State law gives the OFR sweeping powers to police the industry. Not only can state agents screen license applicants for prior crimes, but they are entrusted to monitor by investigating brokerages, examining files, levying fines, suspending violators and, ultimately, revoking licenses.

OFR Commissioner Don Saxon said revoking licenses can be difficult, noting the agency has to be able to show "clear and convincing evidence" of wrongdoing before an administrative judge.

"We do the best we can with the existing resources we have," Saxon said.

He said lawmakers repeatedly refused his budget requests. In his 2006 proposal, Saxon said he asked for $1.4 million in raises for examiners and investigators. He didn't get the money. In 2007, he asked for permission to hire six new investigators; he got one.

Saxon said he brought his case to the chairs of the Florida House and Senate committees that oversee his agency.

"I assure you, we do everything in our power to be convincing," he told The Herald.

DIFFERENT VIEWS

The chairmen don't remember any sense of urgency from Saxon.

"I certainly didn't have him in my office saying, "I have to have this,'‚" said J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, who chairs the Senate committee. "We would have funded any of those requests."

"I cannot recall any specific mention that there was a problem with mortgage fraud and he needed to clamp down." said Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Sarasota, chair of the House committee.

The Herald found 49 final orders involving fraud, forgery or brokers stealing from their clients -- violations that can get brokers kicked out of the industry.

In more than a third of those extreme cases, 17, the brokers were allowed to keep their licenses despite evidence they had broken the law -- charging illegal fees, doctoring loan documents and tapping into clients' escrow accounts to cover their own expenses.

ULTIMATE SURVIVOR

When it comes to mortgage-broker licenses, Joseph "Jay" Biggins was the ultimate survivor.

The OFR forgave his arrest for passing counterfeit bills, and buying five pounds of pot from an undercover cop, when they issued his license. When they caught him gouging clients with excessive fees, he got a written reprimand. As 18 of his employees were indicted for mortgage fraud, he kept his license.

They didn't revoke it until after his fraud conviction in 2003 -- 10 years after he started in the business.

During that run, Biggins built one of the largest independent brokerages in Florida, with offices scattered throughout Palm Beach County.

The explosive growth of Mortgage Express, Inc. -- which wrote up to $400 million worth of mortgages a year -- was part of a larger trend taking place in Florida. The state was about to undergo one of the biggest housing booms in history.

But while Mortgage Express was expanding with 140 employees and three offices, problems were brewing.

After inspecting the company's operations in 1997, regulators caught Mortgage Express ripping off customers through excessive brokerage fees, allowing people to sell mortgages without licenses and failing to keep proper records.

$8,000 FINE

Instead of placing Mortgage Express on probation, regulators slapped the company with an $8,000 fine and a reprimand, leaving the firm free to continue working without oversight.

Over the next two years, Biggins and 18 of his co-workers embarked on one of the most ambitious mortgage-fraud schemes in Palm Beach County, stealing more than $15 million from lenders and consumers, court records show.

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