In the following press release Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today that Mathew Marlon, age 64, of Las Vegas, pled guilty this morning to nine (9) gross misdemeanor counts of Making False Representations Regarding Title and one (1) gross misdemeanor count of Making a Fraudulent Conveyance in connection with a mortgage foreclosure rescue scam involving Las Vegas victims.

“I created a Mortgage Fraud task force within my office to combine the resources of several State agencies, including the Nevada Secretary of State, to address the serious problem of mortgage related crimes in Nevada. It is my hope that successful prosecutions such as this will have a deterrent effect and prevent or lessen the rise in mortgage related crimes in our community,” said Attorney General Masto. “

District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Marlon to pay fines in the amount of $20,000 to the State and ordered that he pay restitution to Clark County in the amount of $86,990.60 for property transfer taxes that were owed on the properties. Judge Leavitt also ordered that Marlon pay restitution to the victim homeowners in the amount of $43,009.40 for a total of $130,000 in restitution.

Marlon’s guilty plea and sentence follows an extensive investigation conducted by the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, working in conjunction with the Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud task force. The investigation revealed that on or between July 2007 and November 2007, Marlon falsely represented to
local homeowners that were facing foreclosure, that he would purchase their houses and land located in Clark County, Nevada, for a price which equaled the sum of the outstanding mortgages, together with a small cash payment, and promised that he would payoff the mortgages to prevent the property from being foreclosed upon by the mortgage holders. Marlon asked the various homeowners to sign a Grant Bargain Sale Deed, and Declaration of Property Value Form, which indicated a transfer of the property from the homeowners individually to various corporations alleged to be wholly owned by the various homeowners.

The documents were false and fraudulent because the homeowners were not the owners of the various corporations and the sole purpose of the transference of the properties to the various corporations was to allow Marlon to record the Grant Bargain Sale Deeds in the name of the various corporations, in order to conceal his identity and avoid payment of transfer taxes to the County.

The victim homeowners signed the papers believing that Marlon was purchasing their homes, and gave actual possession of the homes to Marlon, who took possession without paying any transfer taxes to Clark County as required by State law.

Consumers who wish to report mortgage fraud are asked to contact the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in Las Vegas at (702) 486-3194 to obtain a complaint form. Consumers with internet access may also obtain a Consumer Complaint Form, as well as other consumer protection and contact information, on the Attorney General’s website at www.ag.state.nv.us.