Foreclosure Rescue Operator Targeted In Massachusetts Lawsuits; One Victim Successfully Gets Back Home

In Boston, Massachusetts, a WCVB-TV Channel 5 investigation reveals that several lawsuits have been filed against foreclosure rescue operator, Equity Holding Corporation. Attorneys involved in the case are calling the arrangement a "rescue scheme"; a "sophisticated fraud", and in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws. Attorneys said Equity charged one homeowner what amounted to an annual interest rate of at least 68 percent.

The WCVB-TV Team 5 investigation further revealed hundreds of title transactions with Equity Holding Corporation in the Massachusetts Registry of Deeds. The largest number are in Worcester County where Team Five found half of the homeowners never got their properties back. Their homes were sold by Equity to third parties.

Attorney Kimberly Breger and her colleagues at Harvard Law School's Legal Services Center brought suit on behalf of one homeowner in which the case was ultimately settled, resulting in the homeowner getting back the deed to her home, as well as a cash settlement.

For more, see Foreclosure Rescue Scheme Turns Homeowners Into Tenants (Land Trust Agreement That Offers Help Often Costs People Their Homes).

Postscript

In the civil complaint regarding the above mentioned homeowner who got back her home, the foreclosure rescue scheme was referred to as "a sophisticated fraud intended to conceal the usurious terms under which Defendants loaned monies to [the homeowner] in an attempt to evade and avoid the mandatory disclosure and other consumer protection protections applicable to loans secured by her familiy's home."

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The homeowner brought numerous claims against the foreclosure rescue operator, including fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unconscionability, breach of fiduciary duty, civil conspiracy to defraud, and violations of the Federal RICO statute, Federal Truth in Lending Act, Federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, the Massachusetts Consumer Credit Disclosure Act, the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, among other claims.

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For more, see Homeowner's Civil Complaint - Sharp-Hegarty vs. Beforeclosures, Equity Holding Corp., et al. (drop me a line at HomeEquityTheft@yahoo.com and I'll e-mail the civil complaint to you - be sure and put "Sharp-Hegarty vs. Beforeclosures, Equity Holding Corp., et al." on the subject line).

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The litigation took place in a Massachusetts Federal Bankruptcy Court. The Chapter 13 Trustee also brought suit to undo the same foreclosure rescue transaction. See Solomon (Ch. 13 Trustee) vs. Sharp-Hegarty, et al. (drop me a line at HomeEquityTheft@yahoo.com and I'll e-mail the civil complaint to you - be sure and put "Sharp-Hegarty vs. Beforeclosures, Equity Holding Corp., et al." on the subject line).

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For links to other cases involving foreclosure rescue operator Equity Holding Corporation in the Federal courts, see Equity Holding Corporation Party Case Index (click the case number for the Docket Sheet in each case; PACER registration required; cost = $.08/page).