In a nationwide initiative against fraudulent home-lending schemes, dozens of mortgage brokers, loan officers, realtors, home builders and attorneys are facing federal charges relating to mortgage fraud, identity theft and bankruptcy fraud, officials announced Thursday.

The cases collectively involve more than $170 million in fraudulently-obtained home mortgages issued by various lenders and secured by several hundred residential properties in the Chicago area, and some as far as Nevada and California, federal law enforcement officials announced as part of  “Operation Malicious Mortgage.”

Six defendants of 67 were arrested Wednesday in Chicago, while dozens of the others — including a Westchester couple, a Darien man and a Naperville woman — will soon be ordered to face the charges in U.S. District Court.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said mortgage fraud inflicts serious damage not only on financial institutions but also makes life more difficult for ordinary people.

“These crimes, on the scale being addressed (Thursday), cause banks and lending companies, which have been saddled with huge numbers of fraudulent mortgages, to tighten their lending practices and adjust the costs of doing business,” he said. “Ultimately, these burdens are borne by anyone hoping to purchase or sell a home and the shareholders of institutions financing those transactions.”

Various lending companies suffered losses in excess of $40 million after the loans went into default and the properties were foreclosed upon.

Among the cases announced was one of the largest federal mortgage fraud prosecutions ever in Chicago. Alleged ring-leader Bobbie L. Brown, Jr., and 20 co-defendants were charged with various counts of mail, wire and bank fraud and using false identification documents in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Between August 2004 and May 2008, the defendants allegedly fraudulently obtained 150 mortgage loans on homes in various Chicago suburbs, including Woodridge, Elmhurst, Lemont, Addison and Naperville, from which they obtained more than $95 million in loan proceeds from lenders for themselves and others.

The victim lenders incurred losses totaling approximately $19 million on the loans, because they were unpaid, causing the residences to be foreclosed upon and resold for amounts less than the outstanding mortgage loan balance, the indictment alleges.

Brown and other defendents purchased residents, or caused residents to be purchased throught nominees — or straw buyers — of whom Jean Hernal, 48, her husband, Edgardo Hernal, 51, both of Westchester, were among, according to the indictment.

The nominees were allegedly recruited by Brown and the others to buy multiple residences with promises of “no money down” and “cash back at closing” if they agreed to participate.

According to the indictment, Tiffany Thurman, 37, of Naperville, and Dominic Moscato, 34, of Darien, were among those who prepared allegedly fraudulent loan applications in the case.

The local prosecutions are among nearly 150 cases that have been handled nationwide since March as part of a coordinated law enforcement effort against crimes that pose a threat to the domestic housing industry and global credit markets, according to Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C.