More On Central Florida Foreclosure Rescue Operator Peter Porcelli

The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports on how Central Florida foreclosure rescue operator Peter J. Porcelli did business. Porcelli formed Safe Harbour Foundation, which billed itself as a nonprofit group even though it never registered with the IRS for nonprofit status, and used the entity to allegedly arrange usurious loans to homeowners facing foreclosure as a way to save their homes from repossession. As part of the loan arrangement, the homeowners agreed that, in the event of a default on the loan, the lender would be able to exercise an option to buy the financially strapped person's home at below fair market value, an apparent attempt to bypass the foreclosure process and rip off the owner's home equity at the same time. Excerpts from the story:

• [Six] homeowners who used Safe Harbour have filed a $40 million federal lawsuit against the company, accusing the Safe Harbour Foundation, Porcelli and 15 other individuals and companies of stealing their property through illegal loans. [...] "In every case, the title of the homes have been lost or is threatened by foreclosures," said attorney Michael Wasylik, who is representing the homeowners, four of whom are from Sarasota County. "If nothing else, we're confident this lawsuit will restore these people's homes to them."

In an unrelated case, Porcelli was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison last week for wire and mail fraud charges in Illinois in a separate scam. For more, see Desperate to avoid a foreclosure, homeowners say they were scammed.

To view a copy of the lawsuit, see Heise, et al. vs. Porcelli, et al.

Go here for other posts on Peter Porcelli.

For more on equity stripping scams, generally,see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).