CONGRATULATIONS ORLANDO DO CAMPO ON YOUR RECENT VICTORY  — U.S. v. Yamile Segurola — Not Guilty on all Counts in a $29 Million Mortgage Fraud Prosecution!

Real Estate Mortgage Crisis Leads to Criminal Investigations in South Florida

A perfect storm of declining real estate values and a rising number of home foreclosures has led to an increasing number of criminal investigations for mortgage fraud in South Florida. When a real estate deal goes bad, many prosecutors are now looking for someone to take the fall. That someone could be a real estate broker, a loan officer, a developer, the appraiser, the seller or even the buyer involved in the transaction.

At do Campo & Thornton in Miami, our lawyers are experienced at defending all the players in a real estate transaction against a government looking for someone to take the blame for the downturn in the market. Many of our clients, as well as many charged in these offenses, are decent people who have never faced criminal charges before.

Victims of a Bad Real Estate Market

Mortgage fraud is a very serious felony that can result in fines, jail time and a permanent criminal record. Yet many of the people who are charged with mortgage fraud don’t even know that what they did was a crime.

Mortgage fraud usually involves accusations of:

• Misrepresenting your income to obtain a loan
• Inflated home appraisals
• Making false statements in connection with a real estate transaction

The penalties in a fraud case generally increase with the dollar amount of the transaction. Since real estate transactions typically involve hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, the potential penalties for those accused can be very high.