Illinois AG Files Suit Against "Bishop" Who Allegedly Ran Illegal Foreclosure Rescue Operation

In Chicago, Illinois, WLS-TV Channel 7 reports:

• In the last year, the Illinois attorney general's office has sued or investigated about a dozen foreclosure rescue services. The AG's office says the latest one it's suing violated the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and used religion to sell its services. [...] At first, Reverend Walter C. Armstrong wouldn't answer questions about his company's promises to save people like Evelyne Allen from foreclosure. Armstrong is a bishop and a reverend at Prayer of Faith Church on the city's West Side. He also ran Victory Consulting, a now defunct company that the AG says went door to door, passing literature to prospective clients.

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• In this lawsuit, the attorney general alleges Victory Consulting gained consumers' trust by saying the company was a faith-based organization. "So the consumer isn't likely to answer a lot of questions, isn't likely to demand documents because of this sort of aura of faith and trust," said [said Illinois Ass't AG Michelle] Garcia. The lawsuit says homeowners in foreclosure would sign their home over to a "surrogate owner" and then continue to pay the mortgage to the surrogate owner.

For more, see Foreclosure Chasers (They claim they'll save your home if you're being foreclosed on, but local authorities say most so-called foreclosure rescue services are rip-offs).

To view the Illinois AG's lawsuit, see State of Illinois v. Victory Consulting & Investments, Inc., et al.

For the Illinois AG's press release, see Attorney General Madigan Files Suit Against Chicago Mortgage Rescue Fraud Company (Deceptive Tactics Sent Five Homeowners into Foreclosure).