A director of a Detroit housing nonprofit geared toward helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure was federally charged for her role in a fraud scheme designed to steal dozens of homes from low-income residents – and she lives in one of the stolen properties, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Before Zina Thomas, 60, was arrested on Feb. 28 and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, she was the director of Homeownership Programs for the United Community Housing Coalition in Detroit, joining the organization in 2021.
“This scheme targeted some of our most financially vulnerable citizens and was perpetrated by an individual whose job it was to help those very people avoid losing their homes to foreclosure,” U.S. Attorney Ison said in a statement.
Authorities say during her stint as director, Thomas and others conspired to steal more than 30 properties in Detroit and other parts of Wayne County in a scheme that targeted low-income residents facing potential tax foreclosure, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office states.
Thomas and others allegedly perpetuated a scheme, according to the complaint, to “defraud by filing multiple fraudulent quitclaim deeds, frequently transferring the target properties from the victim-owners to non-existent ‘interim owners’ before ultimately selling the properties to unwitting third parties.”
Quit claim deeds, also known as non-warranty deeds, can be used to transfer property and clear titles, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue, which states that sellers tend to be more willing to transfer property through these types of deeds.
“However, quit claim deeds offer no warranty that the grantor owns or has any rights to transfer the property,” according to the department.
Thomas or someone else also allegedly falsely notarized the fraudulent deeds to make them look legitimate, allowing…
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