A former mortgage loan closing agent has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing in a broadening mortgage scam that now concerns more than 60 real estate transactions in Minnesota.

Closing agent Jill Lehn, who pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in U.S. District Court, was apparently involved in more of the fraudulent transactions. She has been cooperating with authorities.

Between December 2004 and August 2006, Lehn prepared loan documents that overstated the purchase price of the properties and concealed the overpayments from lenders, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota.

The scam, uncovered by the Internal Revenue Service, allowed buyers to pocket the difference between the actual purchase price of the property and the inflated mortgage amounts. In all, buyers netted more than $3 million in fraudulent payments. Lehn was the buyer in a half-dozen of the transactions.

Chris Galler, senior vice president of the Minnesota Association of REALTORS®, said in a recent letter to members that he expects "a series of arrests" in the next month or two.

"We don't know how widespread [mortgage fraud] is, because finding one person leads to another and to another," Galler said Monday.

--Star-Tribune, Jackie Crosby, Jim Buchta (02/13/2007)