From the Seattle Times:

A Seattle grand jury has indicted seven people, including owners of two Bellevue mortgage loan companies and an escrow company, in a 40-count indictment alleging conspiracy to commit mortgage, bank and wire fraud totaling more than $47 million.
The indictments allege the seven conspired to fraudulently purchase dozens of Seattle and Eastside homes at inflated prices. The charges allege they would obtain loans using “straw buyers” — people who had no intention of living in the home but allowed their identities and credit to be used for a fee — and sometimes using unwitting applicants convinced they could make a buck by buying a home and then immediately reselling it.

“The defendants … caused the loan application for the straw buyers and otherwise unqualified buyers to be prepared based upon fraudulent representations related to gross income, employment status, assets and liabilities, and whether the property would be used as a primary residence,” the indictment says.

The indictment alleges they would “divert a significant portion of the loan proceeds from escrow accounts for their personal benefits.”

….Meantime, the state Department of Financial Services last year began an action to deny Vladislav Baydovskiy a license as a loan originator because he had lied about regulatory actions taken against Kobay in California in 2005, where his license was revoked for fraud.”

Read the whole story here.

I’m hoping the National Mortgage Licensing Registry will help us all keep better track of the fraudsters and keep them out of the mortgage lending industry.