Lansing – Legislation that would make mortgage fraud a crime
in the State of Michigan and amend several other related laws was unanimously
approved by the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee during its
meeting on Tuesday, May 3.

These bills include: SB 43 establishes the new crime of
mortgage fraud, SB 249 establishes new and higher thresholds for the crime of
false pretenses, SB 251 extends the statute of limitations from six to ten
years when the crime involves real estate transfer or mortgage documents. Other
companion bills address the sentencing guidelines by raising them to reflect
the gravity of these crimes.

This legislation was the product of extensive cooperation
over a couple of years between the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, the
Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM) and several Michigan
legislators. Its purpose is to address the high level of real estate and
mortgage-related crimes in Michigan, which has been consistently ranking among
the top 10 in the country for the last few years in mortgage fraud.

Lead Attorney Abed Hammoud from the Wayne County
Prosecutor’s office, considered an expert in the area, testified on behalf of
his office and PAAM in support of the bills. He urged the Senators to approve
this mortgage fraud package because it was badly needed to fight the outbreak
of such crimes. He shared with the committee some examples from his work and
area of prosecution over the last few years to show the need as well and
answered several questions by the senators before they voted to approve the
bills.

Hammoud was testifying on his last day before he moved to
serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Michigan’s Eastern District.