Sadie Stanhope Ng, Quincy, Massachusetts, an alleged straw buyer, and Richard Winefield, Nasua, New Hampshire, a real estate agent, have been charged for their roles in an equity stripping scheme aimed at distressed homeowners in New Hampshire.
Winefield was charged on February 8, 2011, and Ng was charged on March 18, 2011. On March 1, 2011, Winefield pled guilty to the charges.
According to the charges, the defendants lured distressed homeowners with a promise that after signing their homes over to the defendants, the homeowners could rent the home and buy it back later. After the defendants took legal title to the properties, they refinanced the houses with much larger loans, and misappropriated the equity for their personal use. Thereafter, the defendants would flip the properties to straw buyers at inflated values.
Ng was a straw buyer on at least seven of the transactions.
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.