Mortgage Fraud Bilked Victims Out of Millions

These poor folks, "truck drivers, retirees, factory workers", didn't even know what hit them.
There are predators out there who are very slick.
PLEASE! don't sign anything unless you know exactly what it is, or you may unknowingly be on the hook for big bucks.

From AP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The nation's largest home lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., is suing an Indianapolis man for allegedly orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme in which dozens of Virginia residents were tricked into buying homes in Indiana at inflated prices.

The Calabasas, Calif.-based company alleges that Robert Penn worked with relatives in Virginia and associates that included appraisers and mortgage companies to defraud the victims in a case that could total about $80 million in loans.

In a lawsuit filed in Marion County, where most of the Indianapolis-area properties are located, Countrywide claims the defendants duped their victims by inviting them to take part in either an "investment opportunity" or a "real estate investment club."

The victims were not required to make down payments or cash contributions.
The suit alleges the paperwork that truck drivers, retirees, factory workers and others in or around Martinsville, Va., signed eventually made them "straw borrowers" liable for bogus loans for one or more homes by submitting false mortgage applications.

The victims were not given copies of the "investment" documents and were rushed into signing them after being told they needed to be quickly delivered to Indianapolis, the lawsuit claims.
"The straw borrowers were not asked to read the documents they signed, and in some cases were told there was no time for such a read, or that it was unnecessary," the lawsuit states.
Tony Pickett, an Indianapolis real-estate agent who's representing 39 of the victims, said the case involves about 400 loans that average about $200,000 each.

According to the lawsuit, Penn, his sister, Sharon Penn, who lives in Martinsville, Va., six other individuals and a number of companies obtained purchasing agreements for Indianapolis-area properties at market value, but then had them appraised at significantly higher amounts.

The court documents contend that the Penns and their associates then bought the homes in the names of the Martinsville residents who had signed the "investment" paperwork giving the defendants use of their names, credit histories and signatures.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants obtained the properties for an average price of $50,000 but "sold" them to the unknowing victims for an average inflated price of $120,000 each, then pocketed the difference.