Bankruptcy Court Approves Settlement Between Attorney General’s Office and Ten Mortgage Lenders and Servicers Involved in Foreclosure Rescue Transactions

BOSTON – The U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved a settlement between Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office and 10 mortgage lenders and servicers that funded or serviced loans which facilitated fraudulent foreclosure rescue transactions by Brockton attorney Alec Sohmer. The Settlement Agreement with the lenders, entered last week by Judge Joan Feeney, was reached by the Attorney General’s Office and the Chapter 7 trustee in Sohmher’s bankruptcy case. The Settlement impacts 26 residential properties that are part of Sohmer’s bankruptcy case and is designed to return homeowners to their financial position before Sohmer arranged foreclosure rescue transactions that stripped their home equity and required payment of Sohmer’s fees and high settlement costs. The settlement will also provide an opportunity for Sohmer’s victims to reacquire the legal title to their homes.

“These fraudulent foreclosure rescue transactions never would have occurred without the orchestration by Sohmer and the closing attorney who represented mortgage lenders,” said Attorney General Coakley. “By agreeing to the settlement, these mortgage companies are helping to solve the serious problems caused by Sohmer and his affiliates. We appreciate that they have chosen to be part of the solution to the problem, instead of ignoring their responsibility.”

Under the terms of the settlement, the lenders and servicers will provide restitution to the homeowners victimized by Sohmer’s fraudulent scheme by reducing the outstanding mortgage liens on the homeowner’s properties, and in many instances allowing the homeowners to apply to assume the loans. As a result of the foreclosure rescue scheme, 26 homeowners had transferred the titles of their homes to Sohmer. The original homeowners can now reclaim their property by paying a reduced mortgage obligation instead of the inflated mortgage loan arranged by Sohmer, and by refinancing the loans. The mortgage lien will be reduced to the lower of the actual amount paid for prior mortgage loans on the property, subtracting any beneficial payments to the homeowners; or 80% of the current value of the properties. In total, across 26 properties, the settlement will provide approximately $1.8 million in reduced mortgage obligations.

The complaint, initially filed in August 2006 in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that Brockton attorney Alec G. Sohmer orchestrated a foreclosure rescue scheme targeted at financially distressed homeowners. The complaint also names Timeless Funding Inc., a Nevada company that Sohmer allegedly used in their fraudulent activities. The Attorney General’s case will continue in Suffolk Superior Court against Sohmer, as well as Andrew Palmer, the closing attorney who conducted the transactions; Shaun Ellis, an attorney who referred distressed homeowners to Sohmer in exchange for a fee; and Carteret Mortgage, a mortgage broker who arranged financing for many of the deals.

According to the complaint, Sohmer preyed on homeowners facing foreclosure by promising them they could avoid foreclosure with refinancing through Timeless Funding. Instead, Sohmer allegedly deceived the homeowners into conveying their property to himself or to his wife. The complaint alleges that Sohmer concealed his fraud by deceiving the homeowners into signing documents purporting to allow them to stay in their homes by making monthly payments to Sohmer, and then to "repurchase" their homes from Sohmer by obtaining new financing. The complaint alleges that Sohmer knew that, because of the homeowners' financial distress and the onerous "repurchase" terms, the homeowners would never be able to afford the monthly payments, or obtain the required financing to get their homes back. After homeowners were unable to make the monthly payments, Sohmer sought to evict them from their homes, and to sell their homes to new buyers. Sohmer also stripped the equity that the homeowners had built up in their homes, by charging homeowners fees, commissions and other payments.

The mortgage lenders and servicers that have signed onto today’s agreement are: First Horizon Home Loans; Countrywide Home Loans (servicer, on behalf of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.); EMC Mortgage Corporation (servicer); Select Portfolio Services (servicer); Aurora Loan Servicing, LLC (servicer); America Brokers Conduit (d/b/a of American Home Mortgage Corp.); Option One Mortgage Corp.; America’s Servicing Company, a d/b/a of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (servicer for HSBC Bank USA National Association, Inc. as Trustee); Ocwen Mortgage (servicer for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation); and, Sallie Mae Home Loans, Inc. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. has agreed to settle the Commonwealth’s concerns regarding some, but not all, of the transactions in which it was involved.

Assistant Attorneys General Christopher Barry-Smith and Jacqueline Welch and paralegal Yolanda Kruczkowski of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Consumer Protection Division, together with financial investigator Christine Murphy and investigators Nancy Ward and Monique Cascarano, are handling this matter with the assistance of Liam Lowney and Ashley Cinelli of Attorney General Coakley’s Victim Witness Services Division.

##########

Email & Bookmark

Bankruptcy Court Approves Settlement Between Attorney General’s Office and Ten Mortgage Lenders and Servicers Involved in Foreclosure Rescue Transactions