ABC World News Tonight On Foreclosure Rescue Scams

ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson ran a story Monday night on the spike in foreclosure rescue scams around the country. It featues a victim who was screwed out of the equity in her Richmond, Virginia home. An excerpt:

• [The homeowner] says they [the foreclosure rescue operators] told her they would buy the house and let her live in it for a year rent free until she could rebuild her credit and buy it back. She says she signed off on their paperwork, but instead of honoring their agreement with Fowler, she says they sold the house to another party and Fowler was forced out. After the property was sold, Fowler says the mortgage company kept all the equity out of the home.

• As part of the FBI investigation into the scheme, a Virginia woman, Anna Essex Thorne, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the mortgage documents she executed to buy the home. [... The homeowner] hopes to someday see the restitution money the defendant in the case is supposed to pay her as part of the plea agreement.

For more, see 'Mortgage Rescue' Scams Hit Close to Home (Authorities Report a Spike in Scams Targeting Homeowners Facing Foreclosure). (read story) (watch video).

For additional background on the federal prosecution of Anna Essex Thorne for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a foreclosure rescue scam, see:

• Criminal Information - U.S. v. Thorne (sets forth the charges against Thorne),
• Plea Agreement - U.S v. Thorne,
• Summary of the [Admitted] Facts.