Maryland Federal Judge Grants "Money Store" Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Scam Lawsuit Class Action Status

In Greenbelt, Maryland, the Maryland Daily Record reports:

• The criminal prosecution of the massive Metropolitan Money Store mortgage fraud, which has yielded 10 guilty pleas since the first indictment(1) was handed up last summer, has grabbed headlines as a particularly egregious example of the foreclosure rescue schemes that prey on people already hard-hit by the recession. But as the criminal case winds down — ringleader Kurt Fordham(2) received a 10-year sentence last month and his co-conspirators’ punishments will be meted out this fall — a civil lawsuit on behalf of the hoodwinked homeowners that predates the U.S. Attorney’s intervention is picking up steam.

• In a July decision published this week, a U.S. District Court judge in Greenbelt turned back arguments from the only two defendants who have not defaulted in the civil case and certified it as a class action. The class, consisting of perhaps more than 200 Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia residents who signed up with MMS or one of its affiliates, lost more than $60 million in the equity-stripping scheme, according to the homeowners’ lawyers.

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• But, [attorney Philip Robinson admitted in an interview Wednesday, the case is complicated by its many “moving pieces,” such as the ongoing criminal prosecutions, other litigation and the collapse of the corporate defendants. [...] In the end, Robinson says, there might not be a whole lot to give back to the cheated class members.

For more, see Federal judge certifies class action against Metropolitan Money Store.

For the class action lawsuits, see:

• Proctor v. Metropolitan Money Store, et al.,
• Winston v. Regional Title & Escrow LLC.

Go here for updates on the Metropolitan Money Store federal class action lawsuit.

(1) See U.S. v. Joy Jackson, et al.

(2) Fordham, his wife and MMS President Joy Jackson and their accomplices convinced homeowners to transfer to title of their houses to straw buyers for a year, during which time they set to swiping their existing equity through fraudulent loan applications and bogus settlement costs, the plaintiffs allege.