. Fines range from $100,000 to $250,000; jail time is anywhere from 12 to 78 months, and probation can be up to 30 years.
An aggressive and experienced defense attorney can challenge different parts of the mortgage fraud investigation. At Hedding Law Firm, a criminal defense lawyer has the experience and skill to fight a mortgage fraud case effectively. Contact a Los Angeles mortgage fraud lawyer at our law firm today, and let us fight for you.
