Metro Atlanta mortgage fraud ring convicted

Focusing on the Country Club of the South neighborhood and other high-end developments and subdivisions in metro Atlanta, Keith Garner and his co-conspirators bought properties in the name of their straw borrowers, often without the straw borrower's consent. Each of the properties was accompanied by an inflated appraisal, which in addition to the submission of false loan applications, enabled the defendants to secure real estate financing from SunTrust Mortgage in excess of the fair market value of the properties. The defendants then stole the spread between the inflated and fair market value of the properties primarily through defendants Latesha Garner and Khodadad, who ensured that SunTrust Mortgage either directly paid a bogus seller's obligation or was never made aware that a substantial portion of seller's proceeds was being paid to the defendants outside of closing pursuant to a criminal agreement with the seller.