The Saga of A Mortgage Broker

Appraisal Pros Prose

Saga Of A Mortgage Broker

July 19th, 2007 10:11 AM

I found this story interesting - just another one of thousands of sad, sad stories of the greed, fraud, and crime that accompanied the housing frenzy in the last 10 years that will continue to haunt every aspect of all of our lives for another 10 years!

The Saga of A Serial Broker:

Name: Altaf Shaikh

State of Business: California

1989: Altaf comes to US from Pakistan and begins work at a Taco Bell and sells leather jackets at a flea market.

1994: Takes a job as a car salesman and averages $3,000 per month.

1997: Encouraged by a friend, takes a job as an assistant manager at Ameriquest Mortgage Co., then a small subprime mortgage lender.

1999: Moves to Atlantic Financial Mortgage's San Jose branch.

2000: Hired as assistant to a loan officer at Home Advantage Corp. in Fremont.

2001: Signs on at Hampton Financial in San Jose. In the same year, he opens his own office where his business is called West Coast Marketing. He scouts for potential customers and assists them in filling out mortgage applications to send to Hampton Financial.

2002: Hampton terminates relationship with Shaikh due to borrowers' complaints.

2003: Altaf moves on to Golden Gate Mortgage in Hayward, California. Uses an alternate name - Zak Khan. Buys a $2M home with swimming pool.

2004: Moves on yet again to Secure Financial, where he brokers loans using the name Atlya Khan.

2005: Honored by World Savings Bank, along with Secure Financial, with a "Top Broker Award".

Present: Working as a car salesman once again in the Fremont, California, area.

In May 2007, Mr. Shaikh, 46 years old, pleaded no contest to charges of grand theft in a plea agreement with 9 California counties. He lied to borrowers about the terms of their loans, forged documents, and had checks written to companies that he controlled without the borrowers' knowledge. Zak Khan will be sentenced in August 2007 and will hear the amount of restitution he must pay and find out if he will serve the one year jail term requested by prosecutors.
Not present at the hearing will be the hundreds of borrowers scammed by Mr. Shaikh, including the elderly and the poor. Though some have sued the unlicensed broker, their chances of ever collecting a dime seem slim.

One year in jail seems a very light punishment for someone who has taken such advantage of those in desperate situations......

'Til next time - it's all good!