Jeffery Z. Sayegh, of Cave Creek, and Kimberly R. Werking, of Phoenix, were indicted by the Arizona Attorney General's Office on five counts of forgery, one count of money laundering and one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices. Werking, 42, was also indicted on six counts of residential mortgage fraud, five counts of theft and one count of illegal control of an enterprise.
The charges, all felonies, relate to an alleged equity skimming operation in Phoenix and north Scottsdale. These are among the largest indictments issued under the state's residential mortgage fraud statute, enacted in 2007.
According to court documents, from February 2006 to August 2007, Werking, a licensed Arizona real estate agent, and the 44-year-old Sayegh, a loan officer, collaborated to obtain fraudulent bank mortgages for Werking on five properties in north Scottsdale. Werking, with assistance from Sayegh, is alleged to have induced lenders to approve applications for bank mortgages and refinancing loans by knowingly misrepresenting the truth or concealing material facts contained in those applications.
The indictment further alleges that Werking skimmed more than $1 million in equity from the homes through the refinancing process, and, once no more money could be pulled out of the properties, allowed them to go into foreclosure.
