Many people believed this day would never come, but exactly one year to the day from when he was apprehended by Federal authorities, this nation’s most notorious Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud-related criminal has finally been sentenced for his role in a brazen string of acts that stunned nearly everyone who had ever played a hand in Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud forensics.

Thirty-eight-year-old Matthew Bevan Cox, the poster child for Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud in this country… the same man who kept federal authorities at bay for over three years and was the subject of an intense nationwide manhunt (and whose face landed on the U.S. Secret Service’s list of the Most Wanted Fugitives for his role in numerous Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud scams)… cried like a little baby in U.S. District Court in Atlanta yesterday afternoon, and was promptly sentenced to serve 26 years in Federal prison AND pay his victims up to $12 million in restitution.

For those of you who have never heard Matthew Cox talk about his crimes, the following clip, from NBC affiliate WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee, will give you a small taste of what was going his mind:

Matthew Cox was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Atlanta in late-September of 2005 on 42 counts of mortgage fraud, identity theft, money laundering, and conspiracy. The Middle Districts of Tennessee and Florida filed criminal charges against Cox in April of this year, charging him conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, aggravated identity theft, and passport fraud.

Cox, who was pleaded guilty to all charges on April 10th of this year, was apprehended on November 16, 2006 in Tennessee after a Nashville man read about him in a local newspaper and tipped off U.S. Secret Service agents. In the world of Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud forensics, no one person’s name sends a shiver up the back of a spine more so than Matthew Cox, who was also known as Maxwell Price, David Richard Freeman, Gerald Scott Cugno, Michael Shawn Shanahan, Gary Lee Sullivan, Michael John Eckert, Michael White, Kevin White, David White, James Redd.

Matthew Cox used stolen identities to obtain drivers licenses, purchase vehicles, lease mail drops, rent apartments, and open bank accounts to receive Real Estate-related scheme proceeds throughout the states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. Cox’s accomplice in many of his scams– Rebecca Marie Hauck–was sentenced on November 15, 2006 (the day before Cox was captured) by a U.S. District Judge in Georgia to serve 5 years and 10 months in prison for her role in the now infamous string of mortgage and bank fraud-related crimes.

How Cox be able to afford the $12 million he was ordered to pay in victim restitution is anyone’s guess, but despite his wicked ways, Matthew Cox was–and may still be–a talented writer and artist who just so happened to leave behind a number of works. According to WXIA-TV in Atlanta, a representative of the victims is planning to offer, perhaps as soon as this coming week, four of Cox’s paintings for sale on eBay, with 100 percent of the proceeds going into the victims’ restitution fund. Cox did signed away the rights to his future works, including any additional paintings and unpublished novels, past and future, to his victims’ restitution fund, so that too may provide some relief.

For now, we can all sleep a little better at night knowing that Matthew Cox is finally paying for his crimes. That said, 26 years in prison and $12 million in fines may not be enough for this guy or the others who try to follow his example.

Dateline NBC aired “Thief of Hearts” last night–a one-hour profile of noted real estate and mortgage fraud con artist, Matthew Cox. Unfortunately, the entire balance of the show focused not on the problems, warning signs, and societal issues associated with real estate and mortgage fraud–a crime that can only be described as a runaway cancer that is eating away at our floorboards. No, in typical big media fashion, NBC chose to position Cox as a ‘Don Juan’ who stole women’s hearts while attempting to overcome some sort of inferiority or superiority complex by stealing millions of dollars and the identities of close associates and “friends.”

The truth is that Matthew Cox and his known accomplices–namely, Rebecca Hauck, Alison Arnold, and Amanda Gardner (all of whom were interviewed for the piece)–literally ruined people’s lives and damaged entire neighborhoods, all in the name of greed and corruption. (To her credit, Alison Arnold turned herself in, served time in prison, and is now paying off a stiff penalty for her part in Cox’s schemes.)

Rather than focus on the damage Cox did or God forbid, the warning signs of real estate and mortgage fraud, NBC Correspondent Keith Morrison took his viewers on an hour-long journey that touched solely on Cox’s artistic ambitions, dyslexia, ability to woo women, and his writing (Cox wrote a novel called The Associates with a plot that closely resembles the time he spent committing real estate and mortgage fraud).

It’s not as though the producers of Dateline NBC were unaware of my efforts and those of my colleague Rachel Dollar in educating the public about threats from real estate and mortgage fraud. In early December of 2006, Joe Kraynak, a writer who worked with Rachel and me on the book “Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud” (to be published by Kaplan, this August, 2007), emailed the following message to the producers of Dateline NBC:

‘To Catch a Predator’ gave me an idea for another series centering around a sting operation. I’m currently co-authoring a book with the top two mortgage/real estate fraud experts in the nation–Ralph R. Roberts and Rachel Dollar. Ralph works alongside law enforcement to catch real estate con artists and educate industry professionals. I think a documentary complete with sting operations would be intriguing. Check out FlippingFrenzy.com and www.mortgagefraudblog.com. I can also provide you with additional contact information for Ralph and Rachel. Please let me know if you need additional information.

NBC had the perfect opportunity to educate and inform an alarming number of people on the dangers and warning signs associated with Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud. Instead, it only added to the problem by sensationalizing Cox’s efforts.

Rebecca Marie Hauck–who has been called the ‘better half’ of a Bonnie & Clyde team that is credited with committing more real estate and mortgage fraud-related crimes than you can shake a stick at–was sentenced yesterday afternoon by a U.S. District Judge in Georgia to serve 5 years and 10 months in prison for her role in a string of mortgage and bank fraud-related crimes.

As most Flipping Frenzy readers already know, Hauck was involved in fraud schemes that resulted not only in millions of dollars in losses for innocent homeowners and banks, but she also snarled property titles on residences throughout the southeastern part of the United States. Hauck and co-defendant Matthew Cox (who is still on the loose, by the way) stole homeowners’ identities and placed multiple loans on houses they did not own, which created a level of havoc that is still being felt across five southeastern states.

Hauck, who is just 34-years-old, will serve her time in a federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,197,970.00, and was ordered to forfeit any profits from book, television or any entertainment rights she secures here in the U.S.

According to the information presented in court, Hauck and co-defendant Cox fraudulently erased mortgage liens on rented properties. In the process, they stole the identities of the people from whom they rented, and frequently obtained multiple new mortgage loans on the properties. After they executed the scheme in one location, they changed locations and did the same thing over and over again. Hauck and Cox used stolen identities to obtain drivers licenses, purchase vehicles, lease mail drops, rent apartments and open bank accounts to receive scheme proceeds throughout the states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Hauck was indicted in late-September of 2005 on 42 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, interstate transportation of fraud proceeds, identity theft, money laundering and conspiracy. Her indictment, which was unsealed in March of this year when the U.S. Secret Service arrested her in Houston, Texas, came as a wake-up call to some real estate industry insiders.

For his part, 36-year-old Matthew Cox–whose known aliases include Maxwell Price, David Richard Freeman, Gerald Scott Cugno, Michael Shawn Shanahan, Gary Lee Sullivan, Michael John Eckert, Michael White, Kevin White, David White, and James Redd–is alleged to have obtained a number of the stolen identities from homeless people by posing as a Red Cross worker taking a survey. According to the U.S. Secret Service, he has used elaborate schemes to avoid capture, including obtaining state-issued and counterfeit driver’s licenses. He has not used his true name since 2003, and is believed to be armed and dangerous. Law enforcement is seeking the assistance of the real estate industry in locating Cox, who has been a fugitive since December of 2003. Anyone with information about Matthew Cox’s whereabouts can contact the Secret Service toll-free, 24 hours a day, by calling 1-877-242-3375.

Two of the four people arrested back in June in connection with a $1,000,000 mortgage fraud scam in Alabama have pleaded guilty. Antonio Harrison of Mobile, Alabama, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of loan fraud, while Kathy Frye of Eight Mile, AL, pleaded guilty to failure to inform the authorities of the occurrence of a serious crime.

From The Press-Register:

Both may be called to testify against co-defendants Darlene Hill, 49, and Jocelyn Lucas Easter, 48, both of Mobile. They are scheduled to go to trial next month, and both have denied the allegations.

In his written plea agreement, Harrison stated that Hill recruited him to work as a broker at Carteret Mortgage, where Harrison processed loan applications and submitted them for approval at various financial institutions despite knowing that they were “bad” deals.

Harrison admitted that he continued to process fraudulent loan packages provided by Hill after he went to work for Allfund Mortgage.

Under the scam alleged by prosecutors, Hill recruited “straw purchasers” whose good credit she used to obtain mortgages. That person would receive a fee or a bonus, and Hill would try to resell the property for a profit, according to Harrison.

Easter conducted most of the closings, according to Harrison’s plea agreement.

Hill and Frye both stated that they learned that Hill would transfer properties to other purchasers, who would not pay off the original mortgages.

In the count Harrison admitted to Tuesday, he stated in his plea agreement that he submitted to Regions Bank a fraudulent loan application provided by Hill between Sept. 17 and Nov. 17 for $202,500. The total amount of fraud Harrison admitted to is $996,000, but investigators have said the total amount for the entire conspiracy may be much higher.

Frye, who worked as a receptionist at Hill’s Harris Title Co., admitted to notarizing signatures of straw buyers even though they did not appear for closings.

Frye also admitted that she closed at least one loan, even though she was not trained for that job. She stated that she received money for this.

According to the Associated Press and Mobile, Alabama’s Press-Register newspaper, the FBI has arrested four people and accused them of swindling Regions Bank out of $1 million in a mortgage-related con.

FBI Special Agent Craig Dahle tells the Press-Register that federal officers and investigators from the Alabama attorney general’s office arrested Darlene Hill, Joycelyn Easter, Kathy Frye, and Antonio Harrison without incident on Tuesday at each of their respective homes. All four have already pleaded innocent before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Mobile.

The indictment that lead to the arrests charges each of the suspects with four counts of wire fraud and four counts of loan fraud. The Press-Register also reports prosecutors are seeking to force the forfeiture of property purchased with the loans, along with money located in a number of different bank accounts.

According to the AP, all four are accused of using the names of “unwitting participants” in order to obtain mortgages from Regions Bank. The foursome submitted fraudulent information in order to secure the loans and then used part of the money to purchase at least three properties in Mobile. To obtain the mortgages, Hill, Easter, Frye, and Harrison submitted a loan packet for straw buyers that misrepresented borrower’s income and assets, according to the indictment.

The value of the loans made by Regions, according to the indictment, totals $996,000, but the FBI says the actual amount could be much higher.