Should I report an obvious fraud?

[Vernon Martin]

I thought my review killed it and I had done my job. It wasn't until the recent Lis Pendens was filed did I find out that the sale still went through. It is possible that the final lender was stupid enough not to order a review themselves. A gross overstatement of a value opinion might not be considered fraud legally, but this thing was way off and shopped until someone bit.

Working with wholesale commercial lenders, I see the same type of problem. I protect my own client, but there is no effective way to protect the rest of the lending industry. When I have turned in fraudulent appraisals to OREA, the matters take more than a year to resolve, and by that time, the fraudulent loan application might get funded.