Maryland AG Moves To Halt "Free Rent" Investment Racket That Resulted In 100+ Tenants Being Bounced Out Of Homes

In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• The Maryland attorney general's office moved Thursday to halt an alleged pyramid scheme by a Gambrills company and its owner, who are accused of bilking about 500 people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by promising commissions, free rent and cars in exchange for recruiting more investors.(1) The plan started to fall apart when rent checks bounced and the investors were evicted. More than 115 people paid several thousand dollars into the company for an apartment, and most have been tossed out, according to authorities.

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• Among those allegedly duped [...] were Helen Martin, a 59-year-old social worker, and her two daughters who together lost more than $11,000, including scholarship money and savings. They said they were lured by the promise of better housing, and they felt assured by testimonials from a network of friends and family.

For more, see 'Free rent' pyramid scheme ordered to halt operations (More than 115 people evicted).

For the Maryland AG press release, see Securities Division Orders Halt to "Free Rent" Pyramid Scheme, and go here for the AG's cease and desist order.

(1) The Maryland Attorney General's office says the people were allegedly scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a pyramid scheme that included promises of a year's free rent in exchange for upfront payments toward a supposed business venture. The securities division of the attorney general's office issued a cease-and-desist order against Diversified Marketing Consultants Inc., its owner, Lamondes D. "Monte" Williams of Clinton, and related companies Digital-Zone Electronics Warehouse and Mainline Properties LLC., the story states. The division contends the operation raised more than $800,000. Williams was reportedly convicted in 2005 of running a similar scheme. According to the story, his most recent troubles triggered a probation violation hearing scheduled for Friday in Prince George's County Circuit Court, according to court records. In the previous case, he was reportedly sentenced to five years in prison and three years of probation and ordered to pay $146,000 in restitution.