This is the second installment of the investigation Pittsburgh Post Gazette reporter Rich Lord did with my Fact Investigation class on how federal prosecutors responded to the mortgage fraud crisis. This article demonstrates how extraordinary the benefits were to those who cooperatored or, by contrast, how extreme the penalties were for those who didn't. In Pittsburgh, there was an 87% discount for cooperating; nationally, across all types of cases, there is an average 50% discount. Interestingly, the average discount in drug cases, where cooperation is often quite dangerous, is 50%. Typically mortgage fraudsters are not as dangerous and so the risks for cooperation are not that high. Great work by Rich Lord and my students Staci Fonner, Marika Stettner, Todd Fine, and Kyle Thomas in unearthing and telling this story.
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