II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1724 

To establish a competitive grant program in the Department of Justice 

to be administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance which shall 

assist local criminal prosecutor’s offices in investigating and prosecuting 

crimes of real estate fraud. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. KYL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a competitive grant program in the Department 

of Justice to be administered by the Bureau of Justice 

Assistance which shall assist local criminal prosecutor’s 

offices in investigating and prosecuting crimes of real 

estate fraud. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fighting Real Estate 

5 Fraud Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General is author3 ized to make grants on a competitive basis through the 

4 Bureau of Justice Assistance in accordance with the for5 mula established in section 5 of this Act, to States, units 

6 of local government, and Indian tribal governments (re7 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘applicant’’) for the purpose 

8 of assisting the offices of State and local criminal prosecu9 tors in investigating and prosecuting real estate fraud. 

10 (b) REAL ESTATE FRAUD.—In this Act, the term 

11 ‘‘real estate fraud’’ includes crimes involving purposeful 

12 misrepresentations, forgeries, omissions to general appli13 cations, tax returns, financial statements, appraisals and 

14 valuations, verifications of deposit and employment, es15 crow and closing documents, credit reports, and any ac16 tions that may defraud a secured creditor. 

17 SEC. 3. APPLICATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicant desiring a grant 

19 under this Act shall submit an application to the Attorney 

20 General at such time, in such a manner, and accompanied 

21 by such information as the Attorney General may reason22 ably require. 

23 (b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted pursu24 ant to subsection (a) shall— 

25 (1) describe the activities for which assistance 

26 under this Act is sought; 


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1 (2) include information determined by the At2 torney General to be relevant in demonstrating the 

3 applicant’s need for funding; 

4 (3) attest that funds shall go only to the hiring, 

5 training, and employing of staff dedicated to the in6 vestigation and prosecution of real estate fraud; and 

7 (4) provide such additional assurances as the 

8 Attorney General determines to be essential to en9 sure compliance with the requirements of this Act. 

10 SEC. 4. LIMITS ON FUNDING. 

11 Funds received pursuant to a grant under this Act 

12 may not be expended to offset a reduction in any other 

13 source of funds. 

14 SEC. 5. FORMULA. 

15 (a) ALLOCATION BETWEEN STATES AND UNITS OF

16 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERN17 MENTS.—Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

18 under section 8— 

19 (1) 70 percent of such amounts shall be allo20 cated for direct grants to units of local government 

21 and Indian tribal governments; and 

22 (2) 30 percent of such amounts shall be allo23 cated for direct grants to States. 


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1 (b) ALLOCATION BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL LO2 CALITIES AND INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.—Of the 

3 amounts allocated under subsection (a)(1)— 

4 (1) 50 percent of such amounts shall be allo5 cated for grants pursuant to applications submitted 

6 by units of local government or Indian tribal govern7 ments having jurisdiction over areas with popu8 lations exceeding 150,000; and 

9 (2) 50 percent of such amounts shall be allo10 cated for grants pursuant to applications submitted 

11 by units of local government or Indian tribal govern12 ments having jurisdiction over areas with popu13 lations of 150,000 or less. 

14 SEC. 6. RULES. 

15 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall promulgate 

17 rules regarding the grant program authorized by this Act. 

18 SEC. 7. GAO REPORT. 

19 Not later than April 1, 2012, the Comptroller Gen20 eral shall submit a report to Congress regarding the effec21 tiveness of the grant program authorized by this Act as 

22 determined by the number of real estate fraud cases inves23 tigated and prosecuted resulting from this Act. 


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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 

4 and 2012. 

Æ 


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