Last week a federal judge likened Patrick Balf (a Pennsylvania man who was convicted of wire fraud, tax evasion and filing false income tax reforms in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme) to Robin Hood. An editorial in The Morning Call sets the record straight.
Noting that "The Banking Department and the U.S. Attorney's office are trying to crack down on fraud and predatory lending, but having the guilty portrayed as folk heroes is insulting to those efforts." and concluding:
With due respect to Judge Robreno's judicial wisdom, Mr. Balf is no Robin Hood. Instead, we think the prosecutors had the clearer view. They said that while Mr. Balf called it ''creative financing,'' the right term is fraud.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors.