Mortgage Fraud Indictments Handed Down for Cleveland’s Foreclosure Epicenter

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Topics: Economy
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Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood has made international headlines with foreclosure rates that are among the highest in the country. Three people believed to be responsible for some of those foreclosures are now facing an indictment for $5.8M million dollars in mortgage fraud. ideastream®'s Mhari Saito reports.

Only a few years ago, Mark Kellogg was handing out business cards that read, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Let’s get you qualified today.” Now the onetime mortgage broker and two of his associates are facing serious criminal charges. Officials stood on the crumbling porch of a foreclosed and condemned Slavic Village house Kellogg once helped a buyer purchase. They announced a 73 count indictment against Kellogg and two of his associates for faking loan documents and siphoning off money from property transactions all over Slavic Village. Cleveland City Councilman Tony Brancatelli.

Tony Brancatelli: What you see behind us is really reflective of what’s occurred in our community: the stripping of wealth in our neighborhood.

Brancatelli and neighbors in Slavic Village spent months compiling foreclosure data before coming across Kellogg’s name.  They found Kellogg financing property deals in Slavic Village for as high as 1000 times the previous purchase price. Neighbors forwarded the information on to Cuyahoga County’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force. Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason says more indictments will be coming out of the Slavic Village investigation. Mason also did not rule out investigating the role of employees working for the large subprime lenders that funded the property deals. Mhari Saito, 90.3. 

More In This Series...

This feature is part of the series Mortgage Meltdown.