State AG Scores Win In Civil Suit As Central Florida Loan Modification Racket, Owners Get Tagged With $4.3M Court Judgment

From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:

• Attorney General Bill McCollum [] announced that his office received a $4.3 million dollar judgment against what is believed to have been Central Florida’s largest loan modification operation. [The] judgment is against Wineberg, Lopez, & Rodriguez, and its owners, William Rodriguez, Jr. and Freddie Lopez, Sr. for violations of Florida’s Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Act.

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• [The] judgment resolves a lawsuit filed last March alleging that Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Lopez were illegally charging consumers up-front fees for loan modifications. According to complaints received by the Attorney General’s Office, consumers paid upwards of $1,995 for loan modifications that were never completed.(1)

For more, see Attorney General's Office Receives Multi-Million Dollar Judgment From Loan Modification Operation.

Go here for the lawsuit against Wineberg, Lopez, & Rodriguez (and here for the initial press release).

(1) According to the press release, the Florida AG received a judgment against Mr. Rodriguez for almost $500,000 in civil penalties, restitution, and attorney’s fees in a separate civil case brought against him, National Payment Modification Company and The Bostonian Group, also involving allegations of illegal clipping of up-front fees from homeowners.