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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

Illinois AG Lawsuits Targeting Alleged Loan Modification Fraud Operators Now Totals 31 With Three Recent Cases

Posted on December 09, 2009
From the Office of the Illinois Attorney General:Attorney General Lisa Madigan [...] announced three lawsuits against mortgage rescue fraud schemes operating in Illinois as part of a national crackdown with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U...

SF To Consider Expanding Rent Regulation Coverage To All Residences; Renting Out House To Tenant Could Become Iffy Proposition For Homeowners

Posted on December 09, 2009
In San Francisco, California, the San Francsico Chronicle reports:San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is getting ready to vote on a proposal that would make it difficult and costly - in some cases, impossible - for property owners who have rented out their homes to move back into them...

NYC Judge Unfreezes Delinquent Homeowner's Bank Account Amidst "Sewer Service" Allegations Against Law Firm For Lender Holding Underwater 2nd Mortgage

Posted on December 08, 2009
In Staten Island, New York, the Staten Island Advance reports:A new foreclosure tactic, whereby lenders or debt collectors holding second mortgages freeze bank accounts or garnish pay checks of already struggling homeowners, is emerging and making it even more difficult for people to hold onto their homes...

Full Speed Ahead For Zombie Debt Purchasers, Despite Lacking Proof Of Actual Debtor Or Debt, Significant Paperwork

Posted on December 08, 2009
Scripps Howard News Service reports:For decades, credit-card companies and other firms would eventually give up after attempting to collect from deadbeat customers. Now, companies are packaging and selling many of those overdue accounts for pennies on the dollar to debt collectors...

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Expired Statute Of Limitations Saves Homeowner $45K+; Stale Debt Too Old To Be Enforced, Says Judge About 30+ Year Old HOA Claim

Posted on December 08, 2009
In Ellicott City, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:Sometimes it pays to be stubborn. For more than 33 years, Joseph and Shirley Poteet ignored annual Columbia Association bills and later threats of possible foreclosure for not paying the community's unofficial property tax fees that accumulated to more than $45,000...

KC Legal Aid Pushes To Fight Off Illegal Foreclosure Evictions As Lenders Continue Ignoring Federal Tenant Protection Law

Posted on December 08, 2009
In Kansas City, Missouri, The Pitch reports:Word on the street [...] is that some lenders aren't complying with the new law [that requires lenders who foreclose on rental properties to give their tenants at least 90 days to move out -- or even longer, in some cases]...

NBA Owner "Clipped" For $2.7M+ In Settlement Of Race/Etnicity-Based Fair Housing Allegations; Discriminated Tenants To Share In $2.625M Pot

Posted on December 08, 2009
From the U.S. Department of Justice:The Justice Department announced [last month] the largest monetary payment ever obtained by the department in the settlement of a case alleging housing discrimination in the rental of apartments. Los Angeles apartment owner Donald T...

Newport Beach Man Probed In Alleged Loan Modification Ripoff; Clipped Approximately 50 Homeowners Out Of $175K+, Say Cops

Posted on December 07, 2009
In Newport Beach, California, CBS 2/KCAL-TV Channel 9 report:Police say a Newport Beach man ripped off distressed homeowners with loan modification businesses that did nothing to help his customers save their homes. Larry Ervan Gunter, 34, is accused of taking money from homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments and promising to work out better terms on their loans, but never doing

Foreclosure Rescue Operator Gets 30 Months In Equity Stripping Mortgage Scam; Bogus Sale Leasebacks Left Investors Holding The Bag, Homeowners Booted

Posted on December 07, 2009
In Edmond, Oklahoma, The Edmond Sun reports:An Edmond man was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months in prison for money laundering, stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme. Phillip Neill Seibel, 39, of Edmond, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Russell, who ordered Seibel to pay $770,037...

Arizona, Feds Join Forces In Battle Against Loan Modification Rackets; More Criminal Prosecutions Possible, Says State AG

Posted on December 07, 2009
In Phoenix, Arizona, The Arizona Republic reports:Arizona's top prosecutor is partnering with federal regulators to stop more loan modification scams aimed at struggling homeowners. Attorney General Terry Goddard said his office and federal prosecutors plan to work together to go after the firms that market help to homeowners facing foreclosure but instead "cheat homeowners out of their last bit

Mortgage Firm Faces "Appraisal Shopping" Allegations In Ohio AG Civil Suit; State Settles Similar Claims Against Three Others For $160K+

Posted on December 07, 2009
From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General:In an ongoing effort to hold the mortgage industry accountable for its part in the foreclosure crisis, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray [...] filed a lawsuit against Weststar Mortgage, Inc. In the lawsuit, Cordray charges the Washington D...

Fannie, Freddie Seek To Have Big Lenders Eat Bad Home Loans; Poor Underwriting Drives Mortgage Finance Giants' Recovery Efforts Over Debt Gone Sour

Posted on December 07, 2009
Dow Jones Newswires reports:As home loans sour at a rapid clip, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are aggressively bouncing back defectively underwritten loans to lenders. The result: higher loan-loss reserves for the lenders and new headwind for banks trying to escape the housing downturn...

Arizona Resident Fights Back To Undo Mortgage Unwittingly Signed Shortly After Coming Out Of Coma

Posted on December 06, 2009
In Maricopa County, Arizona, inMaricopa.com reports:Rancho El Dorado resident Nichole Italiano sits in her home surrounded by mountains of paperwork. For the past six months she has gathered data, collected testimony and spent hours at a downtown Phoenix law office preparing a mortgage fraud case revolving around a broker having her sign loan documents a few weeks after coming out of a coma...

Debt Collector's Use Of 1st Amendment To Get Default Judgment Against Mentally Disabled Debtor Without Giving Proper Notice Slammed By Alaska Supremes

Posted on December 06, 2009
Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, recently announced:The Alaska Supreme Court ruled [last month] that debt collectors who employ unfair or deceptive tactics during collection lawsuits are not shielded by the First Amendment...

Michigan AG Charges Alleged Ponzi Scheme Operator With Peddling Bogus Foreclosed & Distressed Property Investment Opportunities

Posted on December 06, 2009
From the Office of the Michigan Attorney General:Attorney General Mike Cox [...] announced the early morning arrest of a Grosse Ile woman accused of defrauding dozens of people in a massive real-estate Ponzi scheme. Rita Gosselin, 58, is charged with racketeering and multiple counts of obtaining money under false pretenses for orchestrating numerous fraudulent real estate investments and stealing

New Jersey Fair Housing Advocate Shakes $30K Out Of Landlord To Settle Housing Discrimination Allegations

Posted on December 06, 2009
From the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General:The Division on Civil Rights announced [...] that the owners of a Somerset County apartment complex have paid $30,000 to the Fair Housing Council of Northern Jersey to settle charges the complex engaged in racial and other types of unlawful discrimination while dealing with testers it believed were prospective tenants...

Recent DOJ Actions Involving Housing Rights Violations, Alleged Housing Discrimination

Posted on December 06, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice has recently issued the following press releases in connection with its efforts in connection with housing rights violations and alleged housing discrimination:Arkansas Man Sentenced on Civil Rights Charges in Cross Burning Conspiracy: Dustin Nix of Donaldson, Ark, was sentenced [...

Prosecutors: Scam Artist Used Parents' Stolen I.D. To Buy & Use Five Condos In Rent Skimming Racket Ultimately Ending In Foreclosure Of Each Unit

Posted on December 05, 2009
In San Diego, California, NBC San Diego reports:Tyler Adams is a fraud artist with many faces and many names, prosecutors said. He targeted his own parents in a real estate scam. [...] According to court documents from San Diego, Adams stole the identity of his mother and stepfather to buy five condos in San Diego worth more than $3,000,000 combined...

BofA Locks Financially Strapped Borrower Out Of Home Days After Agreeing To Revised Loan Payment Program

Posted on December 05, 2009
In Trenton, New Jersey, WPVI-TV Channel 6 reports:A 57-year-old woman in Trenton is trying to put the pieces back together after being victimized by a mistake by her mortgage company which just happens to be the Bank of America. Three days after being locked out of her house because of a bank mistake, Nina Morra was let back in [Friday], only to find she had no water, no electric, and no heat...

NJ Woman Accused Of Abusing POA To Steal Nursing Home-Bound Mom's Monthly Social Security, Pension Payments & Stiffing Care Facility

Posted on December 05, 2009
From the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General:Attorney General Anne Milgram and Division of Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a Toms River woman has been indicted for allegedly stealing monies that her mother received from Social Security and a pension plan...

Attorney Charged In �90,000 Ripoff Of Recently Widowed Blind 90-Year Old; Allegedly Forged POA Before Looting Senior's Savings Accounts

Posted on December 05, 2009
In Codsall, U.K., the Express & Star reports:A scheming solicitor branded The Vulture swindled �90,000 from the blind widow of a millionaire Black Country industrialist, the Express & Star can reveal. Veronica Wilkinson spent thousands on plastic surgery, designer clothes, pets and a �37,000 Audi within days of the death of 86-year-old Les Carrier...

Justice Department Scores Win Against Rogue Towing Outfit For Repossessing, Selling 20+ Vehicles Belonging To Servicemembers Without Court Orders

Posted on December 05, 2009
In Norfolk, Virginia, Air Force Times reports:The Justice Department has scored a victory for service members against a Norfolk, Va., towing company that sold off more than 20 service members? cars without court orders in recent years. The civil case is not over; it will go to trial next year to determine damages owed to the service members whose vehicles were towed by B...

Financially Strapped Couple Scores Against Home Lender; Pays $1K In Full Payment Of Allegedly Fraudulent $103K Loan

Posted on December 04, 2009
In Bradenton, Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:Pedro Torres and his wife purchased the Bradenton home they were renting in 2007 because it reminded them of their native Puerto Rico. They were told their monthly payment would be $670, but it turned out to be $800, about half of their income from Social Security...

Maryland Regulator Issues C & D Orders Against Five Firms Accused Of Running Illegal Upfront Fee Loan Modification Schemes

Posted on December 04, 2009
In Baltimore, Maryland, The Daily Record reports:State officials have ordered five companies to shut down illegal home loan modification schemes that targeted Maryland residents facing foreclosure, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation announced [late last month]...

Rhode Island Closing Attorney Gets 42 Months For Pocketing $2.5M In Escrow Funds & Failing To Pay Off Existing Mortgages In Real Estate Transactions

Posted on December 04, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Providence, Rhode Island):A federal judge has sentenced Pasquale Scavitti, III, a former attorney based in Cranston, to 42 months in prison for diverting more than $2.5 million in mortgage funds from his firm?s client account for personal use...

Discipline Recommended For Title Agency Owner Accused Of Pocketing Premiums & Failing To Remit To Insurance Underwriter

Posted on December 04, 2009
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Duluth News Tribune reports:An administrative law judge in St. Paul is recommending that the owner of Scenic Title & Abstract be disciplined for failing to remit title insurance premiums in the last four years. Kevin Eckholm, owner of the now-closed title company in Duluth and Two Harbors, was accused in October of fraud and operating without proper licenses after an

State Protection Fund Coughs Up $122K To Cover Client Losses From Illegally Pocketed Real Estate Closing Cash, Unearned Fees By Dishonest NJ Attorneys

Posted on December 04, 2009
The New Jersey Lawyers? Fund for Client Protection recently announced:During the third quarter of 2009, the New Jersey Lawyers? Fund for Client Protection, funded by the State?s lawyers and judges, paid $122,606.14 to clients for losses caused by 7 lawyers,(1) the Board of Trustees announced [...

Victimized In Equity Stripping Scam, Minnesota Couple In Foreclosure Now Fight Feds In Attempt To Avoid Being Booted From Home

Posted on December 04, 2009
In Golden Valley, Minnesota, the Star Tribune reports:Raise your hand if you've heard something like this before: A couple looking to save money in tough times refinanced their home -- only to discover they'd been taken in by fraud.(1) Now they are fighting foreclosure and the loss of their home...

Colorado AG Receives "Good Behavior" Promises From Ten Loan Modification Outfits Accused Of Failing To Deliver Results, Deceptive Advertising

Posted on December 03, 2009
From the Office of the Colorado Attorney General:Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced [...] that his office has taken action against 10 loan-modification firms doing business in Colorado as part of his office?s efforts to crack down on loan-modification companies preying on Coloradans in foreclosure...

NJ Regulator Cites Nine Loan Mod Outfits For Operating Without State License; Demands $5K Fine From Each Plus Restitution In Offer To Resolve Charges

Posted on December 03, 2009
From the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General:The Division of Consumer Affairs has mailed notices of violation to nine New Jersey-based companies that allegedly offered loan modification services to consumers without being licensed. The nine companies each were cited for violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act for engaging in unconscionable commercial practices by allegedly offering to

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