A director of a Detroit housing nonprofit geared toward helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure was federally charged for her role in a fraud scheme designed to steal dozens of homes from low-income residents – and she lives in one of the stolen properties, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Before Zina Thomas, 60, was arrested on Feb. 28 and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, she was the director of Homeownership Programs for the United Community Housing Coalition in Detroit, joining the organization in 2021.
“This scheme targeted some of our most financially vulnerable citizens and was perpetrated by an individual whose job it was to help those very people avoid losing their homes to foreclosure,” U.S. Attorney Ison said in a statement.
Authorities say during her stint as director, Thomas and others conspired to steal more than 30 properties in Detroit and other parts of Wayne County in a scheme that targeted low-income residents facing potential tax foreclosure, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office states.
Thomas and others allegedly perpetuated a scheme, according to the complaint, to “defraud by filing multiple fraudulent quitclaim deeds, frequently transferring the target properties from the victim-owners to non-existent ‘interim owners’ before ultimately selling the properties to unwitting third parties.”
Quit claim deeds, also known as non-warranty deeds, can be used to transfer property and clear titles, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue, which states that sellers tend to be more willing to transfer property through these types of deeds.
“However, quit claim deeds offer no warranty that the grantor owns or has any rights to transfer the property,” according to the department.
Thomas or someone else also allegedly falsely notarized the fraudulent deeds to make them look legitimate, allowing them to file the fake documents with the Register of Deeds, according to the complaint.
The former housing director is accused of emailing a Wayne County Treasurer’s Office employee fake driver’s licenses and other documents that were uploaded into the Treasurer’s Property Tax Administration system to pending foreclosures, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Thomas received payment for at least some of the properties via wire transfer into a bank account in the name of her realty company, and Thomas then transferred proceeds from that account to her personal bank account,” the complaint states.
What Is Deed Fraud?
Wayne County Register of Deeds Bernard J. Youngblood said that a number of complaints to his Deed Fraud Task Force and an investigation led to Thomas’ arrest.
The New York Attorney General’s Office defines deed theft as when someone takes the title to another person’s home without the homeowner acknowledging or approving of it.
It commonly happens through forgery, where the scammer fakes the homeowner’s signature on a deed that they then file with a county clerk, or fraud, where unbeknownst to the homeowner, they sign their deed over to a scammer without realizing what they’re actually signing, according to the attorney general’s office.
In Georgia, where county clerks say that deed thefts happen often, someone can file property paperwork in a clerk’s office without showing proof of identification, Atlanta News First reported.
Rick Alembik, a veteran attorney specializing in cases of deed theft, wrongful foreclosure sales and fraudulent loans, told the news outlet, “It’s harder to cash a $5 check at a bank than it is to record a deed that could steal the title to someone’s home that they’ve worked for decades to build up equity in.”
Retired 85-year-old Robert Elder, who owned a property in southwest Atlanta, said he became a deed theft victim when his former stepson stole the home that he owned for over 50 years through forged signatures, according to Atlanta News First.
The news outlet reported that someone filed a new deed on Elder’s home three times last year, but the signatures on those documents don’t match how Elder has signed other documents.
Alembik noted there is little government oversight in real estate transactions across the Peach State, including and beginning with the foreclosure auction process, Atlanta News First reported.
Maureen Kokeas of the New York City Sheriff’s Office and the city’s finance department told AARP that a civil lawsuit is often needed to get back properties stolen through deed theft – but many people can’t afford the costs associated with a suit.
“Unfortunately, getting your property back often comes down to dollars and cents,” Kokeas told AARP.
