St. Louis County Man Indicted on Mortgage Fraud Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 23, 2009 |
St. Louis, MO: Joseph Martin, Sr. was indicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a 18-month long mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today.
The indictment alleges that Martin and others flipped 10 homes in 18 months by using “straw buyers” to get mortgage loans on overvalued properties – mostly in south St. Louis. Martin is alleged to have personally taken more than $300,000 out of the 10 transactions through checks compensating him for “repairs” at closing. Martin’s co-conspirators are alleged to have taken out hundreds of thousands more. All the homes described in the indictment have either gone into foreclosure or have non-performing loans. In 2006, James McMullen, Rodney Tate and Reginald Mays were all convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud for a scheme involving a number of the same properties described in the Martin indictment. McMullen and Tate remain in federal prison.
Mays is currently on probation.
“This indictment is an all-too-familiar tale of greed, corruption and shoddy business practices resulting in losses for the lenders and creating challenges for the neighborhoods in which these homes are located,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Michael W. Reap.
Martin, 62, of St. Louis County, Missouri was indicted by a grand jury in St. Louis, late Thursday on one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.
If convicted, Martin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000.
Last November, U.S. Attorney Hanaway convened the first meeting of the U.S. Attorney’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force. The task force consists of over 70 residents of the Eastern District of Missouri involved in banking, mortgage brokerage, real estate sales, title insurance, real estate appraising as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement, regulatory officials and non-government organizations. Anyone wishing to report suspected mortgage fraud or participate in the work of the task force is encouraged to call the Mortgage Fraud hotline at 1-866-587-9571.
Hanaway commended the work on the case by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus, who is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.