By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-858742.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Former Dallas Cowboy Eugene Lockhart, and eight others, are facing charges in a mortgage fraud scheme.
The U.S. Attorney in Dallas says Lockhart was involved in several real estate companies, including "America's Team Mortgage and Cowboys Realty.
The indictment alleges Lockhart, and the others, located houses for sale and negotiated a price with each seller. Then, they created inflated loan proceeds by recruiting "straw buyers" with good credit. They qualified for loans substantially above the fair market value, and received a portion of the "surplus" money in return.
University of North Texas Real Estate Professor John Baen says the scheme not only defrauded banks, but likely hurt some innocent homebuyers by artificially inflating property values.
Baen: Somebody buys it with an arms-length transaction, an innocent party, they overpaid for the house. So it inflated the real estate market in the neighborhoods where it was going on.
Investigators say the scheme involved more than 50 fraudulent loans for more than 20 million dollars. A conviction carries a maximum 30 years in prison.