State takes on mortgage fraud

Mortgage fraud is not new in Colorado and efforts to police the industry are intensifying at the state and local levels.

Two recent cases:

- On March 24, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced a statewide grand jury had indicted 10 people in an alleged scheme to obtain $10.9 million in fraudulent loans involving 34 properties in the Denver area.

- In February, a district judge in Pueblo sentenced real estate investor Maurice Goring to 10 years in prison and fined him $25,000 for racketeering.

At trial in October, prosecutors said Goring used straw buyers, forged documents and inflated appraisals to fraudulently obtain about $2 million in loans on several houses. The loans quickly went into foreclosure and Goring pocketed the proceeds, prosecutors said.

Investigating mortgage fraud is the top priority of the Colorado Division of Real Estate's 45 employees, said agency director Erin Toll.

She said mortgage fraud is especially bad in Denver, Greeley, Loveland, Pueblo and Weld County.

Since she took office 18 months ago, Toll said her agency has pushed through a new state law making it illegal to "facilitate mortgage fraud in any way."

In addition, anyone involved in a bogus loan is obligated under the new law to report it.

She encourages anyone who suspects mortgage fraud to report it to her office at 303-894-2166 or online at the agency's Web site: www.dora.state.co.us/real-estate/

Her agency is the primary watchdog for the licensing and regulation of real estate brokers, appraisers and mortgage brokers.