Four Chicago-area companies and attorneys involved in alleged fraudulent mortgage rescue and loan modification schemes have been sued by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office for illegally charging consumers.
The lawsuits, filed in Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court against ZeTrust Legal Services of Chicago, Woodridge, Ill.-based Legal Modification Network LLC, Loan Litigators International LLC, which operated out of Lombard, Ill. but is now defunct and Exelpol Management & Consulting Inc., a dissolved corporation that was based in Schaumburg, Ill.
Cook County (Ill.) State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office filed a similar lawsuit against loan modification and debt settlement company, Legal Housing and Debt Advisor LLC.
The businesses used attorneys as the face of their operations to charge upfront fees, but the attorneys performed no legal services for the homeowners, Madigan alleged in a statement.
Madigan’s and Alvarez’s offices are targeting attorneys in the state and loan modification operators who illegally exploit a law that allows lawyers to collect upfront fees from homeowners for mortgage rescue services in the course of legitimate legal work, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Madigan's lawsuits seek to shut down the businesses and call for restitution for 76 consumers. The lawsuits also ask to bar the defendants from providing mortgage rescue services in Illinois.
Finally, the lawsuits seek to order each defendant to pay a civil penalty of $50,000 and additional penalties of $50,000 for each act committed with intent to defraud.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which also is part of the task force, has investigated nearly 200 companies since December 2009 for illegal or unlicensed activities involving loan modifications and other financial transactions, according to state officials. The cases have led to fines in excess of $600,000.
