Disbarred Attorney To Spend Next 13+ Years In Forced 'Retirement' In Federal Prison After Convictions In Loan Mod, Counterfeit Check Scams

In Alexandria, Virginia, The Virginian Pilot reports:

• A Virginia Beach man was sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison after admitting that he ran a mortgage-rescue scheme in Northern Virginia and, in a separate case, after being found guilty of counterfeiting checks.
  
  
• Howard R. Shmuckler, 68, was sentenced Monday at the federal court in Alexandria to 90 months in prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office. He previously pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud.
  
  
• Shmuckler, a convicted felon and disbarred attorney, operated a Vienna mortgage-rescue business known as The Shmuckler Group. From June 2008 through March 2009, the company took in nearly $2.8 million from about 865 clients whose mortgages were in distress and who came to Shmuckler looking for relief, according to court filings.
  
  
• Shmuckler pocketed most of that money, obtaining mortgage relief for only 4.5 percent of those clients, the records say. Most lost their homes to foreclosure anyway. Shmuckler also was sentenced earlier this year to 75 months in prison after a jury in Washington, D.C., found him guilty of bank fraud and passing counterfeit checks.

Source: Va. Beach man gets prison for mortgage rescue fraud.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Mortgage Rescue Business Owner Sentenced To 90 Months For Fraud.