Nevada AG Bags Four For Allegedly Running Racket That Peddled Forensic Audits, Other Scams Purporting To Help Financially Strapped Consumers Obtain Their Homes Free & Clear Of Mortgages

From the Office of the Nevada Attorney General:

• Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced that three Nevada residents and one California resident have been indicted by a grand jury on several felonies in connection with their operation of a mortgage lending fraud scam.
  
  A 15 count indictment was returned by a grand jury on April 22, 2013, charging the following individuals:
  
  Lynda Finch-Estrada, 54, of Las Vegas, Nevada
  William Chrissikopoulos, 43, of Las Vegas, Nevada
  Alan Dornhuber, 63, of Las Vegas, Nevada
  William Patterson, 51, of El Monte, California
  
  “Mortgage and foreclosure rescue scams continue to threaten Nevadans and their homes,” said Masto. “Our office cannot investigate or prosecute cases like this without hearing from possible victims. I encourage potential fraud victims to submit complaints to our office.”
  
  Operating under the name USFP, Estrada, Chrissikopoulos, Dornhuber, and Patterson pushed a so-called “forensic audit” promising clients that if a “forensic audit” of their mortgage uncovered one or more “Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)” violations, clients would be entitled to a legal remedy resulting in the elimination of their mortgage obligation.
  
  Defendants also peddled an “administrative process” by falsely claiming that sending documents to various entities signed and fingerprinted in accordance with specific instructions including the use of multi-colored inks had legal significance which would result in clients obtaining their home free and clear of their mortgage.
  
  Finally, defendants sold a program whereby clients would obtain their home free and clear of their mortgage by quitclaiming their home to a nonprofit, “American Home Rescue”, paying rent to the alleged nonprofit for a period of time, and then having the nonprofit deed the home back to the clients.

For more, see Attorney General Masto Announces Four Indicted in Mortgage Fraud Scam.

For the indictment, see State v. Finch-Estrada, et al.