Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times published a web article about 3 Los Angeles Mortgage Brokers who did more than help their clients lie on applications to close deals and collect commissions...they forged documents and took refinance proceedings.

I found a similar article on line  at examiner.com, that opens with, "This is a news story, that if proven true in the courts, sets a new milestone in hubris and anti-social behavior by three licensed real estate professionals towards the public. When you read what has been alleged, perhaps you will wonder as I do how these individuals thought they could commit the alleged crimes without being detected."

That's right, this trio got their clients to accept one set of loan terms and then turned around and got the lenders to accept better terms from the lenders.  This would be cool, EXCEPT these dirt bags went ahead and forged their client's signatures on the documents, allowing the borrowers to borrow more money.  Anyone want to guess what happened with that extra money?  I'll give you a hint - can you spell origination fees?

According to the Attorney General, this 3 man crime wave accepted origination fees ranging from $20,000 to $57,000 for each loan.  The total loss is over $950,000 and left borrowers with about $30 million in loans with terms they did not agree to.

Said Attorney General Brown, "This was not some clerical error but a criminal conspiracy to steal nearly a million dollars from borrowers."

The defendants have been charged with the following crimes:

1. 28 counts of grand theft (Penal Code Section 487, Subdivision (a))
2. 14 counts of forgery (Penal Code Section 470, Subdividion (d))
3. 1 count of elder abuse (Penal Code 182, Subdivision (d))
4. 1 count of conspiracy to commit grand theft (Penal Code Section 182, Subdivision (a)(1))
5. 3 special allegations of aggravated white-collar crime in excess of $500,000 (Penal Code Section 186.11,
Subdivision (a)(2))
6. Taking in excess of $3,200,000 (Penal Code Section 12022.6, Subdivision (a)(4) and (b)).

Now, for the good news - all 3 are behind bars and each being held on a $2-million bail.

Unfortunately, this is not the first run these guys have had, on the dark side.  The ring leader was sued by the Attorney General for a property tax reassessment scam.

Before publishing this post, I had the hunch some good stuff would turn up if I did a Google search.

It appears our ring leader, Michael McConville and his brother Sean have problems with the Dept of Corporations.  In a Desist & Refrain Order the McConvilles were accused of a "rash of recent consumer complaints received by the Department against ALG alleging fraud and other problems."