CNN On Foreclosure Rescue

Some time ago, the CNN business program Open House with Gerri Willis featured a Florida couple facing foreclosure and their experience when they unwittingly signed over their home to a title-holding land trust in a deal arranged by foreclosure rescue operator Jack Moussa and his Florida Housing Council ("FHC"). Interviewed for the piece was Florida attorney David Silverstone, who represents the homeowners in a lawsuit against Moussa and FHC in which Silverstone seeks to void the deed transfer, alleging that the foreclosure rescue transaction was a disguised loan that violates the Federal Truth In Lending Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and the Florida usury statute. Based on the transaction the homeowners entered into with Moussa, Silverstone claims that the return on investment on the disguised loan was 300%, more than the maximum amount allowed by Florida law.

To watch the video, see Rescue or Ripoff? (Open House with Gerri Willis; CNN).

Go here for other posts on Florida foreclosure rescue operator Jack Moussa and the Florida Housing Council.

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Editor's Note:

There is plenty of case law in Florida (and other places as well) that can be used to support a court's decision to recharacterize sale-leaseback foreclosure rescue deals as (possibly usurious?) secured loans / equitable mortgages. Go here for more on the Florida case law on equitable mortgage (some of which also addresses usury) to consider how the case law may be applied to foreclosure rescue transactions structured as a sale leaseback, or variations thereof, with a right to buy back the property in the future.

It may only be a matter of time before the Florida Attorney General's Office "steps up to the plate" and begins to prosecute foreclosure rescue operators who offer sale leaseback programs for violating Florida's usury statutes:

• Civil usury - Section 687.03, which currently sets a maximum 18% per annum interest, and applies to advances up to $500,000;
• Criminal misdemeanor usury - Section 687.071(2), generally applies on interest willfully and knowingly charged in excess of 25% per annum but not exceeding 45% per annum;
• Criminal felony usury - Section 687.071(3), generally applies to interest willfully and knowingly charged in excess of 45% per annum.
• Debt unenforceable - Section 687.071(7) states that a loan made in violation of the Florida criminal usury statute is unenforceable.

For more on foreclosure rescue and equity stripping arrangements, generally, see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.). florida equitable mortgage alpha