Universal Mortgage, Inc., Universal President Donald Walthall, and Universal loan officers and agents Marlon Pratt, Rahmeen Underwood, Andre Bellfield and Cleveland Fields have been charged by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman with theft and racketeering in a 25 count criminal complaint. Two of the defendants were taken into custody and have been released, however there are outstanding warrants for the remaining three defendants.
The complaint alleges a $4.9 million mortgage fraud scam making it the largest in a series of similar cases filed in recent weeks.
The complaint identifies 24 homes involved in the scheme, most of which are located in North Minneapolis, Minnesota and have gone into foreclosure. The complaint identifies five straw buyers used by Universal to purchase from 2 to 9 homes each.
The complaint alleges Universal Mortgage and its agents falsified the loan applications for its straw buyers to qualify them for bank loans. False statements in the applications concerned employment histories, incomes, assets, debts and intentions to reside in the purchased homes.
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.