A Wayne county man is facing criminal charges for allegedly defrauding federal real estate giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Samer Salami, a real estate agent and broker for Fannie and Freddie,
is accused of obtaining properties they owned through Trademark
Assets--a shell company he secretly controlled--for an artificially
low price.
Salami would then turn around and sell the property to an actual,
higher bidder—pocketing the difference between the two sales, plus a
double commission.
Overall, it’s alleged Salami bilked the mortgage giants out of about
$488,000, through 22 such illegal housing sales in Wayne county.
Wayne county prosecutor Kym Worthy is pursuing the case as part of a
joint, federal-state task force on mortgage and deed fraud.
“This is the state part of an ongoing, much larger federal
investigation,” Worthy said. “We have other similar, cases going on,
so we know it’s more widespread than just this defendant.”
Salami is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and multiple
related crimes.
