What’s Your Price?
No matter what your moral or religious beliefs, I think everyone has a price for which they will commit a crime. For some people that price is intangible. It may be their life, or the life of their friends or relatives. For others, it may very well be a sum of money.
Over the years, I’ve seen people lose their careers, sometimes their freedom for various small sums of money. Sometimes it was a case of direct theft. Sometimes it was a matter of bending the rules. In one instance, it was a case of murder.
The loan brokers at Champion Mortgage did it for the money. Based on the fines the Division of Real Estate levied on them, I can’t see the few extra thousands of dollars they made being worth it at all.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported this morning -
/>The state revoked the licenses of five loan officers at Champion: Phillip Rowson of Riverton, Leo Kanell II of Salt Lake City, Eric C. Larsen of Sandy, Shawn Roach of Draper and Carlos Lira of Riverton.
Rowson has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for admitting he employed unlicensed individuals to originate mortgage loans, according to the state order. He also admitted to being aware of several instances in which loans were fraudulently approved with fake documents or false information, and that in one instance he verified false employment and income information for a co-worker’s brother who was trying to get a home loan.
In actions taken against his staff:
* Kanell II was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for admitting he submitted a fraudulent document in support of a loan application and temporarily adding loan applicants to bank accounts to inflate their assets. He also admitted to submitting false employment and income information on a loan application and indicating that some properties were to be “owner-occupied,” when in fact they were being purchased as investments. Borrowers who seek money to purchase a property they plan to occupy often pay lower mortgage rates and have to put down less money than those who are buying a home as an investment. Kanell II also admitted to misrepresenting his own income on a personal loan application, according to the state order.
* Larsen was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine for admitting that he submitted fraudulent employment and inflated income information on a mortgage loan application, according to the order. He also admitted to providing his assistant’s cell phone number as a person who could verify a borrower’s income and that he altered an applicant’s credit report.
* Roach was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine for admitting he submitted a loan application on behalf of a co-worker with false information, according to the order. He also admitted to doctoring numerous documents used to support loan applications.
* Lira, who the order said neither confirmed nor denied the allegations against him, was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. State officials allege that he submitted false loan data, including an income statement claiming than an applicant earned $12,000 per month. Investigators confirmed he made only half that amount.
It appears the DRE is sending a message with this action to all the State’s mortgage brokers. It’s a good thing too, because Utah is still in the top ten for mortgage fraud despite an aggressive licensing campaign.
I’ll admit I too have a price. The number is $10,000,000. If you leave me in charge of that kind of money, I’ll find a way to abscond with it. Other than that, you are safe with me.