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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 2137
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 9:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just got this breaking news alert from Crain's.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a rticle/20080824/REG/16549244

excerpt:
quote:

Pistons guard: Duplicitous or dupe in mortgage fraud?
School worker stuck with bills for $1M house
By Tom Henderson and Daniel Duggan

Is Lindsey Hunter, the veteran guard of the Detroit Pistons, a victim of mortgage fraud? Or is he a perpetrator?

That’s what two investigations, one by the Wayne County Register of Deeds’ mortgage-fraud task force, the other by the FBI, want to determine.

So far, Wayne County investigators consider him a victim, with someone else serving as what they describe as “a mastermind.” The FBI, on the other hand, according to sources close to its investigation, has him as its main focus and as a leading participant in at least two possibly fraudulent deals that went awry.

To Bruce McClellan of Waterford Township, a boiler operator with the Pontiac Schools, there is no doubt about Hunter’s role.

McClellan said he is cooperating with the FBI investigation and told the agency that he was a willing but naïve straw buyer in the purchase in April 2007 of a home at 1718 Morningside Way in Bloomfield Hills for $1.25 million, a home that is back on the market now for $780,000.

McClellan thinks it started when his near-perfect credit became known to a lifelong friend, Iron Johnson. Not long after Johnson sold McClellan a car at Golling Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Bloomfield Township, Johnson approached him with a possible business deal.

In the deal, Johnson also involved his business partner, Hunter. The two are principals in Southfield-based L&I Enterprises, a limited liability corporation formed in 2006, according to the Michigan Department of Labor.

“They ran my credit through and were jumping up and down. They said ‘We’re going to make you a millionaire,’ and they’d get back to me. Two months later, they called and said, ‘We’ve got a great deal for you. Lindsey wants you to purchase a house for a friend.’ ”

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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 2138
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 9:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In a way, I'm not too surprised to see a story like this, as this type of fraud was more common than dirt in 2006-2007. There were probably thousands of home sales involved in some type of mortgage fraud in metro Detroit during this time.
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 2139
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 9:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Time to get out your mowers and start mowing your neighbors' yards! At least this guy is still mowing the yard, unlike most straw buyers.

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