BusinessWeek: Tiburones en la piscina del mercado inmobiliario

SEPTEMBER 5, 2005NEWS: ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY 

Sharks In The Housing Pool

Deed thieves, property flippers, equity strippers -- these con artists are duping banks and homeowners

By most measures, Matthew B. Cox would appear to be a mortgage lender's dream customer. The 36-year-old former Tampa resident had once worked in the mortgage business, so he understood intimately what it took to qualify for a loan. And Cox threw plenty of business at mortgage lenders in Florida, and then Georgia: An aspiring real estate investor, Cox took out $3.7 million in mortgages to finance his apparently ever-growing stable of houses.

But in reality, Cox was the industry's worst nightmare. Federal law enforcement officials say that Cox -- a.k.a. Michael Shanahan, David Freeman, and Gerald Cugno -- along with his girlfriend, Rebecca M. Hauck, masterminded a massive mortgage fraud that ensnared at least 10 different lenders, including Bank of America Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc.


Using nearly a dozen stolen identities, the pair forged "deeds of satisfaction" to convince banks that they had paid off loans for -- and thus owned -- homes that, in fact, they were renting from the true owners.

With these fake documents, Cox then persuaded banks to lend him millions beginning in 2002 and into 2004 -- millions he and his girlfriend subsequently absconded with. So brazen was Cox that he left some of the mortgage brokers who closed his loans in Florida a copy of his novel-in-progress, titled The Associates -- little more than a barely fictionalized account of his escapades. Cox and his girlfriend are now on the lam, their faces plastered on wanted posters distributed to bankers, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents. "We want to catch him so we can put him on trial," says David E. Nahmius, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.