Q: How Many Times Can We Say ‘Fraud’ In This Headline? Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Hosts Mortgage Fraud Summit. A: 3

We have a bit of news, finally, about the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which the Obama administration established at the end of last year. Representatives of the Task Force met in Miami yesterday for the first of a series of Mortgage Fraud Summits. Miami is a particularly appropriate venue for the summit, given that it has a high rate of mortgage fraud. Indeed, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan area is ranked first in the nation for the number of local subjects named in Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”) filed by depository institutions concerning suspected mortgage fraud, according to a recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) study. And, according to FinCEN data, Florida has consistently ranked near the top in the nation for mortgage fraud SARs, only behind California.

The task force members met with Miami community members, banking, mortgage, and real estate industry representatives and law enforcement officials to discuss the problem of mortgage fraud from a national, state and local perspective. In the morning, attendees participated in panels on the community impact of mortgage fraud and the evolution of the crisis. In the afternoon, task force representatives met privately with law enforcement officials involved in the investigation of mortgage fraud.

We'll see what's what with this Task Force sometime soon, we expect.