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.

Compañía de préstamos sospecha de fraude departe de agentes hipotecarios

Mortgage company suspects fraud by Tampa brokers

While workers say they haven't been paid, the Clearwater company's CEO says some loans show signs of fraud.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, St. Petersburg Times Staff Writer
Published August 5, 2005

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A group of Tampa workers twice recently have picketed outside the headquarters of a Clearwater mortgage financing company, saying they haven't been paid for about two months of work. But the company says its reputation is being unfairly smeared.

"We have done nothing wrong," said Jerry Cugno, CEO of Premier Mortgage Funding.

The Clearwater company and a Tampa mortgage broker are trading accusations of fraud. State regulators say they will investigate.

Tampa mortgage broker Victor Perry says he signed a contract on May 13 to become a branch of Premier, which has about 600 branches nationwide. Perry says he and a dozen employees have been signing customers up for mortgages in 36 states using the Premier name.

When banks or title companies sent the Tampa employees their commissions from the approved loans, the office sent the checks to Premier headquarters. Perry says that Premier was then supposed to pay his employees their commissions, but that the company hasn't been doing that. This prompted the picketing last week.

However, Cugno says he is happy to pay the workers what they are owed. The problem, he says, is that some of the loans show signs of fraud.

Cugno said he has begun paying commissions for some loans, but cannot pay for loans he suspects are fraudulent. "We have to separate the good loans from the bad," he said.

Businessweek: Cuando los pobres con casa propia son un problema

BUSINESSWEEK

NOVEMBER 1, 2004 

ECONOMICS/Commentary

When Home Buying By The Poor Backfires

By: Peter Coy

For many families, a house can be a bad investment

Mildred Wilkins calls it "falling out the back door." It's what happens when low-income families who have bought their first houses are forced out because they can't keep up the mortgage payments. Says Wilkins, an Indianapolis consumer advocate who once worked for Fannie Mae (FNM ) selling foreclosed properties: "I don't care if you put five families in the front door if three families fall out the back door. It breaks my heart to see it. It absolutely breaks my heart

In Washington, making it easier for the poor to buy homes is as uncontroversial as Mom's apple pie. Measures to increase the rate of low-income homeownership have historically been strongly supported by both Democrats and Republicans, as well as homebuilders and banks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (FRE ), the giant mortgage-finance institutions, have justified their existence by their promotion of homeownership among the poor. More recently, boosting low-income home buying has been an important part of what President George W. Bush calls the "ownership society."

Unlike many government initiatives, the homeownership campaign is succeeding: The nation's homeownership rate reached a record 69.2% in the second quarter, up from 67.2% four years earlier. Among families in the bottom half of incomes, the rate rose to 53.1% from 50.8% over the same stretch. Advocates say ownership builds wealth while promoting responsibility.

Forbes: posiciona a Countrywide entre las 25 grandes compañias de USA de mayor crecimiento en el 2004

Fastest-Growing Big Companies
 
Countrywide Branches Out Beyond Mortgages 

Ari Weinberg, 04.16.04, 3:00 PM ET 

NEW YORK - The company is no longer known as Countrywide Credit Industries but the mortgage company founded in 1969 by Angelo Mozilo and the late David Loeb has been pumping out home loans with factory-like efficiency over the past few years.


On the back of historically low interest rates, the company now known as Countrywide Financial churned out $434 billion in new loans in 2003, compared with $252 billion in 2002, making it the largest independent mortgage lender, slightly ahead of $384 billion in home lending for Washington Mutual and just behind the $470 billion of production by Wells Fargo. 

But Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide earned its place on our list of America's 25 Fastest-Growing Big Companies for its 33% annual revenue growth over the last five years as the fastest-growing company among U.S. financial services firms on the Global 2000. Countrywide's earnings per share--at $8.31 per share in 2003 versus $3.25 per share in 2002--and stock price, up nearly 180% since the end of 2001 to just under $56, have shown that the company has been able to translate that revenue surge into earnings. 

At an investor meeting in late March, Chairman and Chief Executive Mozilo rolled out a five-year strategic plan for Countrywide to augment its position in the mortgage banking sector and reduce its sensitivity to interest rate changes. The company plans to grow out capital markets, banking and insurance such that those divisions contribute 50% of earnings by 2008. Additionally, the company is aiming for a more sustainable 15% cumulative annual earnings growth over that period in what it calls a "normal" market.