Take a look at these exceprts from the grand jury transcripts for the Plantation Cop's mortgage fraud case aka "Operation Copout"...
With respect to this particular Indictment, we’re talking about the first count, which is a conspiracy count. It’s a conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing of false statement with a Government agency, the Department of Housing & Urban Development.Oh really?
Counts 2 through 12 are the mail fraud counts. Counts 13 through 25 are the wire fraud counts. Counts 26 through 33 are the 1001 counts, which is the filing of a false statement with a federal agency.No kidding? Here's a snippet of the testimony from the agent who put together the case...
Q. And the department or agency to which the HUD-1 is submitted is the Department of Housing & Urban Development?Anyone see the problem there? Think it over and we'll discuss in detail tomorrow...
A. Yes.
Who asked that question? It was asked in a leading way, as if to ask the witness to confirm the statement. If he actually asked a question, then the questioner's faith in an untested assumption wouldn't have been exposed. Don't they teach any of that in lawering school?
ReplyDeleteGood point John but you're missing the real issue. Take another look...
ReplyDeleteIt's untested assumptions all the way down. If he had just once asked someone what a HUD-1 is, then there wouldn't be any consipracy to file a false statement with them. Did he get the indictment on that count? Funny if the internal controls at the DAs office and the grand jury review both fail to screen out a charge that any informed person can see is false. Of course grand juries indict people for flying on brooms.
ReplyDeleteJohn's obviously not very smart...it's a Federal case! No D.A.!
ReplyDeleteDA, AUSA, same shit.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal, I don't see it.
Pretty scary to see the DOJ making mistakes like this.
ReplyDeleteUnless there is another thing I am missing, our author wants us to remember that the HUD-1 form goes to the borrower, not HUD. It's like an itemized bill that the borrower can match up to the Good Faith Estimate of closing costs to audit that they have not been hit with a bait and switch. It's explained nicely by HUD.
And how do you even put false information on a HUD-1. It might be off from the GFE, in which case maybe the GFE was off. But isn't the HUD-1 ground truth?
The HUD-1 is a HUD-provided form for real estate transactions, hence the name. It's put together by the title company and is supposed to lay out all monies laid out as part of the transaction. A copy of the HUD-1 goes to the borrower, but the originals stay with the title company and go to the lender. The lender, if using a Government-backed loan (such as FHA or sold off to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac), ultimately provides that HUD-1 to HUD as one of the documents showing the nature of that loan. HUD relies on that information as being true and accurate to the best of the settlement agent's knowledge.
ReplyDelete