The website of the Brooklyn Park company called Universal Mortgage Inc. lives on, with the image of a smiling worker encouraging would-be home buyers to click for pre-approval.

Although the site says it will help home buyers "find blue skies," that won't be happening anytime soon. On Nov. 3, Universal Mortgage's former CEO, Donald Walthall, was sentenced to 74 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to racketeering. That same day, the company was fined $250,000 for convictions of racketeering and 24 counts of theft by swindle. Three others associated with the mortgage lender have been sentenced to one to two years in jail, and another man's case is pending.

They were all caught up in a widespread mortgage fraud involving at least two dozen properties, most in north Minneapolis. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's investigation began last year after the Star Tribune reported an exotic dancer's claims that she was a "straw buyer" in fraudulent real estate transactions orchestrated through Universal Mortgage.

With inflated real estate prices, and buyers and sellers in cahoots, the deals defrauded lenders of tens of thousands of dollars.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce already had been looking into the matter. But its investigation took a back seat to the Hennepin County attorney's probe.

Bill Walsh, a spokesman for the Commerce Department, said he can't comment on any investigation that might be underway. Every month, the agency releases a list of fines, revocations and other enforcement actions against wayward mortgage brokers, appraisers, collection agents, insurance agents, notaries and other professionals.

Walsh said that if the behavior is even worse, it's typical for the agency to defer to criminal investigators.

"We always like to get the criminal prosecution, because it's a bigger stick," Walsh said.

Sometimes, after the prosecutions are over, the Commerce Department will take action on licenses. That occasionally involves a staff member traveling to a prison to get a convict's signature on a voluntary surrender of his or her license.

To date, the Commerce Department has filed only one enforcement action associated with Universal: last year, former loan officer Rahmeen Underwood agreed to an order that barred him from originating or servicing mortgages. On Oct. 7, Underwood was sentenced to a year in the workhouse. Universal Mortgage let its mortgage license expire last fall, with the criminal investigation already underway. Walthall's real estate license expired in the spring, records show, months after his indictment.

To see if your mortgage lender has gotten into trouble with the state, call the Commerce Department at 1-800-657-3602 or visit its website at www. commerce.state.mn.us.

JAMES ELI SHIFFER