Source: https://www.southfloridacriminaldefenselawyerblog.com/category/white-collar-criminal-defense/page/2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 14:47:36+00:00

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Taylor, Bean & Whitaker halted all mortgage loan funding today in result of a federal investigation. Federal authorities had called the company to close loans which were insured by the Federal Housing Administration. In addition to the FHA suspending the firm, Ginnie Mae cut off Taylor, Bean & Whitaker from its mortgage-backed securities program. Mortgage fraud is running rampant in large-level organizations in today’s business age and its affecting consumers directly. The lender based out of Ocala did not submit a mandatory report which led to the investigation and eventual shutdown.
Gideon Rechnitz currently faces two lawsuits of mortgage fraud in Sarasota County, including one by 71-year-old Yolanda Rodriguez. She claims that in 2006 Rechnitz improperly evicted her and her deaf brother from their home, which he acknowledged in a deposition was worth far more than the $150,000 Rodriguez owed on her mortgage. Rechnitz said in the fall that his foreclosure rescue business had slowed considerably in 2008 because it was harder to find people like Rodriguez with substantial equity. But as home­owners who got 100 percent financing now struggle to renegotiate their mortgage terms, state records show he recently started a new company called Loan Modification Enterprises.
The number of foreclosures in Miami-Dade and Broward continued rising last month, as mounting job losses crippled borrowers’ ability to make monthly payments and lenders lifted previous foreclosure moratoriums and resumed legal action against delinquent accounts. In Miami-Dade County, lenders filed 3,043 initial foreclosure actions against homeowners and reclaimed 819 homes through foreclosure. Hundreds more were scheduled for auction at the courthouse, according to a monthly foreclosure report from Irving, Calif.-based RealtyTrac.
Many lenders suspended foreclosures in the first half of the year as they waited for the Obama administration to release details of a national foreclosure prevention initiative. In February, it launched the Making Home Affordable Plan, which is expected to help as many as 9 million borrowers avoid foreclosure by refinancing or modifying their current mortgages.
Unlike § 817.545, Fla. Stat. (2009) and two other federal statutes concerning mortgage fraud previously discussed, both § 877.10, Fla. Stat. (2009) and § 817.54, Fla. Stat. (2009) require reliance by a person or entity by the fraudulent activity undertaken in order for a defendant to be convicted for either statute. § 877.10, Fla. Stat. (2009) specifically states this reliance requirement,102 but § 877.54, Fla. Stat. (2009) does not.103 However, the latter’s reliance requirement is laid out in the Third District Court of Appeal case, Adams v. State, 650 So.2d 1039 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995).
Lastly, the third and final statute, § 817.545, Fla. Stat. (2009) was promulgated for material misrepresentations or omissions in the “mortgage lending process.”96 § 817.545, Fla. Stat. (2009) was instituted to combat what Florida and other states have determined to be a serious problem, residential mortgage fraud.97 To battle against this serious issue of residential mortgage fraud, states have enacted legislation normally termed residential mortgage fraud acts to punish two different degrees of conduct committed during the mortgage lending process. Generally, as in other states, violations of § 817.545, Fla. Stat. (2009) are third degree felonies, however, exposure to a second degree felony under this statute is possible if “…the loan value stated on documents used in the mortgage lending process exceeds $100,000…”98 This monetary value qualifier for what Florida’s legislature considers to be more abhorrent conduct is inconsistent with other states’ mortgage fraud statutes.

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