Was to read "in lieu of salary." That'll teach me to post before the
morning cup o coffee.

You know, back in the last housing bubble - late 80's - I read about an
elegant little 2nd trust deed scam.

An extended family got together and pooled their money. They formed a
corporation that loaned one of the members enough to pay off his
morgage - basically, they refinanced it so the shell company owned the
first.

Then they found a sucker to put up a short term second on the house.
They stopped paying the first, but kept paying the second. The first
forclosed. Meanwhile, the money from the second had gone into the
pool, and was being used to pay off the first on the next house. They
went through half a dozen second lenders before word got out.