WAYNE COUNTY — In a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Wayne County Prosecutors Office with state, county and federal agencies, an Arab American man has been arrested for an alleged real estate fraud scheme. 

32-year-old Samer Salami, a licensed agent for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,  has been charged with conducting an alleged criminal enterprise that directly targeted his clients and tax payer dollars. Salami reportedly had listed homes for sale, but wouldn’t tell people that the properties had belonged to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, as he was required to by law.

Prosecutors say Salami would elicit bids from legitimate buyers,  for example getting a $100,000 offer for a home and then in turn report back to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac that he had sold it for $75,000,  according to a WXYZ-Channel 7 news report.

Salami.

Salami would convince Fannie or Freddie to take  the lower bid, and then Trademark Assets, an agency that he was in charge of, would turn around and sell the property to the original buyer. In some of these cases Salami would end up pocketing around $25,000.

Between 2008 and 2010, Salami is believed to have schemed at least 22 properties in cities all over metro Detroit including Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Redford and Lincoln Park. In total it is believed he may have pocketed over $265,000 over this time period.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says he would also make a double commission off of each sale and pocket the money. Mike Stephens of the Federal Housing Financing Agency says since taxpayers have invested $180 billion dollars in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, any fraud targeting them is a threat to all tax payers.

“Wayne County has been in the forefront of combating mortgage and deed fraud. Working together we have been highly successful in rooting out this type of crime. The case today is a perfect example of why the task force was created and the excellent work that we do,” Bernard J. Youngblood, Wayne County Register of Deeds, said in the news release.

Salami was arraigned Wednesday in 17th District Court in Redford. He faces 12 counts, including two charges of conducting a criminal enterprise. Each of those two counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.