Inman

Inflated real estate appraisals at center of fraud ring

Five individuals in Georgia and Pennsylvania were recently indicted on charges relating to a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Nathan Parker, 48, a/k/a “Nathan Pasha,” and his brother Danny Parker, 54, both of Philadelphia, and Carla Kinsey, 40, David Pinnix, 42, and London Bolden, 55, a/k/a “Larry Bolton,” all of Atlanta, were indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and the use of false Social Security numbers.

The indictment charges that from January 1999 until October 2001, Nathan Parker and his co-defendants, who were then based in Atlanta, defrauded financial institutions and other mortgage lenders by submitting false qualifying information and false documentation to obtain mortgage loans. Defendants allegedly used the U.S. Mail and various wire transfers as their means of relaying qualifying information and the proceeds of the mortgage fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, the defendants conspired to use stolen identities and false Social Security numbers for some of the loan applicants. In other cases, the defendants paid “straw” borrowers to obtain mortgage loans with false employment, income and asset and liability information. The fraudulent mortgage loans applied for totaled approximately $4 million, according to the charges.

Defendants allegedly used appraisers to highly inflate the market value of the properties and also inflated the contract sales price, thus increasing the amount that the lenders would lend on the properties. At real estate closings, defendants allegedly pocketed the significant difference in the values. Borrowers eventually were unable to make the monthly mortgage payments on the properties, and the lenders foreclosed and were forced to sell the properties at reduced values much below the original, inflated appraisals.

According to the indictment and other public information in this case, the properties involved in this case are all residential dwellings in the metro Atlanta area, and some of the lenders and financial institutions involved in the mortgage scheme are located in the Atlanta area.

U.S. Secret Service agents began the process of arresting the defendants last week in Philadelphia and Atlanta. Nathan Parker turned himself in to federal authorities.

The arrests were the culmination of a lengthy, complicated investigation, according to Dave Wilkinson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Atlanta.

“As this case demonstrates, the Secret Service will continue to aggressively pursue individuals who allegedly commit fraud,” Wilkinson said.

An indictment contains only charges, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

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