San Diego Feds Squeeze Guilty Pleas Out Of Five Charged With Running Fraudulent Loan Modification Ripoff Operation

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (San Diego, California):

• United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy [] announced the guilty pleas of five defendants in connection with a loan modification scheme involving an Oceanside company called 1st American Law Center. Gary Bobel, Scott Thomas Spencer (a.k.a. Thomas Cole), Mark Andrew Spencer (a.k.a. Mark Andrews), and Travis Iverson each pled guilty [] before Magistrate Judge William McCurine to conspiracy charges related to their commission of wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, and criminal forfeiture.

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• According to documents filed in court, Gary Bobel opened up a loan modification business in Northen San Diego County in 2008. Bobel hired telemarketers to sell his services, including defendants Scott Spencer, Mark Spencer, Roger Jones, and dozens of others. Defendant Travis Iverson ran a separate call center in Riverside for Bobel.



• Court records reveal that the defendants and their co-conspirators at 1st American Law Center preyed on homeowners who were struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments and at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.



• The Defendants used high-pressure sales tactics and outright lies to induce their customers to purchase loan modification services – for payments from $1,995 to $4,495 – such as falsely claiming to have a team of attorneys who pre-screened clients and having a 98% success rate in obtaining loan modifications.



• As detailed in the guilty pleas entered by the defendants, 1st American Law Center’s telemarketers were encouraged to say virtually anything it took to close the deal.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Five Defendants Admit Stealing More Than $11 Million From Desperate Homeowners In Loan Modification Scam.