Sacramento Feds Squeeze Guilty Plea From Foreclosure Rescue Peddler Who Abused Bankruptcy Process To Fraudulently Delay Trustees' Sales

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Sacramento, California):

• United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced [last week] that Charles C. Jamison, 30, of Rancho Cordova, pleaded guilty this week to bankruptcy fraud charges. [...] According to court documents, Jamison engaged in a scheme to, for a fee, use the bankruptcy process to fraudulently delay foreclosures pending on the residential properties of clients he solicited through a program called "Stop Now."(1)

• Through blind mailings, distressed homeowners in the Sacramento area received a flyer in which Jamison, using a fictitious identity, falsely promised homeowners facing a trustee sale that he could help them save their homes.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Sacramento Man Pleads Guilty To Fraudulent Bankruptcy Filings In Foreclosure Delay Scheme.

(1) See Final Report Of The Bankruptcy Foreclosure Scam Task Force for a discussion of various foreclosure scams involving the abuse of the bankruptcy courts:

• In recent years, the Central District has witnessed the emergence of a new phenomenon on a substantial scale: some people have apparently created whole businesses out of the delay possibilities provided by the automatic stay. Advertising themselves as “foreclosure services” or “mortgage consultants,” these opportunists know that, once a foreclosure trustee learns that a bankruptcy petition has been filed, the sale will be delayed until relief from stay is obtained from the bankruptcy court. They also know that title companies will not insure foreclosure title without a lift stay order. Most make false promises or misrepresentations to the homeowners. For the period from petition filing to stay termination, the opportunity exists for these services to collect partial mortgage payments or rent in exchange for stalling the foreclosure. In addition, some individuals indulge in serial filings on their own or with relatives.

(available online courtesy of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review).