Ohio men indicted for $1M real estate fraud

Two convicted felons who ran a defunct mortgage brokerage in Vandalia, Ohio, were indicted Wednesday for falsifying 24 mortgages and taking more than $1 million from a mortgage company, an Ohio prosecutor told the Dayton, Ohio Daily News yesterday.

Mark D. Musselman, 49, of Clayton, Ohio, was indicted on 48 felony counts, and Mark S. Edwards, 48, of Piqua, Ohio, was charged with 59 felonies in connection with allegations that they falsified two-dozen mortgages, including mortgages to borrowers who were previously deceased, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. told the Daily News.

The two ran a now-defunct mortgage brokerage – Phoenix Funding – in Ohio, media accounts said. Heck said Musselman was convicted in U.S. District court in 1987 of embezzling and Edwards pleaded guilty in 2003, after the mortgage business closed, to possession of criminal tools and cocaine and was released from probation after a year, according to reports.

Phoenix Funding closed at least two years ago, according to the assistant county prosecutor, George Patricoff, reports said.

The victim of the alleged scheme was InterFirst Mortgage Lenders of Ann Arbor, Mich., owned by ABN AMRO Mortgage, Patricoff said, according to reports.

Heck said the mortgages involved a dozen applications on behalf of dead people, and included “forged loan documents, dozens of fraudulent loans,” with signatures of legitimate appraisers forged or electronically reproduced on documents submitted to InterFirst, media accounts said.

***

Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to janis@inman.com or call (510) 658-9252, ext. 140.