Real Estate Fraud and Mortgage Fraud

South Florida has the dubious distinction of being one of the national leaders of fraud related to the purchase and sale of real estate and the financial transactions related to buying and selling real property. Both the State of Florida and the U. S. Government have created task forces comprised of investigators financial analysts and prosecutors who are targeting fraudulent real estate deals.

Your Future...Your Decision

Attorney Sam Rabin • 305-358-1064 • Email

Our firm has been involved in many investigations of people involved in all aspects of real estate transactions and we understand the complexities involved in real estate sales and purchases. We have represented real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, title companies, bankers, property owners, property sellers and property buyers in different cases in which we have been involved.

The most common frauds related to a real estate deal involve straw buyers or purchasers of real property; the unreported or concealed payment to one or more parties involved in the real estate transaction; the use of inflated real estate appraisals; the falsification of mortgage documents that are then relied upon by a federally insured bank which lends money based upon the false information; and the agreement between buyer and seller to increase the purchase price of the property to obtain more money from a lender than would otherwise be provided.

We aggressively represent parties involved in fraudulent real estate transactions. Just because a particular real estate deal has a fraudulent component does not mean that everyone involved in the deal is involved in the crime. While law enforcement officers may take the view that anyone involved in a fraudulent real estate deal had to know it was a "bad" deal, the law does not support such a view. There are innocent participants in real estate deals where fraud has been committed. You should always seek the advice of a lawyer before you speak with an investigator seeking to discuss a suspect real estate transaction.

We urge our clients to speak with us before they speak to investigators who have contacted them to discuss a real estate transaction where fraud is suspected or detected. We can and have made the difference between our clients being witnesses in a fraudulent real estate deal as opposed to defendants charged with a crime in a fraudulent real estate deal.