Friday, March 18, 2016

Arizona AG Racketeering Lawsuit: Real Estate Operators Targeted Unsophisticated Homebuyers w/ Dubious Contracts, Misrepresenting Leases As Purchases, Fleecing Victims Out Of Hundred$ Of Thousand$

From the Office of the Arizona Attorney General:
  • Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced [] his office filed an Arizona Consumer Fraud and Civil Racketeering Lawsuit against ProSolutions, LLC, a Phoenix-based real estate consulting company. The lawsuit alleges ProSolutions and its owners, Ruben Diaz and Rodrigo Diaz preyed on Spanish-speaking families who wanted to buy a home, acting as a home loan financing officer, and taking thousands of dollars in down payments from them. Families thought they purchased a home and later discovered they never owned the home.

    “Arizonans trusted this business to help them turn their dream of homeownership into a reality,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “Dozens of families lost their hard-earned savings and we want to help them get their money back.”

    The Consumer Fraud Lawsuit alleges ProSolutions misrepresented the nature and terms of various home financing transactions for their own financial gain. In several instances, ProSolutions allegedly mischaracterized lease agreements as purchase agreements and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of home payments from consumers before consumers learned that they did not hold the title to their homes.

    ProSolutions allegedly used an assortment of other deceptive practices to take the title to their clients’ properties and forced their clients to lose thousands of dollars in real estate down payments. The complaint also alleges that ProSolutions mishandled deposits paid by consumers and failed or refused to refund deposits to consumers as agreed.

    In addition to filing the lawsuit, the State is also asking the court to issue a temporary order that would freeze the Defendants’ assets, ban them from engaging in the business practices alleged in the complaint, stop collection and eviction actions against consumers, and require the production of business records.

For the lawsuit, see State of Arizona v. Diaz, et al. land contract for deed rent to own