Easleys' deal may have been costly for others

RALEIGH (AP) - Word that former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife received a 25 percent discount from a coastal developer named in a lawsuit suggests they may have unwittingly helped increase the prices that others paid.

More than 200 plaintiffs in one of the largest alleged mortgage-fraud cases in state history have said for months that they were duped into paying inflated prices for coastal lots.

No one involved in the fraud cases has claimed that the Easleys were knowingly involved. But the $137,000 discount they received on their lot was not shown in the $550,000 sale price.