Non-Profit Continues Attack On Foreclosure Rescue Rackets; Targets Attorney Unlicensed In NY, Others For Alleged Upfront Fee Loan Modification Ripoff

From an announcement from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:(1)

• The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) and pro bono counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell (Davis Polk) have filed their fifth lawsuit in a year targeting for-profit loan modification companies in Nassau County, New York, and the second such suit this month.



• The most recently filed case, Squassoni v. Blackwell, was filed in New York Supreme Court in Nassau County on March 20 on behalf of 26 homeowners from New York and eight other states against two pairs of for-profit loan modification companies—the “United Solutions” group comprised of United Legal Solutions, Inc. (also known as United Solutions Corporation) and United Solutions Law Firm LLC and the “Consumer First” group comprised of Consumer First Corporation and Consumer First Law Group LLC, which was also sometimes called “Blackwell’s Attorneys.”



• On March 20, 2012, the court granted plaintiffs’ emergency application to freeze certain of the defendants’ assets pending a determination of plaintiffs’ motion to attach those assets to secure a future judgment. The entities whose assets were restrained are Consumer First Law Group LLC, United Solutions Law Firm LLC, and Blackwell’s Attorneys LLC.



• Plaintiffs allege that two so-called “law firms” run by Anthony J. Blackwell, an attorney not admitted to practice in the State of New York, falsely advertised “legal services” to vulnerable homeowners seeking help with much-needed mortgage modifications, extracting thousands of dollars in up-front payments from each homeowner.



• Once paid, the firms then consistently failed to deliver results and abruptly stopped answering the homeowners’ phone calls and e-mails. The case seeks to recover money damages, including the illegal up-front fees paid by plaintiffs, and injunctive relief to put an end to the deceptive practices of the entities named as defendants and Mr. Blackwell. The Lawyers’ Committee and Davis Polk are representing the plaintiffs free of charge.



• “This scam is particularly pernicious because it preys on the public’s trust in legal service providers,” said Jon Greenbaum, Lawyers’ Committee chief counsel and senior deputy director. “This case really presents two scams in one—an unlicensed attorney advertising for-profit mortgage modification services as legal services, and a for-profit mortgage modification scam that can be devastating to homeowners—causing them not only to lose the fees they paid, but in the worst cases, causing defaults that lead to foreclosure as a direct result of the scam.”

For more, see Lawyers' Committee's Fight Against Unscrupulous Loan Modification Scammers Continues.

(1) The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination.