Florida is no longer the leading U.S. state for mortgage fraud, according to Merle D. Sharick, CMB, Vice President, National Business Development Manager for Mortgage Asset Research Institute, LLC (MARI). The No. 1 state now is Rhode Island. The other 9 states in the top-10 for fraud (in order of MARI's fraud index): FL, IL, GA, MD, NY, MI, CA, MO, CO. MARI reports that fraud seems to be shifting to the eastern U.S. According to Sharick, FBI reports that up to 70 percent of the loans in foreclosure are fraudulent, mostly application fraud (employment, income, residency and identity theft). The consensus of panelists: We must stop fraud pre-funding. More to follow...