Feds Hand Out Free Pass To Another Outfit That Allegedly Screwed Homeowners Out Of Upfront Foreclosure Rescue Fees; 'Forensic Audit' Defendants In FTC Suit Score Suspension Of $3.5M Money Judgment Due To "Inability To Pay"

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced:

• The defendants behind an operation that allegedly preyed on vulnerable homeowners have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they lured people into paying $1,995 or more by holding out bogus promises that they could help them avoid foreclosure and renegotiate their mortgages.
  
  The FTC’s settlement order against the Los Angeles, California-based Consumer Advocates Group Experts, LLC, company owner Ryan Zimmerman, and two other related companies is part of the agency’s continuing crackdown on scams that target consumers in financial distress. It bans the defendants from marketing any mortgage assistance relief or other debt relief products or services. It also prohibits them from making misleading claims about any financial product or service, or any other type of product or service.

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• The settlement also imposes a $3.5 million judgment, which reflects the full amount of consumer injury during the two years before the operation was shut down.
  
  The judgment will be suspended due to the defendants’ inability to pay. If it is later determined that the financial information the defendants provided to the FTC was false, the full amount of the judgment will become due.

For the FTC press release, see Defendants in Alleged "Forensic Audit" Mortgage Scam Settle FTC Charges (Marketers Held Out Bogus Promise that They Could Help Consumers Avoid Foreclosure; Often Charged Thousands of Dollars).