Defunct Miami Loan Modification Outfit Faces Class Action Suit; Key Company Employee Bolts Florida & Resurfaces In Nevada With New Firm, Says Attorney

In Miami, Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• A Miami lawyer has filed a class-action suit in hopes of recovering millions of dollars paid by thousands of clients to a mortgage-rescue company. [...] On Thursday, Miami lawyer John H. Ruiz filed a class action suit in the Lincoln [Lending Services] case. Ruiz said he already has more than 1,000 clients in the case and believes that thousands of others are in the same situation. The suit also names two people associated with the company, Guillermo Leyes and Rita Gomez, as defendants. Ruiz said he believes they have assets that could be used to pay restitution.

***

• Ruiz said that Leyes recently resurfaced as a manager at a Nevada loan modification company. According to Nevada records, a Guillermo Leyes was a manager at 1st Loan Modification of America in Henderson. Ruiz said Leyes withdrew his name from that company this week.

For more, see Lawyer sues mortgage-rescue firm to recover improper fees (A local attorney is suing a mortgage-rescue company that he says broke state law, then failed to reimburse all its former clients).

(1) Florida's attorney general shut down the company, Lincoln Lending Services, earlier this year, saying it illegally demanded advance payment for mortgage-rescue services (See Florida AG press release, State of Florida v. Lincoln Lending Services lawsuit). Since October 2008, Florida law has prohibited companies from accepting payment in advance for mortgage rescues. The company paid back about $500,000 in restitution, then said it was out of money, according to the office of Attorney General Bill McCollum (see Status update concerning Lincoln Lending). The agency is now trying to determine whether Lincoln has other assets that could be used to repay additional customers.