A Florida jury convicted two defendants last week for running a foreclosure rescue scheme that took advantage of homeowners who had trouble making their monthly mortgage payments.
Cathy Saffer was charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Barrington Coombs was convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. A third defendant, Lisa Wright, pleaded guilty to her participation in this scam in March.
Court evidence revealed that the scammers ran a business called Foreclosure Solution Specialists from 2006 to 2009. Wright and Saffer targeted homeowners facing foreclosure by advertising that FSS could assist these individuals without being excluded from their property.
When contacted by distressed homeowners seeking assistance, the defendants misrepresented to these individuals that their homes would be sold to investors. According to trial witnesses, Wright and Saffer also claimed that customers could remain in their homes after the sales and promised them an opportunity to repurchase the homes at a later date.
However, rather than selling the homes to legitimate investors, the defendants designed sham sales to straw purchasers whom they paid to participate in the scheme. Additionally, several misrepresentations were made on loan applications regarding the straw purchasers’ net worth’s, incomes and employment histories in order to induce lenders to fund loans.
As part of the scheme, Wright and Saffer paid Coombs, who was a certified public accountant, to sign a letter that falsely vouched for the fraudulent information on various loan applications.
These sham sales drew equity out of the homes, which Wright and Saffer pocketed for their own purposes. After this occurred, the defendants allowed the loans to go into foreclosure, therefore resulting in the homeowners losing all of the equity in their homes and being forced to move out of their properties.
“Foreclosure rescue schemes victimize Americans in dire straits at risk of losing their most prized possession—the roofs over their heads,” said Stuart Delery, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil division. “These convictions demonstrate that we will aggressively prosecute individuals who prey on homeowners struggling in these tough financial times.”
