Lawsuit Filed Alleging $40 Million Fleecing Of 800 PA Residents In Wrap Around Mortgage Scam; Class Action Status Sought

(originally posted 10-11-07)
Lancaster Online (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) reports:

• A couple who say they were stung by a mortgage "Ponzi Corporation" is suing the lenders that bankrolled Personal Financial Management Inc.'s alleged $40 million fleecing of 800 customers. The lawsuit, filed [three weeks ago] in Berks County court, seeks to void 800 mortgage loans that skyrocketed for customers when Personal Finance Management and five subsidiary companies filed for bankruptcy last week. [... Wesley A.] Snyder owns Personal Financial Management, also known as OPFM Inc. and Image Masters, which had offices in Berks and Lancaster counties. [...] The defendants include big-name financiers such as Wells Fargo, GMAC, Countrywide, Citicorp, HSBC, Chase Home, Wachovia and Sovereign Bank.

The investment program that the Pennsylvania residents thought they were investing in was nothing but a "Ponzi scheme," according to the lawsuit. In a classic Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme, money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors, usually at high rates of interest.

The suit claims that the mortgage lenders either knew or should have known that the program they participated in was a Ponzi scheme. It asks the court to rule that the lenders' conduct was unlawful or negligent and seeks that all mortgage notes held by the defendants are to be voided.

Representing the plaintiffs in this case is the law firm, O'Keefe & Sher, P.C., Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

For more, see Suit seeks to void 800 'Ponzi' mortgages.

See also, Judge Halts Higher Pa. Mortgage Bills (A judge has temporarily blocked higher mortgage bills facing more than 800 homeowners following last month's bankruptcy filing by a Berks County mortgage broker and its five subsidiaries; 10-11-07).

Go here for WGAL-TV Channel 8 News coverage.

For related documents from this case, see:

• OPFM / Wesley Snyder's 9-14-07 Letter To Participants in the Equity Slide/Wrap-Around-Mortgage program.
• Copy of Lawsuit - Jones vs. ABN Amro, et al.,
• Letter from O'Keefe & Sher, P.C., Attorneys at Law - to all potential victims,
• Copy of Preliminary Injunction, (Plaintiff's Emergency Motion & Court's 10-10-07 Order Granting Motion),
• MSFraud.org message board on this case,
• OPFM / Image Masters victims website.

Go here and go here for other posts and links to earlier media reports on the Pennsylvania Ponzi scheme involving Wesley Snyder, OPFM, Image Masters.