According to court documents on January 6, 2008 Demetrius G. Rainer a Charlotte, NC attorney pled guilty to charges in relation to mortgage fraud and money laundering proceeds of drug trafficking. She is accused in connection to her role as a closing attorney for one of a number mortgage fraud cells operating in Mecklenburg and Union Counties, NC. The cell she is accused of working with is described in the Information as Mortgage Fraud Cell No. 3.

The Criminal Information shows that the MO (Modus Operandi) of the cells was:

• One member of the cell would agree with a seller to purchase a property at a set price
• The cell would then arrange for a buyer to purchase the property at an inflated price
• The seller would sell to the buyer at the inflated price
• The lender would make a mortgage loan on the basis of the inflated price
• The difference between the true price and the inflated price would be extracted at closing and distributed amongst the cell members.

To support the fraud false mortgage applications (1003’s), settlement statements (HUD1’s) were prepared for the lenders. These documents misrepresented a wide range of information including, income and assets, source of down payments, fraudulent payments at closing, true purchase price and kick backs to the buyer.

The one property mentioned in the Information is 9115 Woodhall Lake Drive, Waxhaw, North Carolina.

As part of her amended plea agreement Rainer has agreed to begin winding down her law practice and surrender her law license within 60 days. Rainer was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond and administrative supervision.

The money laundering charges relate to a case transferred to Charlotte, NC from a federal court in Virginia where she was accused of laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking on behalf of a friend.