Mortgage Fraud Scheme Targets Treasury Secretary

The housing boom and bust brought forth many accounts of mortgage fraud - but it's only recently that the absurdity of some schemes is coming to light.

A 35 year-old Maryland man, Bryan Gardner, has been charged with successfully paying his $353,000 Citibank mortgage with a false money order backed from then Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. in 2009, Fox News reports. Law enforcement and fraud experts alike are stunned that the scam worked for Gardner who signed the order simply as Paulson's "Authorized Representative."