Minn. Feds Suspect Attorney Of Leaving 88-Year Old Mom Holding The Bag As Straw Buyer In Scam To Generate Cash To Redeem His Law Office From F'closure

In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports:

• At least the feds waited until after Mother's Day. The U.S. attorney's office filed documents in federal court [] revealing an IRS criminal investigation of White Bear Township's board chairman -- a St. Paul attorney -- on allegations of mortgage fraud and money laundering in a deal that centers on his 88-year-old mother.

• In essence, the IRS suspects that Richard A. Sand was involved in "flipping" an Orono home that an associate bought and resold the same day to Sand's mother at a $1 million markup. According to the IRS, the deal was funded with $2 million in mortgages from Bank of America, which relied on grossly exaggerated income and other phony financial data for the buyer, Antoinette Sand. The bank got just one payment before foreclosing and ultimately sold the house at a loss for $700,000.

• Some of the Bank of America mortgage money allegedly was used to redeem Sand's law office on Nina Street in St. Paul from foreclosure, and the government now wants to seize it because its ownership is traceable to the proceeds from the alleged fraud.

For more, see White Bear Township official Richard Sand accused of mortgage fraud (The IRS is investigating White Bear Township's board chairman over a real estate deal involving his 88-year-old mother).