Scammer On Lam For 12 Years Bagged In Canada; Allegedly Ran Fractional Interest Deed Transfer F'closure Rescue Scam Involving Unwitting B'krpt Debtors

From the U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.):

• Federal authorities have charged a former Los Angeles man with aggravated identity theft and having operated a foreclosure-rescue scam in Southern California and elsewhere that promised to postpone foreclosure sales for more than 800 distressed homeowners.
  
  Glen Alan Ward, 47, of Canada, was indicted [] in the Central District of California on two counts of bankruptcy fraud, one count of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
  
  In 2000, Ward became a federal fugitive when he failed to appear in court after signing a plea agreement, which stemmed from federal charges in the Central District of California associated with a similar scheme. On April 5, 2012, Ward was arrested in Canada on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant based on the charges in the Central District of California. His extradition to the United States is pending.
  
  [The] indictment charges the defendant with identity theft and a scheme to defraud that took place from July 2007 to April 5, 2012, while he was a fugitive. According to the indictment, Ward led a scheme that solicited and recruited homeowners whose properties were in danger of imminent foreclosure. Ward allegedly promised to delay their foreclosures for as long as the homeowners could afford his $700 monthly fee.
  
  Once a homeowner paid the fee, Ward accessed a public bankruptcy database and retrieved the name of an individual debtor who recently filed bankruptcy. The indictment alleges that Ward also obtained a copy of the debtor’s bankruptcy petition and directed his clients to execute, notarize and record a grant deed transferring a 1/100th fractional interest in their distressed home into the name of the debtor he provided.
  
  Then, Ward allegedly faxed a copy of the bankruptcy petition, the notarized grant deed and a cover letter to the homeowner’s lender or the lender’s representative, directing it to stop the impending foreclosure sale due to the bankruptcy.
  
  Because bankruptcy filings give rise to automatic stays that protect debtors’ properties, the receipt of the bankruptcy petitions and deeds in the debtors’ names forced lenders to cancel foreclosure sales. The lenders, which included banks that received government funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), could not move forward to collect money that was owed to them until getting permission from the bankruptcy courts, thereby repeatedly delaying the lenders’ recovery of their money.
  
  As part of the scheme, Ward delayed the foreclosure sales of approximately 824 distressed properties by using at least 414 bankruptcies filed in 26 judicial districts across the country. During that same period, Ward collected more than $1 million from his clients who paid for his illegal foreclosure-delay services.(1)

For the Justice Department press release, see Twelve-Year Federal Fugitive Indicted for Fraud and Identity Theft in Nationwide Foreclosure Rescue Scam (Defendant Arrested by Canadian Authorities; Allegedly Collected More Than $1 Million from More Than 800 Distressed Homeowners).

(1) See Final Report Of The Bankruptcy Foreclosure Scam Task Force for a discussion of fractional interest deed transfer scams and other foreclosure rescue rackets involving the abuse of the U.S. bankruptcy courts.