NY Couple Gets 2 To 6 Years For Roles In Equity Stripping, Sale Leaseback Scam; Homeowners Who Sought Foreclosure Rescue Have Civil Suits Pending

In Westchester County, New York, The Journal News reports:

• A judge admonished a Tarrytown couple Thursday for their roles in "sham real estate transactions" that cost four Westchester County families their homes. The judge then sentenced Hubert "Phil" Hall and his wife, Doreen Swenson, to two to six years in state prison.

• "You perpetuated the complex schemes ... for your own financial benefit," acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard Molea said. Hall and Swenson had agreed to the prison term when they pleaded guilty in May to second-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud, both felonies.

• They are among a group of eight — including four lawyers — who prosecutors say worked together to take advantage of vulnerable people in Croton-on-Hudson, Yorktown, Cortlandt and Mount Vernon who were about to lose their homes.

• The suspects are accused of promising to help save the homes, but instead draining them of their equity and leaving the owners with nothing.(1) The group also is accused of swindling two mortgage lenders out of $1.4 million. [...] At the court appearance, Swenson and Hall, both 61, each paid criminal restitution of $36,290. A civil suit against them and the other defendants is pending.

For the story, see Couple apologize for role in mortgage fraud, get 2-6 years.

(1) According to the story, prosecutors said that the group found victims through notices of public auction or foreclosure and reached out to them and gained their trust, saying they could transfer their deeds to an investor who would hold the title from 12 to 24 months so they could save money and reclaim their homes. But once the "investor" took title, phony checks were presented to the lenders for higher amounts than what the straw buyer paid for the home, the story states. Those checks allowed the group's members to get inflated mortgages, which they used to pay off the original mortgage and keep the rest for themselves.