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In the following press release Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced the filing of charges in a $4.9 million mortgage fraud case. The fraud amount is the largest in a series of similar cases filed in recent weeks.

Charged with theft and racketeering in a 25 count complaint are Universal Mortgage, Inc., Universal President Donald Walthall, and Universal loan officers and agents Marlon Pratt, Rahmeen Underwood, Andre Bellfield and Cleveland Fields. Two of the defendants were taken into custody over the weekend and have been released from custody, however there are outstanding warrants for the remaining three defendants.

The complaint identifies 24 homes involved in the scheme, most of which are located in North Minneapolis and have gone into foreclosure. The complaint identifies five straw buyers used by Universal to purchase from 2 to 9 homes each.

The complaint alleges Universal Mortgage and its agents falsified the loan applications for its “straw buyers” to qualify them for bank loans. False statements in the applications concerned employment histories, incomes, assets, debts and intentions to reside in the purchased homes.

Freeman thanked several agencies including the U-S Postal Inspectors, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.[/font][/color]



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