105 Charged in Wide-Spread Florida Mortgage Fraud

RealEstateChannel.com reports that The Justice Dept. has charged 105 mortgage company representatives, brokers and other individuals in fraudulent schemes that have netted them $400 million in loans on 700 properties in Florida. In the four Florida markets targeted by federal and local law enforcement agencies over a nine-month period, 32 defendants are from Fort Myers, 30 from Tampa, 24 from Jacksonville and 19 from Orlando. Alex Finkelstein reports that this investigation was launched in late January 2009