Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Here’s a variation on mortgage fraud out of Houston, Texas.

According to the plea agreement, Turner arranged for a straw borrower to buy a home located on the 1600 block of Cherry Ridge Drive and changed the purchase contract to instruct the title company to pay $62,000 of the loan proceeds to a remodeling company of the buyer’s choice. The proceeds were supposed to be used toward repairs and upgrades to be made at the home.

First National Bank of Arizona processed the more than $200,000 mortgage loan in Nov. 2006. During the closing process, Turner submitted a $62,000 false invoice in the name of First Class Construction Inc. for repairs and remodeling.

Turner actually owned First Class Construction Inc. and never performed any repairs or remodeling to the purchased home. The title company and First National Bank of Arizona were not aware of the conflict of interest that took place.

Turner took the check addressed to First Class Construction Inc. to a Money Stop check cashing location on Bissonnet. He cashed the check and received the money in fifty-one $1,000 money orders, a $365 money order and $9,992 in cash.

According to the charges filed against Turner, he allegedly engaged in more than forty residential property transactions that fraudulently caused mortgage lenders to pay out approximately $2 million in excess funds.