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11 Charged, 3 in South Jersey, in Mortgage Scam
(Source: By Barbara Boyer, The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT) – Three South Jersey residents are among nearly a dozen people charged in an elaborate, $15 million mortgage scam that led to the attempted murder of one of those involved, federal authorities said Thursday.
Eleven people from five states have been charged, including a Philadelphia man, according to an indictment released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
“These defendants created false documents and used straw buyers to convince lenders to give them $15 million for properties that were worth far less,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.
“Members of the scheme were willing to launder money – and even to kill – in order to get their hands on the profits and cover their tracks.”
Authorities said the individuals used false documents so that the “straw” buyers qualified for loans for distressed properties – including condominiums in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest – at inflated prices.
The buyers had good credit scores, but not the financial resources to buy the properties. When federal authorities served a subpoena on a mortgage brokerage firm involved, Kinard J. Henson, 40, of Ventress, Ala., allegedly attempted to have one of the witnesses killed, according to the indictment.
The witness was lured into a wooded area in Alabama and shot in the chest but survived.
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