Federal Prosecutor In "Money Store" Foreclosure Rescue Scam Case Takes Punch In The Face From Supporter Of Co-Conspirator At Sentencing Hearing

In Greenbelt, Maryland, The Washington Post reports on the sentencing of Joy Jackson Fordham, a retired exotic dancer who went on to become president of the now-defunct Metropolitan Money Store, a foreclosure rescue scam operation that screwed homeowners facing foreclosure out of millions in equity in their homes by peddling bogus sale leaseback arrangements that were purportedly designed to help save their homes from being repossessed by mortgage lenders.

• The case produced more courtroom drama Monday when Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Crowell IV was punched in the face by a relative of Jackson's key accomplice, Jennifer McCall, witnesses said. McCall was in court to be sentenced at a separate hearing later in the day, but the hearing was postponed after she fired her lawyers. After Crowell, [...] asked that she be jailed pending sentencing, one of her relatives leapt into the well of the courtroom and punched him. The man was taken into custody, officials said.

For the story, see 12-year prison term in mortgage swindle (A Maryland woman who stole millions from Washington area homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure is a "vulture" whose case should serve as a warning to other con artists, a federal judge said yesterday before imposing a sentence of more than 12 years).