A Missouri mother and son were indicted Tuesday in connection with an alleged mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in 23 fraudulent loans totaling more than $5 million.
Eric Kendall Taylor, 35 of Lee’s Summit, Mo., and his mother, Doris Taylor, 58, Kansas City, Mo., were indicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri on April 4.
The two are alleged in the indictment to have operated a mortgage fraud scheme in Kansas City and Lee’s Summit, Missouri from the summer of 1999 through September 23, 2005. The 20-count grand jury indictment includes charges of conspiracy, scheme to defraud and fraud.
According to the indictment, Eric Taylor was in the business of investing in real estate in the Kansas City and Lee’s Summit areas of Missouri. Doris Taylor was a real estate broker, doing business as Doris J. Taylor Realty, according to the indictment. Doris Taylor also invested in residential properties in Kansas City and Lee’s Summit, Missouri, the indictment said.
The indictment said the defendants would acquire residential properties after foreclosure at reduced prices and then solicit and induce individuals to purchase the real estate and obtain mortgages as straw borrowers.
The defendants also purchased properties and obtained mortgage loans in their own names, the indictment said. The defendants caused inflated appraisals to be prepared and Eric Taylor allegedly prepared and submitted all manner of false supporting documents, according to the indictment.
Eric Taylor allegedly purchased false Social Security numbers, payroll stubs, employer identification numbers and W-2 forms from an individual identified in the indictment only as “R.W.” “R.W.” is also alleged to have agreed to verify false employment information, according to the indictment.
Eric Taylor is also alleged to have used fictitious business names to create false employment and income information, verification and documentation, and to have created false second mortgages to a company that was under his control. He would then have loan proceeds disbursed to him by representing that that company held mortgage liens on the properties, the indictment alleged.
