A Cave Creek man and a Phoenix woman have been indicted on several felony forgery, money-laundering and fraudulent schemes counts in connection to an alleged equity skimming operation in Phoenix and north Scottsdale, the Arizona Attorney General's Office announced.
Jeffery Z. Sayegh, 44, of Cave Creek and Kimberly R. Werking, 42 of Phoenix were indicted on five counts of forgery and one count each of money laundering and fraudulent schemes and artifices.
Werking was also indicted on six counts of residential mortgage fraud, five counts of theft and one count of illegal control of an enterprise. These are among the largest indictments issued under the state's residential mortgage fraud statute, enacted in 2007, officials said.
According to court documents, from February 2006 to August 2007, Werking, a licensed Arizona real estate agent, and 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 then allowed them to go into foreclosure.
