Mass. AG Issues Emergency Rule Banning Foreclosure Rescue Scams; Sues Attorney / Foreclosure Rescue Operator

In Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• "Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley yesterday issued an emergency regulation to ban foreclosure-rescue scams that rob financially troubled homeowners of their properties. The ban extends for 90 days, but Coakley intends to follow up with a permanent regulation to make foreclosure-rescue scams illegal in Massachusetts."

Also in the article is the story of one foreclosure rescue victim who said she lost $96,000 in equity and her Brockton home after signing over her property to attorney Alec G. Sohmer, who offered to help homeowners facing foreclosure save their homes. The victim reportedly stated, "I trusted him, because he's a lawyer".

Reportedly, the attorney general brought legal action last August against Sohmer and his wife, Jennifer, claiming they were offering a foreclosure rescue scam. According to the story:

• "The state said Sohmer persuaded clients to sell him their properties unwittingly , promising they could stay in them by making payments to him and then "repurchase" them later. When the clients couldn't make the payments, Sohmer tried to evict them and sell the property, the attorney general's office claims."

For more, see:

• State cracks down on bailout scams (Coakley: Emergency rule needed to protect those in foreclosure)
• AG’s mortgage crackdown aims to rescue the ‘rescued’ (Boston Herald)
• Massachusetts Attorney General Press Release
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