Feds Score Guilty Plea From Another Loan Modification Racket Ringleader Who Presided Over Ripoff That Stung Over 1,000 Homeowners Out Of Over $3 Million

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Bridgeport, Connecticut):

• ARIA MALEKI, 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., pleaded guilty [] before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to conspiring to defraud homeowners across the United States who were seeking mortgage loan modifications.
  
  According to court documents and statements made in court, MALEKI and others jointly operated a series of California-based companies that falsely purported to provide home mortgage loan modifications and other consumer debt relief services to numerous homeowners in Connecticut and across the United States in exchange for upfront fees.
  
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  Acting as representatives of these entities, MALEKI and his co-conspirators cold-called homeowners and offered to provide mortgage loan modification services to those who were having difficulty repaying their home mortgage loans. The defendants charged homeowners fees that typically ranged from approximately $2,500 to $4,300 for their services.
  
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  Participants in the scheme used pseudonyms and periodically changed their business and operating names to evade detection. The defendants also directed homeowners to mail their checks to addresses and mail boxes that the defendants and their co-conspirators had set up in states other than California.
  
  MALEKI presided over the entire structure of this scheme. As a result, more than 1,000 homeowners suffered losses totaling more than $3 million.

For more, see Ringleader of Mortgage Loan Modification Scheme Pleads Guilty.