Female mortgage fraudster jailed

A female mortgage broker based in Blackheath was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court to nine years in prison having admitted acquiring eight fraudulent loans worth £10.5 million. Between April 2007 and April 2008, she persuaded HBOS to give her four separate loans worth £10.5 million to buy eight properties in the London area. She then changed her name and secured millions more through the Royal Bank of Scotland. As part of the application, she provided false property valuations and fake corporate tenancy agreements. As an incentive she also gave a property surveyor more than £1 million in money, cars and gifts. Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo, PMS executive chairman John Malone said that mortgage fraud cost the industry around £500 million, compared to £5 billion four years ago. November 16, 2012