Big indictments in Dorean spinoff

[Demosthenes]

DA charges more than $2M stolen from lenders using false documents

By SUSAN HERENDEEN
sherendeen@modbee.com

last updated: November 06, 2007 06:16:05 AM

A Web site maintained by one of the key players in a Modesto-based mortgage elimination scheme suggested that homeowners could legally write off their loans by filing some simple paperwork with government agencies.

Real estate agents who face a host of fraud and theft charges must have known they were engaged in a risky venture, an investigator said in court records, because they created a fictitious fall guy.

The men rented an office in Menlo Park for "Seth Davis," who had a desk and computer as well as a cell phone that could not be traced by law enforcement. According to authorities, the men intended to blame everything on that imaginary financier when the scheme inevitably failed.

A tip from a suspicious lender may have foiled that plan.

"If they wouldn't have been so greedy, they might still be in business," said Richard Morris, a partner with Capital Finance Mortgage Brokers in South Lake Tahoe.

Much more here: http://www.modbee.com/local/story/113240.html