The scheme involved the purchase of multifamily properties in Boston with fraudulently obtained mortgages
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Dual US-Irish citizen Patrick Lee has been extradited to the US from Ireland to face mortgage fraud and identity theft charges in federal court in Boston, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Lee is facing 29 counts of wire fraud, six counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and 16 counts of aggravated identity theft. He was indicted in 2011. Formerly a resident in Canton and Easton, Mass., Lee moved to Ireland in 2007 and had been living there since.
The charges are rooted in allegations that Lee was part of a mortgage fraud scheme that ran from 2005 to 2007 under which multifamily properties in Dorchester and South Boston were bought using illegally obtained mortgages.
The scheme is alleged to have recruited straw buyers to sign purchase documents. They were then made to sign false mortgage loan applications prepared by mortgage brokers engaged by Lee and others. Additionally, it is alleged that Lee prepared appraisals for the properties even though he was not a licensed real estate appraiser. The charge claims that Lee used the name and license number of an actual licensed appraiser.
The indictment further alleged that Lee arranged real estate attorneys to hold closings for the transactions employing false and misleading documents. Loan applications were then sent to mortgage lenders who granted the loans based on the fraudulent appraisals and other misrepresentations. Lee and other sellers then received the loan proceeds without the straw buyers either moving into the properties or paying for the mortgage loans. The lenders suffered damage as the properties eventually went into foreclosure.
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Lee is facing 29 counts of wire fraud, six counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and 16 counts of aggravated identity theft. He was indicted in 2011. Formerly a resident in Canton and Easton, Mass., Lee moved to Ireland in 2007 and had been living there since.
The charges are rooted in allegations that Lee was part of a mortgage fraud scheme that ran from 2005 to 2007 under which multifamily properties in Dorchester and South Boston were bought using illegally obtained mortgages.
The scheme is alleged to have recruited straw buyers to sign purchase documents. They were then made to sign false mortgage loan applications prepared by mortgage brokers engaged by Lee and others. Additionally, it is alleged that Lee prepared appraisals for the properties even though he was not a licensed real estate appraiser. The charge claims that Lee used the name and license number of an actual licensed appraiser.
The indictment further alleged that Lee arranged real estate attorneys to hold closings for the transactions employing false and misleading documents. Loan applications were then sent to mortgage lenders who granted the loans based on the fraudulent appraisals and other misrepresentations. Lee and other sellers then received the loan proceeds without the straw buyers either moving into the properties or paying for the mortgage loans. The lenders suffered damage as the properties eventually went into foreclosure.
Related stories:
Mortgage app defect risk on the decline
Four NJ real estate pros arrested in $5 million fraud case
