Nevada AG Squeezes Guilty Pleas From Trio For Running Mortgage Relief Racket, Falsely Promising To Eliminate Liens & Obtain Free & Clear Homes By Using Fraudulent Forensic Audits, Filing Phony Paperwork Falsely Granting Homeowners POAs On Behalf Of Their Lenders, Transferring Deeds To Fictitious Charitable Trust

From the Office of the Nevada Attorney General:

• Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced that Lynda Finch-Estrada, 56, of Las Vegas, William Chrissikopoulos, 44, of Henderson and Alan Dornhuber, 65, of Las Vegas, entered guilty pleas for their involvement in a complex mortgage fraud scam. Finch-Estrada and Chrissikopoulos each pleaded guilty to multiple transactions of fraud and deceit in the course of an enterprise or occupation, a category “B” felony, while Dornhuber pleaded guilty to theft by material misrepresentation, a category “C” felony. The crimes were committed between spring 2011 and spring 2013.
  
  The defendants formed an elaborate mortgage assistance scheme, costing each of their victims between $6,000 and $13,000 by operating the fraudulent businesses of U.S. Foreclosure Prevention, Home Defense Fund, Home Defense Foundation, Home Defense Group, American Mortgage Rescue and American Home Rescue.
  
  
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  The defendants operated three different schemes to defraud several Nevada homeowners, falsely promising to eliminate their mortgages and obtain their homes free and clear of liens. Among other things, the defendants falsely claimed to use a “forensic audit” and improperly cited admiralty law to promise their victims that they could eliminate their mortgages simply by notarizing and signing thick packages of papers with various colored inks and red thumbprint stamps. Finally, they scammed their victims by charging large sums of money to prepare false documents appointing the homeowners with powers of attorney for their lenders.
  
  The defendants claimed these documents would satisfy their mortgages, and encouraged the victims to deed their homes to a fictitious charitable trust in order to avoid their mortgage obligations. Ultimately, all three scams failed to assist victims with their homeownership.

Source: Attorney General Laxalt Announces Three Guilty Pleas in Complex Mortgage Lending Fraud Scam.

For the indictment, see The State of Nevada v. Finch-Estrada, et al.