Schumer Proposes Fed Help to Fight Mortgage Fraud

Sen. Charles Schumer and New York City's five district attorneys say mortgage fraud has become so pervasive that the federal government should give local prosecutors hundreds of millions of dollars to fight it.

The New York Democrat secured $875,000 in federal money to establish a mortgage fraud unit at the Brooklyn DA's office. He introduced a proposal Monday to authorize $100 million in grants every year for local prosecutors across the country to do the same.
    
Schumer says housing scams are a nationwide problem, and they require a nationwide solution.
    
Citing FBI statistics, he says mortgage fraud and deed theft cost homeowners up to $6 billion a year.
    
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes says his office's special mortgage fraud hotline "rings off the hook."