Mortgage fraud suspect lands on federal list

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. - Jeremy Richardson, the local man accused of being behind one of the Northwest's largest mortgage finance schemes ever, is listed by federal officials as being among the hundreds of mortgage brokers across the U.S. who are now under official investigation.

Richardson is accused of bilking people out of their hard-earned money by coaxing them into buying homes in a 'lease to own' plan.

The scheme promised people with bad credit they would be homeowners while others with good credit were enticed into promises of numerous real estate holdings simply for using their excellent credit scores.

But when the plan fell to pieces, Richardson took off, leaving victims across the country. He turned up in Baja, Mexico, and then ended up back in the U.S. He has since been charged with wire fraud.

Last week, KATU News found him living in the outskirts of Ridgefield, Wash. Neighbors said he worked in marketing from his home. Others said he came to their doors saying he was opening a home mortgage business in town.

We caught up with Richardson outside a daycare center, and when we asked him how he thought he could do business when he didn't have a mortgage or a real estate license, his reply was, "You don't need one to be a private investor."

Richardson claimed our previous news stories were wrong, that he was a private investor and not a mortgage or real estate swindler. He said he did not intend to take money from people.

However, that's not what former employees told us back in February.

"I would sit there and listen to him in the background talking to potential clients and giving them this whole spiel and it was all false," one former employee, who did not want to be identified, told us.

Richardson said his business fell apart with the housing market collapse and he couldn't keep up with his expenses. He said he is cooperating with federal investigators and prosecutors to help identify lenders and real estate agents who were also involved.

Wednesday morning, Richardson's BMW was towed away from his home because he didn't make the payments. The car actually belonged to one of Richardson's investors, who said she had been begging him to return it for months after he missed several payments.