Another Civil Lawsuit Filed In Alleged S. California Mortgage Scam

In Southern California, the North County Times is reporting that a sixth lawsuit has been filed that accuses Murrieta resident James Duncan of fraud on the order of tens of millions of dollars. According to the article:

1) Plaintiffs in the six lawsuits have alleged that a group run by Duncan and Murrieta-area resident Maurice McLeod encouraged clients to borrow on credit cards and liquidate retirement funds in order to invest with the group.

2) Several dozen clients of Stonewood Consulting, a target of the earlier lawsuits, bought as many as five houses apiece using 100 percent financing, according to publicly available property records.

3) Temecula attorney Richard Ackerman, who is representing plaintiffs in four of the six lawsuits, said lenders are foreclosing on a total of more than 100 houses, hollowing out neighborhoods in the Copper Canyon area of western Murrieta and other neighborhoods around the SCGA golf course in eastern Murrieta.

4) Duncan, McLeod and former Stonewood chief executive Hendrix Montecastro haven't responded to dozens of requests seeking comment since the first lawsuit was filed Jan. 5.

5) No criminal charges have been filed in the matter.

For more, see Sixth lawsuit alleges money laundering.

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