Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Suit: Foreclosure Rescue Outfit Ran Loan Modification Racket Targeting Elderly Woman Seeking Help With House Payments

In Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Business Journal reports:
  • Legal Aid of Western Missouri(1) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of victims of an alleged foreclosure rescue scam operating out of Mission. According to the suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Death Productions LP promised to help elderly women lower their mortgage payments by negotiating with lenders in exchange for a monthly fee.


  • Then they do nothing, and you end up losing your home,” said Jim Jenkins, a Legal Aid lawyer representing Marilyn Bowman of Raytown and Doris Linningham of Kansas City. Jenkins said he has received several other complaints from Kansas City-area residents who allegedly lost money to the husband and wife behind Death Productions, John Lee Norris and Julie Tina Hatcher.


  • They previously ran the company in Nevada as Reaper Investment Partners LLC, Jenkins said, adding that they tend to target single black women older than 60 who hear of the company through trusted friends. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there are quite a few more” victims, he said.


  • The suit seeks more than $75,000 for Bowman, who filed bankruptcy, and more than $100,000 for Linningham, whose house was sold out of foreclosure for $28,000 on Jan. 9.

Source: Suit: Mission company bilked elderly women in foreclosure rescue scam.

(1) Legal Aid of Western Missouri provides legal services to low-income citizens living below the poverty level in a 40 county area in western Missouri.