Is Little Boy David Crisp the new Charles Ponzi? Crisp & Cole now tied to 94 properties in default and $59 million in mortgage loans gone kaput

Gotta love a good Ponzi Scheme. Gotta love a good swindle. Gotta love a good snake oil salesman, promoted by the snake oil company (the NAR). And gotta love it when out of control bankers lend millions to a little shoe shine boy during the greatest financial mania in recorded human history. David Crisp was simply Casey Serin with a much bigger credit line.

And we all know how this one ends....

Here's what the monkey-run NAR had to say about David Crisp in 2005 in their glowing "30 under 30" feature:

Bling is the thing: Crisp insists that his salespeople wear professional attire and be well-groomed. He buys luxury automobiles for his salespeople and has flown clients in private jets to view properties. “Image is key in this market,” he says. “Clients want to feel important and be with a real estate professional who’s successful.”

And of course, here's the report today, which is starting to read more like a police blotter:

On Sept. 10, the Department of Real Estate issued a complaint against Crisp, Cole and three employees, charging them with deceiving lenders to take out $12 million in home loans.

On Sept. 12, FBI and IRS agents searched 13 homes and offices related to the former Crisp & Cole Real Estate firm. Warrants were sealed, but a list belonging to a law enforcement officer listed bank records, appraisal documents and business and financial documents among items to be seized. San Joaquin Appraisals, owned by Kirk “Mark” Newton, was also searched.

As of the third week in September, Crisp, Cole, their companies, family members, employees and associates have defaulted on at least 94 properties. Payments are late on $58.76 million worth of home loans.

But don't forget the NAR's overarching message in this rags to riches to rags to orange jumpsuits story: BLING IS THE THING!!!

When we look back at the housing crash years from now, it'll be the unlicensed mortgage officers most to blame

Realtors are licensed

Appraisers are licensed

Homebuilders are licensed

Banks are licensed

People who drive cars are licensed

Fishermen are licensed

Strippers (in AZ) are licensed (so I hear)

Yet the one group who had the most to do with the housing bubble, "mortgage officers", have no regulations, no licenses, no rules, no oversight, no nothing. Just get the sale at any cost, make the commission, screw the buyer, and move on.

And look where that got us to today.

The system got gamed. An unregulated rouge collection of con men, swindlers, call center jockeys, bartenders, strippers, used car salesmen and generally the scum of society banded together under the seemingly professional title of "mortgage broker" and "mortgage officer" these past few years and screwed America.

And nobody in government thought it would be a good idea to step in.

Hmmm... maybe because the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Homebuilders, who wanted to maintain the status quo, have your corrupted leaders in their pockets?

Here's a report from the cesspool of mortgage fraud and fraudsters, Phoenix Arizona:

Rules sought on mortgage officers
Bill to require licensing would help curb fraud, backers say

Many of the people in Arizona who help home buyers finance what is often the biggest purchase of their lives are not licensed. In the rapidly growing mortgage industry, many of these unlicensed people who handle home loans can put consumers at risk.

It's estimated that there are as many as 18,000 unlicensed people taking mortgage applications, negotiating rates and getting loan commissions statewide. Many are enticed by the Valley's housing boom, exotic and often risky mortgages and no licensing requirements.

"I know of mortgage people working out of their bedrooms and selling stereos on the side. They got into the business six months ago and don't know a lot about it. They can give the industry a bad name," said Rick Allen, a branch manager with the Valley mortgage firm O'Dowd and Associates.