Court Orders Ex-Attorney To Cough Up $18 Million For Role In Recruiting Homeowners Into Phony "Mass Joinder" Lawsuits Purporting To Challenge Mortgage Lenders' Foreclosure Rights

Law360 reports:

• A California federal judge on Wednesday [February 15] ordered a former California attorney to pay more than $18 million and barred him from the debt relief market to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission that he wrongly recruited homeowners into “mass-joinder” lawsuits against mortgage lenders.
  
  A unanimous FTC in May sued former California lawyer Vito Torchia Jr. and four attorneys for using law firms Brookstone Law and Advantis Law to steal millions from homeowners by falsely promising debt relief and financial rewards through lawsuits alleging mortgage fraud...

Source: Former Calif. Atty Told To Pay $18M Over Foreclosure Scam.