Federal Way mortgage broker arrested in $47 million fraud case
March 26, 2009 · 4:39 PM
A Federal Way mortgage broker and five others were arrested March 26 following a grand jury indictment that they allegedly defrauded bank and mortgage lenders more than $47 million.
Federal Way mortgage broker Viktor Kobzar, 32, and five other area brokers and escrow workers are charged in a 40-count indictment with conspiracy to commit bank, wire and mail fraud; 11 counts of bank fraud; seven counts of mail fraud; 11 counts of wire fraud; four counts of making false statements on loan applications and seven counts of monetary transactions using criminally derived proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The defendants were employed or associated with three Bellevue companies: Emerald City Escrow LLC, Nationwide Home Lending LLC and Kobay Financial Corporation.
The suspects used fraudulent information and the names of unqualified buyers to obtain loans on properties that were repeatedly sold. Relying on the falsified statements, lenders extended loans that exceeded the value of the properties and the borrowers’ abilities to repay the loans. The suspects distributed the excess loan proceeds from the escrow accounts to themselves and their associates, according to a news release.
Kobzar personally captured hundreds of thousands of dollars from repeated sales of a property in Medina, Wash., according to the release.
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