From the NYT, another Ponzi scheme was busted today. This one involved mortgages.

Four people were indicted in what prosecutors said was a $70 million Ponzi scheme that promised more than 1,000 homeowners that their mortgages would be paid off within seven years.

A fifth person was named in a criminal information, which usually means that person is cooperating in a plea bargain. The government said the fraud, which involved victims from Maryland to California, financed a lifestyle for the defendants that included chauffeurs and trips to the Super Bowl.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into an increasing number of mortgage fraud cases.

Somehow I think that if the FBI looks real hard they might be able to find a few more cases of mortgage fraud. 

I don’t want to come across as unsympathetic to the folks who got bilked out of 70 large but how dumb do you have to be to part with that much change on a promise that a high school freshman could probably tell you was bogus. The real tragedy in these things is that the American public is beginning to look as if it can’t do much more than relieve itself without help.