According to the complaints filed in Denver District Court, consumers facing foreclosure were approached by the defendants with a proposal to save their homes. The defendants promised to use the equity in the homes to halt the foreclosures and, in some cases, to make improvements to the properties.
Homeowners were instructed to transfer the title of their properties to investors arranged by defendants, who would then lease the properties back to the original homeowner with an option to re-purchase their homes.
The complaints allege that many homeowners were subsequently evicted and that none of them were ever able to exercise their re-purchase options. All the equity in their homes was lost to the defendants.
Charges were filed against Jason L. Lynn, 33, and Lynn's company, Superior Financial Group, Patrick C. Brunner, 31, and Brunner's company, Platinum Financial Group, Jerry Ohu, 36, and Ohu's company, Fortune Financial Group, Gregory D. Hoffman, 41, and William J. Schultz, 36.
According to the DA, all of these defendants are suspected of defrauding homeowners out of substantial equity in their homes through an elaborate foreclosure rescue scheme in violation of the Colorado Foreclosure Protection Act.
The lawsuits seek permanent injunctions against all of the defendants, disgorgement of all proceeds of these illegal transactions and civil penalties.
These lawsuits are the latest actions the Office of the Attorney General has pursued against foreclosure-rescue and loan modification businesses since 2006, when the foreclosure crisis began in Colorado.
For more information on the Office of the Attorney General's work to combat foreclosure and mortgage fraud, visit the office's Mortgage Fraud Information Center, http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/departments/consumer_protection/mortgage_fraud_information_center.
((KUSA-TV © 2010 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)