California AG: Jail Sentences "A Warning Shot To Loan-Modification Consultants: If You Swindle Homeowners, You Face Serious Time Behind Bars"

From the Office of the California Attorney General:

• In a clear "warning shot" to unscrupulous loan-modification consultants, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. [] announced that two women have each been sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to repay dozens of homeowners who were charged thousands of dollars in up-front fees for non-existent foreclosure-relief services.

• Marianne Curtis, 69, of Costa Mesa and Mary Alice Yraceburu, 46, of Riverdale, who operated Fresno and Orange County-based Foreclosure Freedom, pleaded guilty last month to 71 criminal counts, including grand theft, conspiracy and unlawful foreclosure consulting. Both will serve one year in Orange County jail and an additional four years of probation.(1)

For the California AG press release, see Brown Prosecution Sends Phony Foreclosure Consultants To Jail And Recovers Stolen Funds.

For the charging document, see People v. Curtis, Yraceburu.

(1) "Curtis and Yraceburu shamelessly exploited homeowners desperate to avoid foreclosure, charging up to $1,800 in up-front fees for loan modifications that were never delivered," Brown said. "Today's jail sentences send a warning shot to loan-modification consultants: If you swindle homeowners, you face serious time behind bars."