2 metro-area real estate agents convicted in mortgage fraud conspiracy

Hill and Kelske worked with document fabricators to change bank statements and create fake records of assets for potential homebuyers, Erskine said. Other defendants in the case would then take calls and emails from lenders and verify the homebuyers’ employment information, even though they did not work with the homebuyers.

Hill and Kelske also worked with two other real estate agents who pretended to represent the homebuyers, according to Erskine. Those two agents would collect the commission on the buyer’s side of the deal and send most of it back to Hill and Kelske. To avoid any suspicion, the buyers’ agents would often tell the closing attorneys that they could not physically attend the closing and would send wire instructions for their commission, Erskine said.

“Eric Hill and his co-conspirators defrauded mortgage loan holders out of millions of dollars, with taxpayers being saddled with much of the loss,” Erskine said.

“While it is easy to dismiss financial fraud cases as victimless crimes because of their lack of violence, there is, however, very real victimization to our economy and our taxpayers,” Special Agent of FBI Atlanta Chris Hacker said.