Filing says Fairway hid Wells Fargo’s role and moved note quickly
A Maryland homeowner has hauled Fairway Independent Mortgage into federal court, accusing the lender of hiding Wells Fargo’s role in a 2021 loan.
In a lawsuit filed on December 11, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore homeowner Nadia Brown-Hyatt alleges that Fairway misrepresented itself as her mortgage lender while Wells Fargo Bank, described as the “Funding Source/Warehouse Bank,” actually supplied the money for her loan. The case is captioned Nadia Brown-Hyatt v. Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, Case No. 1:25-cv-04071-JRR.
According to the filing, Brown-Hyatt obtained a mortgage in or about September 2021 to purchase a property at 3707 Liberty Heights Avenue in Baltimore. She says she signed a promissory note in the principal amount of $323,000, payable to Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation as “Lender,” and a deed of trust securing the note that also identified Fairway as the lender.
Brown-Hyatt alleges that, despite those documents, Fairway did not actually fund the loan. Instead, she claims Wells Fargo wired approximately $319,319.07 into the transaction via interstate wire transfer originating from outside Maryland, representing 100% of the loan proceeds, while Fairway’s contribution was listed as “$0.00.” She contends that Fairway’s internal funding paperwork, including a Fairway Funding Worksheet attached as an exhibit, shows Wells Fargo providing the funds, but that she was never told at closing that Wells Fargo was the warehouse bank or funding source.
The lawsuit asserts that this structure meant Brown-Hyatt was unknowingly contracting with an undisclosed principal. She argues that Wells Fargo’s role as the party actually supplying the money was material to her decision to enter the transaction and that Fairway’s alleged concealment of that role amounted to fraud and created what she describes as a fundamental mistake about the identity of the contracting parties.
The filing also focuses on what happened after the loan closed. Brown-Hyatt alleges that Fairway later endorsed her promissory note “Without Recourse” and transferred it off its books into the secondary market. She points to Fairway records that, she says, show the note being shipped to an investor identified as “Holding FNMA/FHLMC,” and cites documents such as a Fairway Home Loan Mortgage Corporation loan system printout and a Wells Fargo “Stipnet Request” as evidence that the loan was quickly moved to an investor.
In the complaint, Brown-Hyatt characterizes the “Without Recourse” endorsement and rapid transfer as part of what she calls a “loan mill” model. She alleges the existence of an “association-in-fact enterprise” involving Fairway, Wells Fargo as warehouse lender, and secondary market investors, and brings a civil racketeering claim under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 based on alleged wire and mail fraud tied to funding wires, loan documents, endorsements, and transfers.
Beyond racketeering, the filing includes claims for fraud in the inducement, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair or deceptive trade practices under Maryland’s consumer protection laws, and rescission based on fraud and mutual mistake. Brown-Hyatt asks the court to rescind the promissory note and deed of trust, award compensatory and punitive damages, grant treble damages under the federal RICO statute, and order pre- and post-judgment interest and costs.
All of these points reflect Brown-Hyatt’s allegations. The court has not made any findings on the merits, and no final decision has been issued.
