VOA标准英语2008年-Over 400 People Charged in US Mortgage Fraud Sc-英语课

时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2008年（六月）

英语课

By Brian Wagner
Miami
20 June 2008

U.S. prosecutors 1 have announced a massive crackdown on mortgage fraud that has resulted in losses of about $1 bilion around the country. In Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports the schemes have worsened the problems facing the real estate and banking 2 industries.
　

FBI Director Robert Mueller, 19 Jun 2008

Federal officials say more than 400 people are facing charges in the mortgage fraud probe, including 60 people arrested Wednesday during sweeps in several major cities. Many of the accused were employed in the real estate industry, as mortgage brokers 3, property appraisers or title agents, and some worked at banks issuing loans. Officials say those individuals abused their positions to inflate 4 a property's value or pass along false information about a buyer or a home to claim the mortgage.

In Miami alone, officials say 102 people have been charged since last September. U.S. Attorney for south Florida, Alex Acosta, says some schemes involved people using stolen identities, for example, to get a mortgage on a home worth $100,000.

"They will then flip 5 [sell the house] that to a second stolen identity for 200,000[dollars], and flip it to a third stolen identity and sell it for 300,000. In essence, they are inflating 6 the price year after year, so they walk away with 300,000 for a house they paid 100,000 for," said Alex Acosta.

Officials some of those charged in the probe belong to criminal organizations that were using the schemes to launder 7 money raised through illegal activities.

FBI Assistant Special Agent Tim Delaney said the majority of cases involved the cooperation of several people tied to the real estate and mortgage industries, with the simple goal of making money.

"These are the frauds that the FBI is most interested in putting our resources to, because they inflate the housing market prices when it is not warranted," said Tim Delaney. "In many of the cases we have seen, no one ever even lived in the house."

Officials say the fraud operations have a damaging effect on Miami and other communities, because they create artificially high homes values and often lead to foreclosures. They say additional arrests are expected as officials continue to uncover bogus mortgages.

In a separate action, authorities in New York arrested two former managers of Bear Stearns investment bank for concealing 8 problems in some of the firm's sub-prime mortgage holdings. The men are accused of fraud in managing hedge funds that collapsed 9 last year, months before the firm said it had lost billions of dollars in investor's money. The bank's problems helped spark the sub-prime mortgage market crisis.

1 prosecutors

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )；告发人；起诉人；公诉人

In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。来自口语例句
You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 banking

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 brokers

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…