The investors were complicit. Granted they didn’t know everything but they told the investment leaders to proceed. For example, they knew they couldn’t buy all those houses on their incomes but the leader told them that he could get them loans. How did he get they mortgages? By forging documents and inflating the borrowers incomes. Once the loans were approved the borrowers signed the loan docs.
If the con-man sold the houses without the investors’ knowledge and forged signatures, then there’s nothing to worry about. The courts will return the houses to the rightful owner.
Sure, loan qualification documents were forged. The question is who signed the mortgage notes and the grant deeds?