The operators of a national online foreclosure rescue scam who
According to court records, Mark Farhood and Jason Sant co-owned Home Advocate Trustees, which also went by the names Walk Away Today, First Equity Trustees, Home Security Consultants, Sell Fast USA, Short Sale Buyer, USA Sell House Fast and USA Rental Housing. The defendants marketed these businesses nationwide as purchasers of distressed real estate where vulnerable homeowners could avoid foreclosure and the accompanying negative effects on their credit.
The companies told homeowners that they would negotiate with lenders to purchase mortgage notes at a discount. In their marketing, the co-owners falsely claimed to have been in business for 17 years, have experienced a 90% success rate in purchasing notes, and were the nation’s largest volume buyer of short sale and overleveraged real estate.
In their pleas, both Farhood and Sant admitted their businesses were a fraud and no such negotiations ever occurred with lenders. The purpose of the scheme was to take possession of hundreds of residential properties at virtually no cost and gain millions of dollars in profits by renting the homes to unsuspecting tenants.
As part of the scheme, the operators said they submitted fraudulent loan modification applications to lenders through the Department of Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program without the homeowner’s consent. Furthermore, Farhood and Sant used the bogus applications to delay foreclosures on the properties—which were at this point under their control and no mortgage payments were being made—to maximize the time period during which they could collect rental income.
Meanwhile, the homes that were sold to Home Advocate Trustees and its related entities ended in foreclosure, harming the participating homeowners who rented out these properties by resulting in an eviction.
Farhood and Sant each face 30 years in prison. Both are scheduled to be sentenced to August.
“Taking advantage of those struggling most in the midst of our nation’s financial crisis and exploiting the federal government’s response to the crisis will not be tolerated,” said Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “SIGTARP and our law enforcement partners will hold perpetrators of fraud schemes related to TARP accountable for their actions.”
