Lavette Bills, head of MTC Real Estate, was charged along with Kirk Lacey, a Jamaican who lives in Florida, in a brazen $800,000 mortgage fraud scheme that allegedly preyed on people fearful of foreclosure. (isn’t it amazing what you can get people to do when they are in fear. Many black churches use this tactic too you know, oh that’s another story)In one case, Bills, 36, persuaded a Bronx homeowner who had called the show for help to put Bills’ name on the deed to her house on Tinton Ave. by promising to get the homeowner a loan to pay off the $38,000 mortgage. Bills sold the home to a straw buyer, according to the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI. Bills allegedly made $150,000 on the crooked deal, including taking a $50,000 broker’s fee for the bogus sale. (Dayum, now that’s what you call GREED) The homeowner, who just wanted to pay off the small mortgage, is now in foreclosure. Thanks to Bills, the new mortgage on the house totals $337,500, prosecutors said.Bills’ business cards describe her as a “foreclosure specialist,” and she hosted a program on WBLS (107.5 FM) and WLIB (1190 AM) in 2007 on which she discussed mortgages and foreclosures, prosecutors said. Her Web site warns customers who go elsewhere “you have a right to feel cheated.”Bills and Lacey, 36, were each charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and face 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines.At an arraignment in federal court, Bills was freed on $250,000 bond, I don’t know ANY real estate person that has that kind of cash on hand and I’m an agent.) Lacey was freed on $150,000 bond and was ordered to surrender his passport and hand gun. Source
