felons as mortgage brokers

Out of work? Just released from prison and cant find a good job?

No problem. become a mortgage broker. Few, if any questions asked, and little or no oversight or regulation. Ex-cons as mortgage brokers stole over $84 million from 2000to 2007, according to a Miami Herald investigative study. Thats over a MILLION dollars a month from the elderly, the poor and the disabled. Their outlandish mortgage scams included wildly inflated appraisals and phony loan applications. They defrauded borrowers and absconded with millions. Florida is now #1 in mortgage fraud in the country. We're number 1 !!!!

The Office of Financial Regulation's excuse for allowing 10, 529 ex-cons a license to become brokers during those seven years was: we believe in giving people a second chance. So they handed out licenses to convicted cocaine dealers (253), murderers (15), 84 sex offenders and 835 convicted of assault and battery. Add in the 922 larceny convicts, the 327 burglars, and 67 robbers and its hard to believe the second chance theory.

Obviously a significant portion of those ex-cons saw not an oppurtunity to become an upstanding citizen by making a contribution to society but instead, saw an oppurtunity to break the laws again and steal from law-abiding citizens.

It is, however, the 252 convicted of fraud and 161 convicted of forgery that is the most troubling, as they had access to Social Security numbers and personal financial records. Little or NO oversight for those whose past records indicate a tendency to defraud and steal? WHAT was the OFR thinking? Where is their common sense and judgement?

Even a proponent for ex-con fair treatment, Mark Maur, said, "We are opposed to overly broad employment rerestrictions but we recognize that some restrictions should be tied to certain occupations. You dont put a pedophile into a daycare center, for instance. And convicted frauds...", his voice trailed off into a disbelieving question. "As mortgage brokers?"

Miami Herald, July 22, 2008, page 1B, Fred Grimm