Maryland Lawmaker Accused In Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Scam Tells Jury He Was "Doing The Lord's Work"

In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• A state delegate from Anne Arundel County, who is being sued for damages by a Pasadena woman who claims he tricked her into signing over her home, told a jury Wednesday that he was "doing the Lord's work." In his closing arguments, Del. Tony McConkey, a Severna Park Republican and real estate agent who is a law school graduate and represented himself in court, said that he was trying to help the woman save her home from foreclosure and that he never "knowingly and willfully broke the law."

• Attorneys for Teresa Milligan asked the jury to award her $1.5 million for damages for the loss of her condominium and pain and suffering. "This is the American Dream we're talking about," Peter A. Holland said in his closing arguments. "She is always going to feel the humility, the indignity and the shame of this."

• Holland is representing Milligan with Michael Morin. Milligan, a mother of three, has been living with a brother since losing her home, according to court testimony. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge D. William Simpson ruled in September that McConkey had acted wrongly in transfering ownership of the condominium to himself.(1) The jury began deliberations Wednesday evening and is expected to reach a verdict Thursday morning.

Source: Delegate denies tricking woman out of home (McConkey says home transfer was 'doing the Lord's work').

See also, WBAL-TV Channel 11: Delegate Defends Self In Mortgage Trial (McConkey Accused In Foreclosure Rescue Scheme).

(1) Another recent Baltimore Sun story reports that Milligan's civil suit against McConkey alleges "foreclosure rescue fraud," a violation of a homeowner protection law that he voted for in 2005. In January 2006, Milligan said, McConkey offered to help her save her condo from foreclosure and to help her obtain a loan to make payments, according to court testimony. Milligan signed ownership of her condominium over to McConkey, but then called him within the allotted three days to say that she had changed her mind, according to her testimony in Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge D. William Simpson's courtroom Tuesday. Eight months later, McConkey filed the original contract that Milligan had signed and began the paperwork to have her removed from the home, according to court documents.