South Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
Attorney Behr’s mortgage fraud prosecutions series continues with the following EXCERPT:
18 U.S.C. § 2314 Transportation of stolen goods, securities, moneys, fraudulent State tax stamps, or articles used in counterfeiting
Under this statute, a person who enables assists or intends to enable property with a value of $5,000.00 or more into interstate commerce or foreign commerce by a scheme enabled through the use of material misrepresentations could be convicted under the statute.89
In United States v. Grintjes, 237 F.3d 876, 877 (7th Cir. 2001), the defendant a mortgage broker and his co-defendant Thomas Younk, a client who owned a real estate company allegedly obtained “…inflated appraisals of properties, use the inflated appraisals to obtain mortgages, purchase the properties for significantly less than the amount of the mortgage, and pocket the rest of the loan.”90 The defendant was indicted for “…aiding and abetting a fraudulent scheme involving the interstate transfer of funds… ”91 “Grintjes testified that he never independently inspected the properties Younk sought to finance, nor did he ever verify the appraisals.”92 He also testified that it was not uncommon in the mortgage broker industry not to inspect verify the appraisals.93
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