Maryland Lawmaker With Shady Past As Both A Disbarred Attorney & Real Estate Broker With Suspended License That Peddled Sale Leaseback Ripoffs To Financially Strapped Homeowners Now Faces Two Foreclosure Actions Himself

In Severna Park, Maryland, the Capital Gazette reports:

• A Severna Park delegate who has bought and sold foreclosed homes for a living now faces two foreclosure suits himself.
  
  Del. Tony McConkey, R-Severna Park, and his wife face foreclosure on two properties they own together in legislative District 33, according to court filings.
  
  In a foreclosure suit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court on April 10, First Home Mortgage Corp. alleges the three-term Republican and his wife defaulted on a $600,000 loan for a house they’ve owned since at least 2007 on the 200 block of Cypress Creek Road in Severna Park. A notice claims the McConkeys defaulted in November 2011 and didn’t make a mortgage payment from October 2011 to August 2012. At that time, the notice says, they owed more than $41,000.
  
  In a separate suit filed last year, Fremont Investment & Loan claims the couple defaulted on a $360,000 loan for a home they purchased in 2006 on the 100 block of Cedar Road in Severna Park. A notice claims the McConkeys defaulted on that loan in October 2011 and didn’t make a mortgage payment through July 2012. At that time, the notice says, they owed more than $28,000.
  
  McConkey did not return calls or emails for comment and it is unclear if he has rectified the situation recently.
  
  The two suits add to a list of legal, business and other problems McConkey has faced during his time in office.

***

• Earlier this year, McConkey was reprimanded and forced to apologize before the House of Delegates after the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics determined that in 2012 he tried to rally support for a bill that would have made it easier for him to pay back $75,000 he owes the state’s Real Estate Guaranty Fund.(1)
  
  In 2011, an administrative judge ordered McConkey to pay that money, the maximum amount allowed under law, for three incidents in which he allegedly defrauded customers.
  
  The state found that McConkey, in one of the three instances, promised to help a woman keep her home, then didn’t return her calls, bought her property in foreclosure and sought to evict her.
  
  McConkey’s real estate license has been suspended until he reimburses the guaranty fund in full, including all interest and administrative charges.
  
  According to the ethics committee’s February report, McConkey’s debt was “the largest of any real estate licensee for the past five years and makes him one of only seven individuals from fiscal 2006 through 2011 who have been ordered to pay the statutory maximum.”
  
  McConkey has maintained his innocence in the cases but entered the civil settlement freely, according to Maryland Real Estate Commission records.
  
  The Severna Park delegate has found himself in hot water several other times over the years, both during his tenure as a delegate, which began in 2002, and before taking office.
  
  Before becoming a delegate, The Capital revealed problems McConkey had failed to mention on the campaign trail.
  
  He was given probation before judgment on a 1992 battery charge, but explained that the case was a dispute between a landlord and a tenant that got out of hand.
  
  McConkey was voluntarily disbarred as an attorney in 1995 for misappropriation of funds, but said he never had any clients other than himself and gave up his career because he was broke and depressed over a bad business deal.
  
  In 2005, McConkey was sued by a Crofton man who alleged McConkey scammed him and his wife out of their house. The case was settled in 2006 when McConkey agreed to sell the house, pay off the mortgage and pay the man and his wife $12,516 each.
  
  But the case was reopened in 2007 when the man alleged the Severna Park Republican failed to pay more than $12,500 from the sale of a home.
  
  That case was settled out of court in 2008, and details of the settlement were sealed as part of a confidential agreement, The Capital reported. McConkey declined to comment on the settlement.

For the story, see Severna Park delegate faces foreclosure suits.

Go here for earlier posts on McConkey's alleged antics.

(1) See Maryland Lawmakers Smack Shameless Colleague Over His Failed Efforts To Pass Law That Would Have Enabled Him To Reinstate R/E License Lost When Found Liable For Screwing Over Homeowners In Foreclosure.