Convicted Loan Modification Scammer Buys His Way Out Of Jail Time By Coughing Up $10K+ In Victim Restitution Prior To Sentencing

From the Office of the Nevada Attorney General:

• Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced [] the sentencing of William Vargas in connection with his involvement with a mortgage foreclosure rescue company, Federal Housing Aid, whose operation included a call center in the Philippines.

• District Court Judge Michael Villani sentenced Vargas to a year in the Clark County Detention Center, but suspended the sentence pursuant to a plea agreement. Vargas was allowed to enter a plea to a gross misdemeanor charge of attempted theft but was required to pay half of the restitution owed prior to sentencing. Vargas is required to pay total restitution of $21,000 to the victims of his crime.(1)

For the Nevada AG press release, see Defendant Sentenced In Mortgage Rescue Scam Operated From The Philippines.

(1) According to the press release, Vargas would contact homeowners facing foreclosure and offer to stop the foreclosure proceeding and save their credit. The victims entered into an agreement to pay an up front fee ranging from $700.00 to $1,500.00 as compensation for effecting a solution to the foreclosure. Once these fees were forwarded to Federal Housing Aid, no further action was taken. The homeowners, some of whom were over the age of 60, were never provided with assistance in resolving their problems and, in fact, ended up losing their homes.