Friday, September 09, 2011

Accused Upfront Fee Loan Modification Scammer Gets 90 Days After Copping Plea; Cases Against Two Others Remain Pending: Sacramento DA

In Sacramento, California, Fair Oaks Patch reports:
  • One of the men said to have preyed on local homeowners threatened with foreclosure was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in county jail as part of a plea agreement reached with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the office announced.


  • Ashik Ahmed Azeez, 50, of Sacramento pled no contest to three misdemeanor counts of mortgage fraud. According to Sacramento Superior Court records, he was facing 23 counts for his involvement in a loan modification business that illegally siphoned advance service fees from seven victims, including individuals with properties in Fair Oaks and Carmichael.


  • An arrest warrant filed in March said a Fair Oaks couple that solicited the help of Azeez’s business, Turbo Mortgage Modification, ended up losing their home when Azeez didn’t follow up on his promise to deliver a loan modification.


  • The couple first entered Azeez’s Arden Way office suite in September 2010. According to the warrant filing by prosecutor Michael Blazina, Azeez gave the couple the impression that their “loan modification was guaranteed” and had them pay him $2,500 in cash the following day.

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  • Even with the cash, the Fair Oaks couple’s loan modification never materialized, with Azeez telling them three months later they hadn’t gotten him additional information in a timely manner, the warrant filing asserted.The couple lost their home to foreclosure last December.

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  • Azeez ran the company, later named Turbo Solutions, with Frank Joseph Ferris, 69, and Vicente Jose Perez, 49, both of Sacramento. DA spokeswoman Shelly Orio said the cases against those two individuals remain ongoing and declined to comment further.


  • Online court data, however, shows that Perez was scheduled for a plea hearing Tuesday morning, just as Azeez was. He faces 11 misdemeanor charges. Ferris is not yet facing active prosecution, at least according to online court records.

For more, see Man Sentenced After Defrauding Homeowners (Fair Oaks couple lost home to mortgage scheme).