Tribune: Man stole $3.2 million in Englewood mortgage fraud scheme

This man has been indicted on federal charges. You will see an excerpt from the Tribune below, but here is a link to an FBI Press Release.

Conrad Ulz, 73, is charged with wire fraud used to obtain mortgages and making false statements on loan applications. He could face 30 years in prison on each fraud count, and would have to pay back the money he stole, according to prosecutors.

Ulz worked with buys of properties to falsely obtain loans starting in 2007, fabricating information including “the sales price of properties, the source of the down payments and the buyers’ employment, income assets and intention to occupy the property,” according to the indictment.

Ulz found people with good credit whom he promised to pay for buying the properties, and whom he promised would not have to use their own money in the transactions, according to the indictment.

The indictment does not name the straw buyers who participated in the scheme and have not been charged.

Ulz defrauded Dream House Mortgage Corp., Franklin American Mortgage, Assurity Financial Services, IndyMac Bank, Washington Mutual Bank, and HSBC Mortgage Corporation, according to his indictment.

Ulz had the straw buyers claim to be paying what appear to be inflated prices for Englewood-area properties. In one case, a two-flat style building in the 6100 block of South Wood Street that had last sold for $135,000 in October 2007 after a foreclosure was claimed to have brought a price of $355,000 in early 2008, according to public records. In late 2007, the Ulz scheme obtained a $321,000 loan for the sale, according to the indictment.

Hat-tip Curbed Chicago!