In 2007, Newsday, a Long Island Newspaper, uncovered a mortgage scheme by Alan Wildler. Mr. Wildler founded HTFC Corporation, a Garden City mortgage bank. Mr. Wildler perpetrated $30,000,000 in mortgage fraud on Long Island residents. It is now 9 years later and he has recently been convicted regarding his mortgage fraud conspiracy. He now will face up to 30 years in prison.

How The Fraud Worked

Mr. Wildler would buy properties and thereafter transfer the properties to a trust. He would then sell the properties for as much as $300,000 more than he paid for them. He utilized false appraisals which justified the higher prices. He sold the properties during the time of a hot real estate market which concealed the activity for a while. Thereafter, Wildler’s bank would sell off the mortgage loan. Other financial institutions were thereafter defrauded by Wildler’s actions. Banks that purchased the loans as well as the Nassau County Assessment Office flagged the properties as fraudulent transactions. Unfortunately, it took more than 8 years after the mortgage fraud scheme was uncovered for Mr. Wildler to be convicted for his wrongdoing.

Mortgage Fraud Convictions Are Rare

The real estate market had a significant decline in the year 2008. Thereafter there was a huge increase in foreclosure activity. Subsequent investigators uncovered numerous instances involving mortgage fraud in the metropolitan New York area as well as the rest of the country. Unfortunately, very few individuals involved in mortgage fraud have actually been convicted of their activities. Mortgage fraud has a negative impact on the financial market, destroys the lives of families that are defrauded, and creates a lack of confidence among the general public with regard to the institutions involved in buying, selling and financing of real estate transactions.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a foreclosure lawyer representing homeowners whose homes have been foreclosed, and foreclosure cases and helps homeowners obtain mortgage modifications.