Enter the Staw Man

Perhaps justice will be served on some of those who have contributed to the current housing and economic crisis. The article discusses the activities of two businessmen who acted as "straw buyers", allowing their name and fico score to be used to purchase properties. Usually these properties are rented out, but the rent "paid" is pocketed rather than paid to the mortgage company. The homes are then either allowed to go into foreclosure (unbeknown to the renters) or resold using inflated appraisals to turn a tidy profit.

The straw men get kickbacks for the use of their name and score, but are not usually directly involved with the rest of the scam. In this case they also inappropriately utilized money to "pay" for false fees involved in the buying process.

"The trio is accused of one count of conspiracy as well as multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering."

The primary vicitms in this case were lenders and builders....oddly enough the renters who were fooled were not included in the list.