Lorraine Brown, 51, Alpharetta, Georgia, former president of mortgage document processor DocX, was sentenced to 40 months to twenty years in prison on one count of Conducting Criminal Enterprises (Racketeering) for her role in authorizing the fraudulent signing of mortgage documents filed in Michigan.
Brown was sentenced on May 2, 2013 by Kent County’s 17th Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock. Following the sentencing, Brown was remanded to the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections to begin serving her sentence. Brown pleaded guilty to the racketeering charge on February 11, 2012. Brown’s conviction followed an Attorney General investigation into questionable mortgage documentation filed with Michigan’s Register of Deeds offices during the foreclosure crisis.
In April 2011, an investigation was launched after county officials across the state reported that they suspected Assignment of Mortgage documents filed in their offices may have been forged. A”60 Minutes” news broadcast had shown that the name “Linda Green” was signed to thousands of mortgage-related documents nationwide, but with many different variations in handwriting. County officials in Michigan reviewed their files and found similar documents, thus raising questions about the authenticity of the documents filed.
As part of the investigation, documents were reviewed that had been filed in Michigan and prepared by DocX, a document processing company located in Georgia. DocX processed mortgage assignments and lien releases for residential lenders and servicers nationwide. Investigation revealed that former DocX president Brown established and orchestrated a widespread scheme of robo-signing, a practice in which employees were directed to fraudulently sign another authorized person’s name on mortgage documents in order to execute these documents as quickly as possible.
Internally, DocX identified this practice as “facsimile signing” or “surrogate signing.” From 2006 through 2009, these improperly executed documents were created and recorded at Brown’s direction. The investigation revealed that more than 1,000 unauthorized and improperly executed documents were filed with county registers of deeds throughout Michigan. Brown was charged with Racketeering, a 20-year felony, in Kent County’s 61st District Court in November 2012.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the sentence.
In 2012, Schuette joined 48 other state attorneys general in entering into a settlement with the five leading bank mortgage servicers. The settlement addressed allegations of faulty foreclosure processes and poor servicing of mortgages that harmed Michigan homeowners. The settlement also required comprehensive reforms of mortgage loan servicing to improve customer service for Michigan borrowers. More information on the 2012 Mortgage Settlement is available on the Attorney General’s Website at www.michigan.gov/mortgagesettlement.
“Michigan families continue to grapple with the damage caused by the mortgage foreclosure crisis,” said Schuette. “Shortcuts at taken at the expense of Michigan homeowners will not be tolerated.”
Michigan has a Truth in Sentencing law that requires an offender serve the minimum time – in this case 40 months. She might be released at any time after that or might serve the entire maximum sentence. It depends upon the parole board and conduct while serving the sentence.
Serving?
How long is she actually signing!
Again reading past Crimes that cost many their homes and some their Health. My Husband has Heart Disease starting during the 2009 – 2010 Forclosure process that cost him his Job among other material goods that mean nothing when your Health is damaged. So where do we go from here our Documents also signed by Robo signatures out of Alpharetta, Georgia and after a good fight the Home was sold at Auction in Colorado ! Just how many states were involved and was anything done in Discovery after the Attorneys handled the property filing it away in a Modification drawer until which time they were also raking in the money from many people trying to save their Homes. It’s clear all the work we did was more than futile it was dangerous to our Health and also our reputation in our Community. Not one of us knew about the Attorney’s involved and their Fraud until our Home was sold months later even after forced placed Insurance by The Invester we assume (Assurant) . Finding this also was another scam by Chase and an Insurance agency in South Colorado Springs. We were homeless for a bit and later my Family vacated Colorado to my Hometown after thirty-one years. We had no other choice ! Thanks for posting all the results of investigations that were far too late for us but for those of you finding yourself in trouble with the Market drop and a Mortgage you can not handle I have some advice, don’t waste your time, life or your Families well being trying to save something that is not yours never was and in our case after a large down payment it would never serve as the investment we had hoped in a down Market with an inflated value that we could never meet the payment and they knew exactly what they were doing ! Geez you would have to scam lot and lots of people for so many players to make it worth their while. Thx for reading …. Best of Luck !!
I am a victim of this crime with a DOCX file on my mortage and forged documents just looking for help because this is crazy, especially when you think you are living according to the law…I am going to sue…….
Let the industry take note……….