Florida Foreclosure Rescue Firm Unravels As Authorities Arrest One; Two Others Flee; Alleged Supporting Cast Face Civil Suits

In Central Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports the latest story on now-defunct foreclosure rescue operator 4 Solutions and the financial mess a number of its homeowner/clients find themselves in. To date, one individual has been charged with crimes by local Tampa cops, two others have fled, and there are a number of ongoing civil suits targeting the 4 Solutions principals and others allegedly involved in equity stripping, foreclosure rescue transactions. A federal investigation by the Secret Service is also currently ongoing.

• [T]hings started unraveling when Tampa police got a tip about 4 Solutions last summer. In August, they arrested Carmen Oliveri, the wife of 4 Solutions director Jose Oliveri, after she accepted a check from a 4 Solutions client at his Tampa home. Carmen and Jose Oliveri entered into a scheme to defraud the homeowner by presenting loan terms without disclosing that he was signing over his Tampa home, an arrest report states. Carmen Oliveri is facing grand theft and fraud charges. Her attorney, Frances Perrone, declined to comment.

• Jose Oliveri and Mario Quiroz, the director of Frontier Capital, have been harder to track down. They stopped replying to lawsuits early last year and summonses served to their Seffner homes came back. They're probably in Peru, attorneys and homeowners say.

Reportedly, closing documents showed that almost $30,000 went to 4 Solutions' Coral Gables law firm, Scaglione & Quesada, in one transaction.

• Todd Mackey, an attorney for several homeowners who entered into deals with 4 Solutions, said he has seen other closing documents with that same instruction that gives tens of thousands of dollars to the law firm.

Reportedly, some homeowners claim that 4 Solutions slipped sale documents into their paperwork and other times, it has been alleged that employees forged signatures or falsely notarized documents.

For more, see Homeowners find big problem in 'Solutions'.

Go here for earlier posts on 4 Solutions.

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.).