BROOKLYN - Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes, New York State Senator Carl Kruger and US Senator Charles Schumer announced charges against 12 people involved in various, unrelated mortgage and real estate scams, Thursday. The charges are the results of investigations by the District Attorney’s Mortgage Fraud and Real Estate Crimes Unit, which was created within the Rackets Division, in February 2009, with the assistance of an $875,000 federal grant secured by Sen. Schumer. Joining the Senators and the District Attorney, several victims of the announced scams shared their stories.

“The diversity of crimes committed by all of these defendants shows the lengths to which some unscrupulous people will go to enrich themselves illegally”, District Attorney Hynes said. “The arrests and indictments should serve as a strong warning to all who still think that they will devise some new scheme and get away with Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud related crimes. No matter how creative they think they are, no matter what lengths they go to avoid detection, they will be caught and prosecuted. I would like to thank Senator Schumer and Senator Kruger for their help and support as we tackle this relatively new form of crime.”