Bellevue couple's home loan scheme included areas in Covington, Black Diamond

A Bellevue couple, whose alleged dealings left a trail through Covington, Black Diamond and other parts of King and Pierce counties, were arrested last week on suspicion of mortgage fraud involving more than $27 million.

Federal authorities said Christopher Brooks, 38, and Amani Moss, 36, were arrested Friday following their indictment the day before for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud.

The charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000.

The couple were scheduled to make their first appearance in court last Friday.

The indictment by a federal grand jury alleges the couple schemed to use phony buyers to purchase homes for a price above the actual value. The homeowners agreed to accept the inflated price while returning the excess to a company that was controlled by the defendants, said federal authorities. The indictment alleges the couple obtained more than $27 million in fraudulent loans on 54 transactions, with the couple pocketing $1.6 million.

In addition to Covington and Black Diamond, transactions involving the couple occurred from January 2005 to May 2007 in Seattle, Federal Way, Issaquah, Mukilteo, Sammamish, Tacoma and Kenmore.

According to officials at the U.S. attorney office in Seattle, Brooks and Moss created a business called Peachtree Development and, working with other co-conspirators, found sellers willing to overstate the sales price of homes, with the difference between the true and inflated prices going to Peachtree. The “straw buyers” would be paid $7,000 to $10,000.

Brooks and Moss submitted mortgage loan documents to lenders with false information about the phony buyers’ income and employment. After loans were made, the sellers and Peachtree were paid off and the straw buyers would default on the loans, leaving the lenders with significant losses, authorities said. They said that in one alleged dealing, the couple skimmed $778,000 from a $1.6 million loan for a home in Redmond.

The overall case was investigated by the FBI and the state Department of Financial Institutions.

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