In fact, the indictment says, the defendants fraudulently bolstered the credit of the straw buyers so they could qualify for more favorable mortgages in the straw buyers' names; stripped away the bulk of the homeowners' equity and converted that money to their own personal use; and stopped making the mortgage payments on the homes, resulting in the very thing the original homeowners had sought to avoid: foreclosure.
According to the indictment, the defendants used the proceeds of the scheme to buy art, cars, fur coats, trips overseas, jewelry, limousine services and student tuition and to pay for gambling expenses and a luxurious wedding for Jackson and her husband.
"We're investigating more mortgage fraud cases than ever before," said Thomas E. Perez, secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which oversees the mortgage industry. He said the indictments unsealed yesterday represented the largest such case ever prosecuted in Maryland in terms of monetary losses.
