Two More Sentenced In Metropolitan Money Store Equity Stripping, Foreclosure Rescue Conspiracy

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Greenbelt, Maryland):

• U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Clifford McCall, age 48, of Lanham, Maryland today to four years in prison followed by five years of supervised release and his daughter, Chandra Jones, age 31, of Lanham, Maryland, to 33 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Titus also entered judgements ordering McCall to pay restitution of $2,462,107.85 and ordering Jones to pay restitution of $3,879,093.58.

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• McCall conspired with others in a scheme to fraudulently promise to help homeowners, who had substantial equity in their homes but were facing foreclosure because of their inability to make monthly mortgage payments, avoid foreclosure and repair their damaged credit. The homeowners were directed to allow title to their homes to be put in the names of third party purchasers (the straw buyers) for a year, during which time Metropolitan Money Store promised to improve the homeowners’ credit ratings, help them obtain more favorable mortgages, and eventually return title to their homes to them.

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• Using the homeowners’ properties, the conspirators applied for mortgages to extract the maximum available equity from the homes. They prepared and submitted fraudulent loan applications to mortgage lenders to obtain fraudulently inflated loans on the target properties in the straw buyers’ names. At settlements, the conspirators imposed numerous fees and required “seller contributions” which were far in excess of industry standards; they imposed fees for services which were not performed, disclosed or explained to the homeowners; and they transferred the sale proceeds out of the escrow accounts into the conspirators’ business and personal bank accounts and converted a substantial portion of those funds to their personal use.

For the entire press release, including the status of the eight other co-conspirators, see President and Vice President of Financial Service Firms Sentenced in Metropolitan Money Store Mortgage Fraud Scheme (Father and Daughter Who Served as Officers of Mortgage Foreclosure Consulting Companies Responsible for Over $6 Million in Losses Under the Scheme, Including Almost $800,000 Deposited by the Daughter Into Her Personal Bank Account).