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What if I am arrested for "mortgage & real estate fraud" in Nevada? (NRS 205.372) - YouTube
Channel: Las Vegas Defense Group
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perhaps no state has been more affected
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by the foreclosure crisis than the state
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of Nevada and in the wake of the
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foreclosure crisis what we're seeing is
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that law enforcement has really ramped
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up investigation as to what the root
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causes or what they feel the root causes
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of the mortgage crisis are so right now
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in the state of Nevada we're seeing a
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lot of prosecutions we're allegations of
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mortgage fraud come into play and
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mortgage fraud encompasses a wide range
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of scenarios involving deceptive
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mortgage practices it can involve false
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information provided to a lender it can
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involve artificially high appraisals
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that help to entice the bank to lend a
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large amount of money for the purchase
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of a home it can involve straw buyers
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all of which are prosecuted in Nevada
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under the title of mortgage fraud here
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in Nevada one common example of mortgage
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fraud is what is known as a false loan
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modification scheme this often involves
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someone trying to prey our distressed
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homeowner by perhaps offering to reduce
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principle avoid foreclosure and allow
[76]
someone to stay in their home oftentimes
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that person will take money upfront
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within that doing anything for that
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distressed homeowner and they often go
[85]
into foreclosure anyway
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another common example of mortgage fraud
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here in Nevada is using false
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information on loan applications now
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today lending standards have become much
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more strict and lenders will want to
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verify your income and your assets and
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your debts and then your taxes before
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authorizing a loan but back in the day
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but before the market crashed there were
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lots of mortgages that were issued based
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on what was called stated income and
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these sort of gain to term in the
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industry liar loans liar loans because
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people would lie they would lie about
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their income they would lie about the
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assets that they had for collateral they
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would lie about their debts and
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liabilities and none of this what was
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really verified and what I think a lot
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of people didn't realize or didn't sort
[143]
of pay attention to at the time is that
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they were signing under penalty of
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perjury that all of this information was
[150]
true incorrect and today what we're
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seeing is state and federal authorities
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going back and prosecuting many of these
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people for mortgage fraud for perjury
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based on this misinformation that they
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put in their applications and the
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reality of the situation is that a lot
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of these listing agents and and escrow
[174]
officers and and lenders had an
[178]
incentive to push these deals through
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they wanted their commissions and so
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they would really coach the loan
[185]
applicants in what they needed to say to
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meet the lending standards to get the
[191]
loan even if that meant providing
[193]
misinformation and the culture in the
[195]
industry sort of became that that this
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was just how things were done these were
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how deals were made this is how people
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got their homes this is how people made
[203]
their investments everybody was doing it
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it wasn't seen as something that was
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unethical or illegal and people who did
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provide misinformation and perjure
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themselves never imagined that they
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would someday face the consequences of
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being prosecuted for a felony and going
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to
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prison for what they did
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straw buying usually involves a
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situation where someone wants to buy a
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home but they lack good credit so
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usually that person will recruit someone
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else often known as the straw buyer with
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good credit to stand in for them in
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order to obtain a loan from a bank that
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person can find themselves facing bank
[244]
fraud because they deceive the bank into
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providing them a loan for someone who
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actually did have bad credit it's not
[251]
uncommon to see a straw buyer scheme
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where the straw buyer is really more of
[256]
an unwitting victim to the sophisticated
[260]
scheme of other players so a straw buyer
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may be offered several thousand dollars
[266]
to sign documents for the purchase of a
[269]
property where there were third parties
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like the buyer or the mortgage lender or
[274]
the realtor that had a lot more to gain
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than the straw buyer and the straw buyer
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is the one that's being prosecuted and
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made the scapegoat for the entire
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transaction
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the main statute here in Nevada with
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regard to mortgage fraud is in rs.20
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5.37 - which makes it a felony to be
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involved in a deceptive mortgage fraud
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transaction if you're convicted under
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this statute the penalty is what we call
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a category C felony
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here in Nevada which is 1 to 10 years in
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state prison however if the court finds
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that there's been a pattern of mortgage
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fraud activity then it becomes what we
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call a category B felony and the penalty
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is 3 to 20 years in Nevada state prison
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you could also be prosecuted separately
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for perjury which carries one to four
[330]
years in state prison and also you could
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be prosecuted by the federal authorities
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and be sent to federal prison so the
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stakes and the consequences of being
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convicted for one of these mortgage
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fraud crimes are draconian and if you
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find yourself charged with one of these
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mortgage fraud schemes you want to do
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everything possible to fight the case
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and avoid being convicted ultimately
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here in the state of Nevada what we've
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seen is that law enforcement is casting
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a very wide net over the whole state of
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Nevada and consequently a lot of
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innocent people particularly here in
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Clark County Las Vegas Nevada have been
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reeled in and are being prosecuted for
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mortgage fraud related crimes here at
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the Las Vegas defense group we are
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determined to make sure that our clients
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are not wrongfully drawn in by this
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widely cast net and we intend to defend
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each and every one of our clients based
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on the specific roles that they play to
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ensure that an innocent small or no role
[404]
player does not get sent to prison as a
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scapegoat for the actions of more
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sophisticated parties
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the most common defense in a mortgage
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fraud case is that the individual did
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not have the intent to defraud in Nevada
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mortgage fraud is a specific intent
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crime one cannot be convicted of
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mortgage fraud unless the state is able
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to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
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the individual had a specific intent to
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defraud someone else
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therefore if someone's acting in good
[435]
faith and did not have the intent to
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deceive someone else then the person is
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not liable for crime another common
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defense to mortgage fraud here in Nevada
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is that the person was acting under the
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instructions or information provided by
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others so for example you may have been
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an escrow officer who was simply acting
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under the directive of your employer or
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you may have been a loan officer who was
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just acting on information that was
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provided to you by appraisers and
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applicants if you were acting in good
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faith just on information and
[469]
instructions given to you but by third
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parties then again you should not be
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held liable for mortgage fraud during
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the time when the seeds of this crisis
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were planted it was very easy to get a
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loan and there was a lot of pressure on
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mortgage lenders and appraisers the
[485]
higher the appraisal value the more of
[488]
the bank would lend sometimes people
[490]
could get money out on the front end to
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furnish the home or to pay off debts in
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the process so it became a magical
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elixir and so we saw a lot of scenarios
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where people bit off more than they
[501]
could chew they bought a house that
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wasn't really worth what they thought it
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was found themselves in debt ultimately
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lost the home and may now be facing
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prosecution in the way of everything
[514]
that they've already lost ultimately we
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have to ask ourselves as a community you
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know who do we blame for the events that
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unfolded in the harm that was caused do
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we scapegoat and blame the appraisers
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the mortgage lenders the Realtors or do
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we ultimately have to just accept some
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shared responsibility and try to move
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forward in a positive direction
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