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Real Estate & Property Law

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

Canadian Cops Nab Fugitive California Couple Accused Of Running Loan Mod Scam; Now Await Extradition In Toronto After Fleeing San Jose Police

Posted on July 23, 2009
In Toronto, Canada, the San Jose Mercury News reports:A San Jose couple suspected of operating a fraudulent real estate home loan modification business have been arrested in Toronto following a six-month investigation. San Jose police say Amir Rashidifar, 25, and Mary Delvecchio, 28, opened their business, Legal Support Services, in September and offered to modify real estate loans for homeowners

Long Island Attorney Swipes $73K+ Of Client's Money Given As Deposit In Real Estate Transaction, Says Nassau DA

Posted on July 23, 2009
From the Office of the Nassau County, New York District Attorney:Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced [...] the arrest of a Plainview attorney who has been charged with stealing more than $73,000 from a couple he was representing in the sale of a piece of property...

Homeowner Invokes TILA, State Lending Law In Attempt To Void Home Improvement Loan Gone Bad

Posted on July 23, 2009
In St. Clair County, Illinois, The St. Clair Record reports:A woman with learning disabilities claims she should not have to repay a loan for more than $45,000 she took out more than two and a half years ago because she was not fully explained the terms of the loan...

Aussie Legal Non-Profit Helps Vulnerable Senior Beat Bank In Foreclosure; Son's Manipulation Resulted In Improper Mortgaging Of Family Home For $200K

Posted on July 23, 2009
In Sydney, New South Wales, The Sydney Morning Herald reports:AN INTELLECTUALLY disabled pensioner has won a court battle to stave off foreclosure in a case said to have broad implications for consumers who offer their home as security for a business loan...

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Builder Pocketed Customer Deposits, Failed To Build Homes Or Provide Refunds While Stiffing Subs, Says Maryland AG In Civil Suit

Posted on July 23, 2009
From the Office of the Maryland Attorney General:Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced [...] that the Home Builder Registration Unit of the Consumer Protection Division has filed charges against Altieri Enterprises, Inc. t/a Altieri Homes, Athlone, LLC of Columbia, Altieri Homes at Castle in the Woods, LLC, R & L Livezey, LLC, and Milltown, LLC of Columbia for failing to comply with

Florida AG Continues Loan Modification Scam Sweep w/ Civil Suits Against Group Accused Of Making Automated Robo-Calls Using President "O's" Voice

Posted on July 22, 2009
From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:Attorney General Bill McCollum [Tuesday] announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against four related South Florida companies that allegedly charge up-front fees for loan modification services to homeowners facing foreclosure...

Loan Modification Firm Targeted By Florida AG Coughs Up $500K In Partial Restitution Payments; Says It's Now Tapped Out

Posted on July 22, 2009
From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:To date, [now-defunct loan modification firm] Lincoln Lending [LLC] has distributed approximately $500,000 in restitution payments. They are currently claiming that funds available for restitution have been exhausted...

"Loan Modification Industry Is Teeming With Confidence Men & Charlatans!" Says California AG In Announcing Suits Against Five Operators

Posted on July 22, 2009
From the Office of the California Attorney General:As part of a massive federal-state crackdown on loan modification scams, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. at a press conference [last week] announced the filing of legal action against 21 individuals and 14 companies who ripped off thousands of homeowners desperately seeking mortgage relief...

Court Voids Delinquent Mortgage & Subsequent Forced Sale Of Property Earlier Conveyed By Forged Deed; Lender Called A "Mortgagee/Buyer In Bad Faith"

Posted on July 22, 2009
In Quezon City, The Philippines, the Manila Buletin reported that a Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling voiding a foreclosure sale where the property owner who lost the title to a 5-unit building by forced sale originally acquired her interest by forging the true owner's name on a deed, and who then subsequently used the property as collateral for a loan from the private lender who

Texas Mortgage Fraud Flipper Gets 25 Years; Prosecutor Credits "Citizen Sleuth" For Key Effort In Busting Scam Ring

Posted on July 22, 2009
In McKinney, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reports:Jocelyn Sapp smelled a rat. She noticed a vacant house with overgrown weeds in her McKinney neighborhood, then another and another. Sapp started sleuthing, checking county records on the deteriorating homes...

Sarasota Title Agent Dodges Hot Water; Remains In Good Standing Despite Admitting To Screwing Around With Escrow Funds Resulting In Six-Figure Losses

Posted on July 22, 2009
In Central Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:As the closing agent on the [real estate] deal, it was Sarasota title agent Lisa Rotolo's job to make sure the [existing mortgage] loan got repaid. Instead, in 2004 Rotolo partially paid off the old loan and handed her clients $100,000, according to a 2008 foreclosure case filed in Sarasota County's circuit court...

Two Foreclosure Rescue Operators Get Five Years Each In Scam That Stripped Homeowners Of Their Equity & Left Lenders, Straw Buyers Holding The Bag

Posted on July 21, 2009
In New York City, Courthouse News Service reports:Two foreclosure profiteers in Brooklyn and the Bronx were sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for conspiracy, wire and bank fraud. Andrea Moore and Michael Irving, who ran the scam before the nationwide economic crisis hit, also must pay $1...

Central Florida Media Probe Identifies At Least 37 Real Estate "Flipping Groups" In Sarasota/Manatee Area Involved In $450M+ In Mortgage Defaults

Posted on July 21, 2009
In Central Florida, an investigative report by the Sarasota Herald Tribune states that it examined more than 3,000 property flips that occurred since 2000 in Sarasota and Manatee counties, interviewed over 100 investors and real estate professionals, and reviewed thousands of pages of deeds, mortgages, foreclosure filings and other public records...

"Equity Is No Longer The Game" - Loan Modification Scams Proliferate As Home-Snatching Equity Stripping Scams Subside

Posted on July 21, 2009
A recent report by the National Consumer Law Center makes this observation on the current state of foreclosure rescue scams:Homeowners facing foreclosure have always been vulnerable to scammers, con-artists, and thieves. Whether desperate for options or frustrated by uncooperative mortgage servicers, many homeowners are attracted to slick advertisements with bold promises to rescue them from

Michigan AG Files Criminal Charges Against Loan Modification Firms As Part Of "Operation Loan Lies"

Posted on July 21, 2009
Unlike most of the other participants in the the joint Federal/state law enforcement effort to eliminate loan modification scams who have brought civil lawsuits or initiated administrative proceedings (and issued cease and desist orders), the Office of the Michigan Attorney General has taken a different route by bringing criminal charges against the alleged scammers...

Ex-Subprime Toxic Mortgage Peddlers Now Coming To The Rescue As Loan Modification Specialists???

Posted on July 21, 2009
The New York Times recently published a story reporting on how many of the operators of so-called loan modification firms are the same people who, only a couple of years ago, peddled the risky subprime mortgages that has gotten the now-financially distressed homowners in trouble in the first place...

First Wave In Nationwide Loan Modification Scam Eradication Effort Results In 189 Legal Actions In Coordinated Federal, State Sweep

Posted on July 20, 2009
Last week, the coordinated nationwide sweep, called "Operation Loan Lies," began with prosecutors filed 189 legal actions against loan modification firms accused of cheating homeowners desperate to adjust the terms of their currently unaffordable home loans...

Foreclosing Lenders To Face Lawsuits For Failing To Deliver On Promises Of Loan Modification Help, Says Ohio AG

Posted on July 20, 2009
In Columbus, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:Mortgage lenders who promise to work with clients facing foreclosure and fail to follow up could find themselves in court. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said [Friday] that he will soon sue mortgage lenders who violate consumer-protection laws...

Minnesota Real Estate Agent Gets Three Years In Alleged Foreclosure Redemption, Equity-Snatching Scam

Posted on July 20, 2009
In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:Michael R. Wayman Jr. was a top-tier real estate agent for ReMax before he discovered the lucrative business of redeeming properties after foreclosure to snatch their equity. [...] But somewhere Wayman's quest for profits veered into illegality, and the 35-year-old Ramsey man was sentenced Friday to just over three years in

Florida AG Tags Another Outfit With Lawsuit Alleging The Targeting Of Homeowners In Foreclosure With Illegal Loan Modifications

Posted on July 20, 2009
The Office of the Florida Attorney General (which apparently is not a part of the recently-announced, joint Federal/State "Operation Loan Lies" loan modification scam eradication effort) announced last week:Attorney General Bill McCollum [Friday] announced his office has filed a lawsuit against a Central Florida company that allegedly charges homeowners facing foreclosure up-front fees for loan

Maryland Home Builder Cops Plea To "Playing Fast & Loose" With Buyers' Escrow Deposits

Posted on July 20, 2009
From the Office of the Maryland Attorney General:Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced [...] that Walter Osborne Ely, Jr., 46, and his sister and business partner Kimberly Zahrey, 44, plead guilty before Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts to 6 counts of failure to hold new home sums in escrow...

Habitat-New York City's "Loan Rangers" Public Awareness Campaign Targets Financial Scams With Free Educational Workshops

Posted on July 20, 2009
Habitat For Humanity - New York City announces:Habitat for Humanity ? New York City invites congregations, schools and community groups to host workshops for your members about credit repair and predatory lending and foreclosure scams. Habitat-NYC will provide free workshop trainers and materials...

NY Senator To Fannie: Stop Online Horse Trading In Delinquent Bronx Building Mortgages As Deteriorating Conditions May Force 500+ Families Onto Street

Posted on July 20, 2009
In The Bronx, New York, Crain's New York Business reports:Sen. Charles Schumer will join Bronx tenants Monday to demand that Fannie Mae abandon its effort to sell distressed mortgages on a portfolio of 19 Bronx buildings via an online auction and instead work with the city to find a buyer who will fix up the rundown properties and keep them affordable...

Massachusetts Closing Attorney Cops Plea To Illegally Pocketing $1M+ In Real Estate Escrow Funds Earmarked For Satisfying Existing Mortgage Loans

Posted on July 19, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Massachusetts):[R]oxbury attorney [ANDREA GOODE-JAMES, age 44,] was convicted [...] in federal court of mortgage fraud for pocketing more than $1 million in proceeds of loan closing transactions.(1) At [the] plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government?s evidence would have proven that GOODE-JAMES performed

California Man Faces 147 Felony Counts In Alleged Real Estate Investment/Ponzi Scheme; Parents, Friends Head List Of Victims Claiming Losses Of $5M+

Posted on July 19, 2009
In Santa Barbara, California, The Tribune reports:Hard money lender Mike L. Wilson, a Santa Maria mortgage business owner with many San Luis Obispo County clients and real estate investments, was arrested at his Santa Maria home [...] on 147 felony counts...

Now-Disbarred Georgia Attorney Cops Plea To Phony Real Estate Investment Scam Ponzi Scheme; Accused Of Stealing $1.9M From Clients, Friends

Posted on July 19, 2009
In Atlanta, Georgia, the Fulton County Daily Report reports:For nearly four years, McDonough, Ga., attorney Steven H. Ballard capitalized on his credibility as a real estate and business law attorney to bilk friends and clients of more than $2 million in what federal prosecutors say was a Ponzi scheme(1) in which Ballard siphoned more than $200,000 for his personal use...

Dad's Death Spurs Bitter Sibling Battle Involving Allegations Of Forged Mortgage, Title Transfers Of 80-Year Old Mom's Real Estate

Posted on July 19, 2009
In Perth, Western Australia, The West Australian reports:Perth property developer Joe Scaffidi, [...] has been accused in the Supreme Court of forging his mother?s signature to secure loans and the sale of a commercial property worth a total of $3 million...

Ex-Aussie Footballer Accused Of Using Forged Deed To Score $320K In Loan Funds Secured By Property Owned By Another

Posted on July 19, 2009
In Manly, New South Wales, The Daily Telegraph reports:FORMER Sydney Swans player Daryn Cresswell allegedly obtained $320,000 in fraudulent loan funds using a forged title deed, a court heard [last week]. The alleged scam went unnoticed for years until the rightful owner of the Coolum Beach property on the title deed applied for an investment loan and was told the astonishing news his home was

Florida Judge Refuses To Halt Foreclosure Sale Despite Lender's Willingness To Work Out Loan, Says Homeowner

Posted on July 18, 2009
In Volusia County, Florida, WFTV-TV Channel 9 reports:President Obama helped create the federal loan modification program so families could stay in their houses. However, a Volusia County father, who took advantage of the plan, lost his house to a bank Thursday morning...

Non-Profit Fair Housing Group Files Suit Against Publisher Of Allegedly Discriminatory Classified Ads Against Families With Children

Posted on July 18, 2009
According to a press release from the National Fair Housing Alliance:The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and its member organization Fair Housing Council of Central California (FHCCC) [last week] announced a housing discrimination lawsuit against the nation?s largest classified advertisement publisher, American Classifieds, LLC for publishing housing ads that state children are not

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