We’re looking for people who might have sent Marien Brown money believing that she would be able to help them hold off the foreclosure on their homes," says Tom Simon, FBI special agent.
She allegedly promised to help modify loans with banks but demanded a fee upfront of between one thousand and six thousand dollars each.
"According to the indictment some victims were actually told to stop paying their mortgages to the bank and start sending the money directly to the defendant in Missouri. So in those cases, if this is true, she was actually causing foreclosures to happen as opposed to staving off the foreclosure process," says Simon.
The FBI has been able to reach 40 victims — the indictment lists families in Wahiawa, Waianae and Hilo. But they want to hear from the others they believe sent money to Missouri.
The people we are looking for would be 47 different hawaii families who sent money to Marien Brown who also used the name Marien White, first financial resource and first federal resource during the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.
If you’re one of those people we’re like you to give the fbi a call," says Simon.
They say this case is unique.
"This is the first case we’ve seen in the FBI of a company specifically targeting nothing but hawaii victims in a mortgage fraud scheme," says Simon.
And there a couple of possible reasons why… one, Hawaii is remote. Two, Hawaii public records make it easy to see who’s falling behind and getting close to foreclosure.
That data is being purchased by mail-order companies and then sold to unscrupulous people and legitimate companies to try to market their services," says Simon.
The full extent of the damage may go far beyond the fraudulent up-front fees.
"We’re still trying to sort out how many people actually lost their house as a result of this, and that’s why we’re trying to reach out to the victims and hear their stories," says Simon.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
