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The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

Miami Feds Bag 10 Suspects In Alleged Cash Back MortgageFraud Scam; Another Remains At Large

Posted on March 30, 2009
In Miami, Florida, the South Florida Business Journal report:Eleven South Floridians have been indicted in a mortgage fraud scheme totaling more than $4.7 million, according to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Ten of the defendants were arrested last week;(1) the 11th, identified as Julissa Amaral of Miami, remains at large...

Utah AG Charges Couple With Multiple Felonies In Alleged Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Seeks Asset Freeze, Criminal Forfeiture, $500K Bail

Posted on March 29, 2009
From the Office of the Utah Attorney General:The Utah Attorney General's Office [Friday] charged the CEO of Utah Financial Inc., Midvale, Utah, and his wife with 18 second-degree felony counts for allegedly running a lucrative mortgage fraud scheme. Utah Financial President Brendan Tyler Cassity, 36, and Olivia Cassity, 29, were both charged with 15 counts of communications fraud, one count of

NY Courts Roll Out Attorney-Assisted Self Help Initiative For State Residents Fighting Foreclosure, Personal Debt, Landlord-Tenant, Other Lawsuits

Posted on March 29, 2009
The New York Law Journal reports:Administrators of New York courts rolled out a new program Thursday to enlist attorneys, many of whom may be laid off or on reduced work schedules due to the sour economy, to provide legal advice and expertise to pro se litigants...

Jointly Owned Marital Real Estate Facing Foreclosure - Did Both Spouses Sign The Paperwork?

Posted on March 29, 2009
In a recent column appearing in The Herald News (Fall River, Massachusetts), foreclosure defense and bankruptcy attorney Glenn Russell Jr. writes about one problem facing lenders in some foreclosure actions that has gone pretty much unnoticed in general media reports - What happens if a sloppy loan originator and/or title closer obtained only one spouse's signature on a promissory note and

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Lawyer To Challenge Raid In Alleged $50M NY Dominatrix-Connected Mortgage Fraud Scam

Posted on March 29, 2009
The New York Law Journal reports:Now that a lawyer has been arrested in connection with a bizarre real estate fraud that allegedly recruited straw buyers at a dominatrix club, he has standing to challenge the warrant that authorized a raid on his law office last month, his attorney said Thursday...

Customer Complaints On Loan Modification Firms From Around The Country

Posted on March 29, 2009
The following assorted links are to stories of financially strapped homewowners complaining about being screwed out of upfront fees paid to loan modification companies for allegedly worthless promises.Las Vegas, Nevada: Woman evicted after home is foreclosed on...

Tulsa Bar Response To Call To Ante Up Financial Help For Legal Aid Underwhelming As Governor, Others Attempt To Bridge "Justice Gap" In Oklahoma

Posted on March 29, 2009
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, an op-ed column in Tulsa World reports:Two hundred Tulsa law firms that had not contributed to Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma in past fund drives recently received an appeal to help match a $35,000 challenge grant from the George Kaiser Family Foundation...

Loan Modification Firm Workers Flee Offices As ACORN Demonstrators Prepare To Protest; Accuse Company Of Clipping Homeowners Out Of Upfront Fees

Posted on March 28, 2009
In Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles Times reports:Consumers trying to warn the public about so-called loan modification scams found themselves tripping an alarm of another sort Wednesday: About 15 of them got stuck in a Buena Park office building's elevator during a demonstration...

Florida High Court Issues Administrative Order Creating Task Force On Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Cases

Posted on March 28, 2009
The Florida Bar News reports:The [Florida] Supreme Court has created a Task Force on Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Cases to recommend policies, procedures, strategies, and methods for easing the backlog of pending foreclosure cases while protecting the rights of parties...

Recovering Damages From Those Engaged In The Unauthorized Practice Of Law

Posted on March 28, 2009
A recent story in The Florida Bar News may be of interest to those in Florida who have suffered monetary damages when doing business with individuals and companies whose activities constitute the unauthorized practice of law (which could include non-attorney loan modification firms engaged in providing forensic loan audits in search of violations of relevant lending and consumer protection laws):

Unpaid Bill Results In Water Shutoff For One South Florida Townhome Community; 60+% Of Homeowners Delinquent On Monthly Maintenance Fees

Posted on March 28, 2009
In Broward County, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:When Peter Lynch went to make coffee in his Blue Lake townhouse Wednesday morning, the tap was dry. "I looked outside and saw the people from the county turning the water off," said Lynch, who is president of the townhome condo association...

Fire Officials Give Two Dozen Tenants In Unfinished Building The Boot; Developer Nearing Foreclosure Allowed Renters To Move In, Despite No COs

Posted on March 28, 2009
In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:A scene of desperate economic times played out [Wednesday] inside a former mill, where fire officials evicted as many as 28 people because their new apartments were so unfinished as to be fire hazards...

Rent Scam Victim Plays Key Role In Apprehending Suspect While In The Process Of Ripping Off Another

Posted on March 28, 2009
In Houston, Texas, KVUE-TV Channel 11 reports on a woman who, after being ripped off out of $2,500 by an alleged scam artist who rented her a vacant home he didn't own, turned the tables on him and played a key part in apprehending him while he was in the process of running the same scam on another prospective renter...

Sleazy Debt Collection Tactics Featured On Dateline NBC

Posted on March 28, 2009
Dateline NBC ran an investigative report Friday night on the debt epidemic and the sleazy tactics used by some bill collection agencies and "debt scavengers" in hounding consumers into making payments on delinquent credit accounts.To watch the full broadcast, see Inside The Financial Fiasco: Debt Trap.

Virginia Closing Attorney Gets Two Years In Richmond-Area Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Posted on March 27, 2009
In Richmond, Virginia, WTVR-TV Channel 6 reports:[A] key player in a local mortgage rescue scheme is going to prison. [...] Prosecutors say Colin Connelly conspired with others from Walkwood Properties to commit mortgage fraud and Connelly admits to preparing fraudulent Housing and Urban Development documents and will now spend two years in prison...

San Diego DA Seeks Help Rounding Up Add'l Victims Of Land Patent Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Posted on March 27, 2009
In San Diego, California, XETV-TV Channel 6 reports:Authorities asked for the public's help Wednesday in locating additional victims of a San Diego foreclosure fraud scam in which victims were falsely told that "land patents" would protect their properties from foreclosure...

Mass AG Files Civil Charges Against Loan Modification Firm; Alleges Collection Of Illegal Upfront Fees, Violations Of State Consumer Protection Act

Posted on March 27, 2009
From the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General:Attorney General Martha Coakley?s Office has obtained a temporary restraining order against Express Modifications, Inc., d/b/a ?Loan Mods By Lawyers, Inc.,? which ran prominent advertisements in a local newspaper last month offering to help homeowners avoid foreclosure...

Florida Bar Issues Ethics Alert For Lawyers Working With Loan Modification Firms

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Florida Bar has recently issued an "Ethics Alert" in which it provides Florida attorneys some guidance as to what activities they should steer clear from when forging working relationships with non-attorney loan modification firms.[T]his alert does not address every potential problem or concern...

Indianapolis-Area Prosecutor Considering Mortgage Fraud Charges In Alleged Rent Skimming Scam

Posted on March 27, 2009
In Indianapolis, Indiana, WISH-TV Channel 8 reports:The Keystone Towers were once an upscale apartment complex, the home of professional athletes and up-and-comers. The towers, which sit on the main highway between Indianapolis and Fishers, have deteriorated to the point of blight...

Ex-Home Health Aide Gets 10 Years For Scamming Elderly Couple; Home Lost To Foreclosure

Posted on March 27, 2009
In Norwalk, Connecticut, Norwalk News reports:A former home health aide who scammed an elderly couple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, forcing them so far into debt that their home was foreclosed upon, was sentenced in Stamford Superior Court on Thursday to 10 years in prison...

Foreclosure Scam Alerts Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports:The Federal Reserve is coming soon to a theater near you. The subject won't be the drama inside the central bank or its role in the current financial crisis. Rather, Fed officials plan to launch advertisements in movie theaters to warn homeowners about foreclosure scams...

Court Orders Temporarily Prohibiting Central Florida Loan Modification Firm From Charging Upfront Fees

Posted on March 27, 2009
From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:Attorney General Bill McCollum [Thursday] announced that his office has obtained an emergency court order temporarily prohibiting a Central Florida company from charging up-front fees for foreclosure-related rescue services...

Intentional Torching Of Historic Inn Facing Foreclosure Forces 14 Brides To Can Wedding Reservations

Posted on March 27, 2009
In Asheville, North Carolina, WYFF-TV Channel 4 reports:After an arson fire gutted one of the buildings at an inn complex, 14 brides who had weddings planned at the Asheville inn have canceled their reservations. [...] The mansion was built in 1889 as the private residence of Ambassador and Rep...

Firm With History Of Some Controversy Gets Freddie Mac Loan Servicing Contract

Posted on March 26, 2009
ProPublica reports:Last month, Freddie Mac introduced a pilot program designed to guide 5,000 homeowners with high-risk mortgages through the loan-modification process, but it outsourced the job to [Ocwen Financial Corp.,] a subprime loan servicer with a history of customer dissatisfaction and run-ins with the federal government...

Disbarred Florida Attorney Gets 14 Years For Pocketing $1.7M+ From Escrow Accounts Involving Clients' Real Estate Transactions

Posted on March 26, 2009
In Pinellas County, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:Richard Da Fonte, the disbarred Clearwater lawyer accused of stealing more than $1.7 million from clients, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and 15 years' probation.(1)***[His lawyer, Larry] Sandefer said his client had hoped to pay back his victims from the sale of his business, real estate and life insurance...

Police Detective: "Rent Skimming, It Is Epidemic In The City Of L.A. Right Now"

Posted on March 26, 2009
PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer reports:With the national foreclosure rate still climbing, some chose to live in foreclosed homes while others have been the victims of "rent skimmers," people who pretend to own a foreclosed property and scam tenants out of thousands of dollars in security deposits and fees...

Ohio Woman Cops Plea To Theft From Disabled Siblings, Allowing Home To Go Into Foreclosure Despite Having Power Of Attorney

Posted on March 26, 2009
In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:A 56-year-old Brooklyn woman entered a guilty plea on Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to theft charges after authorities said she stole more than $38,000 from her mentally disabled sisters...

Foreclosure Assistance Firms Continue Clipping Florida Homeowners For Upfront Fees, Despite Prohibitions In State Law

Posted on March 26, 2009
In Palm Coast, Florida, the Daytona Beach News Journal reports:William Hangan had a gut feeling that something was just not right when a California-based foreclosure consulting company sent him a postcard promising him thousands of dollars to help him move from his Palm Coast home that was being foreclosed...

Texas Woman Gets 99 Years In Alleged Mortgage Fraud, Payment Skimming Scam Resulting In Multiple Foreclosures; HUD Left Holding The Bag

Posted on March 26, 2009
From the Office of the Texas Attorney General:A Henderson County woman was [Monday] sentenced to 99 years in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme. On Tuesday, a Navarro County jury found the defendant, Kandace Yancy Marriott, 52, of Gun Barrel City, guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity...

Florida AG's Assault On Upfront Fee Loan Modification Firms Continues; Accuses Group Of Violating UPL, Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Statutes In Civil Suit

Posted on March 26, 2009
From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has obtained an injunction against a South Florida loan modification company and its owner to freeze the company?s assets until a lawsuit filed against the company could be heard in court...

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