Career Ripoff-Related Cons Go Down Again For Roles In Boiler Room Loan Mod Racket Purporting To Have Staff Of Attorneys, Forensic Accountants, Etc.

In San Diego, California, ABC News reports:

• A San Diego man featured in an ABC News investigation has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $460,000 for defrauding desperate homeowners who were trying to modify their home mortgages.



• Michael Trap, who ran a business called Nations Housing Modification Center, pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after duping homeowners who were falling behind on their mortgages into paying $2,500 to $3,000 for loan modification services. Trap's partner Glen Rosofsky, who was also featured in the ABC News investigation, has already been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for his role in the scam, which prosecutors say earned the men nearly $1 million.



• As detailed in earlier reports by ABC News, Nations Housing Modification Center boasted a prestigious Capitol Hill address in Washington, D.C., and sent letters marked with the seal of the U.S. Capitol to prospective customers. According to NHMC's mail solicitation, the company's staff of "attorneys, forensic accountants and lender specific negotiators" could help homeowners lower the principal on their loans and reduce their mortgage rates to "as low as 2 percent."



• ABC News found that the firm's Washington address was really a mailbox at a UPS Store. The firm actually worked out of a nondescript office building in San Marcos, Calif., where, as part of a "boiler room" operation, telemarketers read from a script tailored for anxious homeowners, according to a former Nations employee-turned-whistleblower. The company had no accountants or lawyers on staff. In his guilty plea, Trap admitting making false statements to convince homeowners to win business. Prosecutors say more than 300 homeowners took the bait.

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• Trap, Rosofsky and a third man running NHMC were well known to law enforcement authorities for their previous activities. Rosofsky and Bryan Rosenberg were convicted by federal prosecutors in 2003 of charges connected to a mortgage fraud scheme in Baltimore. Both men received jail sentences for their role in the fraud.

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• Michael Trap also has a criminal past. In 2003, Trap pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury in connection with the PinnFund scandal, the largest Ponzi scheme in San Diego history.

For more, see San Diego Man Gets Prison For Bilking Homeowners in Massive Mortgage Fraud.