Jury-Convicted South Florida Pair Who Ran Sale Leaseback, Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Racket Get Multi-Year Prison Sentences

From the U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.):

• Lisa Wright, 46, and Cathy Saffer, 52, of Pompano Beach, Fla., were sentenced [] to serve 66 and 60 months respectively for defrauding homeowners and mortgage lenders as part of a foreclosure rescue scheme, the Justice Department announced. The two women were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in the Southern District of Florida.
  
  Wright pleaded guilty on March 27, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Saffer was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud, following a two week jury trial in July.
  
  According to the indictment and evidence presented at trial, Wright and Saffer operated Foreclosure Solution Specialists (FSS) from 2006 to 2009. Through FSS, Wright and Saffer targeted homeowners facing foreclosure, advertising that FSS could assist those homeowners in remaining in their homes.
  
  When contacted by distressed homeowners seeking assistance, Wright and Saffer misrepresented to those homeowners that their homes would be sold to investors. They also claimed that customers could remain in their homes after the sales and promised them an opportunity to repurchase the homes at a later date. Rather than selling the homes to legitimate investors, Wright and Saffer designed sham sales to straw purchasers whom they paid to participate in the scheme.
  
  According to the indictment and evidence presented at trial, Wright and Saffer paid Florida Certified Public Accountant Barrington Coombs to write a fraudulent letter which falsely vouched for the fraudulent information on various loan applications. Coombs, who was also convicted by the jury, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7, 2012.
  
  Mortgage transactions completed by FSS drew equity out of the homes, which Wright and Saffer pocketed for their own purposes. After doing so, Wright and Saffer allowed the loans to go into foreclosure. Homeowners ultimately lost all of the equity in their homes, and most of the victims were forced to move out of their homes.(1)

For the Justice Department press release, see Two Florida Residents Sentenced for Roles in Foreclosure Rescue Scheme (As Part of Scheme Lied to Homeowners Facing Foreclosure They Could Stay in Their Homes).

(1) For more on this type of foreclosure rescue ripoff, see:

• Criminal Prosecutions Of Sale Leaseback Peddlers In Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Deals;
• Dreams Foreclosed: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (June 2005).