Massachusetts Attorney Involved In Equity Stripping / Rescue Operation Loses Beacon Hill Landmark In Foreclosure Sale

There's a column in the The Boston Globe on James Alberino, a Massachusetts closing attorney from Marblehead, and his ownership for the last four years of 22 Beacon Street, a building described as:

• [A] Beacon Hill landmark treasured by the powerful since famed architect Charles Bulfinch designed it 200 years ago, shortly after he finished his work on the State House.

Alberino reportedly paid $10 million for the landmark four years ago. However, times apparently haven't been so good for him lately as the column summarizes Alberino's 2007 legal problems - which includes a January bankruptcy filing, a civil lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General this spring accusing him and 18 others of involvement in a foreclosure rescue scam, an ongoing investigation of him by the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, and finally, this week's foreclosure sale in which he lost ownership of the majestic building at 22 Beacon Street.

The column appears to be, in part, a commentary on the once-booming real estate market, as I understood it, and is encapsulized by this excerpt:

• When markets are rising - whether real estate or stocks or tulips - all things seem possible. It is what prompts ordinary people to buy houses they can't afford, brilliant traders to buy billions in questionable debt, and a nobody closing attorney from Marblehead to think he belongs in a trophy building at the intersection of commerce and politics.

For more, see Justice, more or less.

Go here for the April, 2007 Massachusets AG Press Release (no longer available online) announcing the filing of the civil lawsuit against Alberino and 18 others, accusing them of involvement in the aforementioned foreclosure rescue scam.

Go here for more on 22 Beacon Street.

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.).