Real Estate Broker Charged In $165K Foreclosure Avoidance Swindle; Allegedly Duped Three Financially Distressed Homeowners Into Remitting Monthly House Payments To Him In Exchange For Promise To Resolve Default With Lenders, Then Simply Pocketed The Cash

In Lowell, Massachusetts, Itemlive.com reports:

• A real estate broker has been charged with stealing more than $165,000 through a larceny scheme targeting homeowners in Lynn and Lowell facing foreclosure, according to Attorney General Maura Healey.
  
  Kevin Taing, 49, of Lowell, was arraigned [] in Middlesex Superior Court and Essex Superior Court on larceny charges. Taing pleaded not guilty to the charges.
  
  Healey’s office began an investigation in 2014 following a referral from a legal services agency. Taing is a licensed real estate broker and principal of Eastern Funding & Investment Inc. (EFI).
  
  Taing, who is of Cambodian descent and speaks Khmer, allegedly persuaded three separate homeowners of Cambodian descent, who were facing foreclosure, to make payments to EFI rather than the actual holder of their mortgage loans.
  
  Taing allegedly led these families to believe that by paying EFI they would reduce their monthly payments, stay in their homes or otherwise resolve their mortgage issues.
  
  While Taing sent these homeowners mortgage statements, authorities allege that he never forwarded any of the payments to the holders of the mortgage loans. Taing allegedly converted the money paid to EFI to his personal use, using the funds to pay for personal expenses, credit card bills, restaurant and retail expenses, and property in California.

Source: Real estate broker charged in larceny scheme.

For story update, see Lowell fraud case widens:

• The extent of an alleged mortgage-fraud scheme perpetrated by a Lowell businessman may be more widespread than prosecutors have yet charged, according to a civil lawsuit filed against Kevin Taing. [...] Two of Taing's alleged victims eventually contacted Northeast Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization,(1) and are now suing him.
  
  In their lawsuit, Samuel and Cynthia Chy of Lynn claim that Taing may have victimized more Cambodian families, and that North Andover attorney Herbert Weinberg assisted him in duping his victims in exchange for legal fees.

---------------------

(1) Northeast Legal Aid is a non-profit law firm providing free civil legal services to the poor and elderly in Northeastern Massachusetts.