by Calculated Risk on 7/08/2009 07:18:00 PM

This is definitely "brazen" ...

From CNN: 25 charged in $100 million mortgage fraud

The D.A.'s office said the following banks were ripped off over a four-year period, ending in April: Countrywide, New Century Bank, Saxon Bank, Greenpoint Bank, ABC Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and SunTrust. Some of the defendants were bank employees, according to the D.A.

"The conspirators caused the banks to front millions of dollars to finance purchases of the properties," read a statement from the D.A.'s office. "They then walked away with most of the cash, leaving behind over-valued properties and worthless mortgage papers."

The D.A.'s office described a "particularly brazen sham transaction" where one of the suspects, Stephen Martini, allegedly wrote up a bogus appraisal of $500,000 for a two-family home, but "in reality, the location was a vacant lot."

For more mortgage fraud, here is the Mortgage Fraud blog.