Fourteen indicted for fraud

A wide-ranging indictment has charged 14 people with an intricate mortgage-fraud scheme that encompassed 22 residential properties in Sarasota and more than $47.5 million in loans.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation joined forces to investigate the alleged crime.

“By some accounts, (the scheme) drove up housing prices and tax bills and (hastened the rate of) foreclosures,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. “It made a few rich and made banks and others suffer the consequences.”