On Friday, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein announced a new effort to fight against mortgage fraud in the state of Maryland and beyond. The new Maryland Mortgage Task Force will go after fraud crimes that cross over city, county, and state lines, said Rosenstein. The task force will not just go after fraudulent mortgage consultants, but also after the lawyers, appraisers, and accountants who aid them in taking money from homeowners.
“None of our agencies alone has the resources to be able to confront this crisis, but working together we think we’ve been very effective in targeting some of the most significant offenders in the mortgage fraud industry here in Maryland, ” Rosenstein said.
The task force has two primary objectives: to raise public awareness of mortgage scams, and to provide deterrence by giving law enforcement the tools needed to aggressively prosecute mortgage-related crimes.
The agencies that will work in conjunction with the task force include the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, the Office of the Attorney General, the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.