Feds, Colorado AG Shut Down National Foreclosure Rescue Scam That Ripped Off Homeowners Through Fraudulent Sale Leaseback Deals

From the Office of the Colorado Attorney General:

• The United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, John F. Walsh, and the Colorado Attorney General, John W. Suthers, announce the end of a national foreclosure rescue scheme. The perpetrators, operating through Bella Homes LLC, had promised hundreds of distressed homeowners that Bella Homes would help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

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• The Civil Action that put an end to the scheme was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado on February 14, 2012, and resulted in a Consent Judgment, in which Bella Homes “admits the allegations in the Complaint and acknowledges its role in defrauding homeowners who signed over title to their homes to Bella Homes.”

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• The Scheme: As alleged in the Complaint, the Defendants, through Bella Homes, engaged in a fraudulent scheme in which they solicited homeowners to convey title to their homes to Bella Homes for no consideration and to enter into purported lease agreements under which the homeowners, instead of making their mortgage payments, paid Bella Homes monthly “rent.”



• To entice homeowners into this arrangement, Defendants made or caused to be made numerous material misrepresentations to homeowners to convey the false and fraudulent impression that:
  
  1) Bella Homes would stop any foreclosure on the home;
  
  2) Bella Homes would purchase or otherwise settle the existing mortgage on the home from the lender;
  
  3) Federal law provided the homeowner the right to remain in the home for the duration of the lease with Bella Homes; and,
  
  4) The homeowner would have an option to repurchase the home in three years from Bella Homes for significantly less than the amount currently owed on the mortgage.

For the entire press release, see National foreclosure rescue scheme permanently enjoined.