Foreclosures Being Trailed By Frauds: Legal Steps Being Mulled

October 2nd, 2007

Mayflower Hotel last year united two like-minded couples in holy matrimony – Joy Jenice Jackson and Kurt Fordham. They were partners in their business Metropolitan Money Store and single minded in their dedication to fleece people caught in the distress of foreclosures. The dream wedding with 360 guests included a showering of generous gifts like a house to attendants could hardly cover the stench of a fraud. The company had boldly advertised itself as a saviour for families who were running the risk of losing their hearth and homes to foreclosure.

They are just one among many groups operating to fleece hapless sheep already marked for the foreclosure slaughterhouse. Metropolitan Money Store has fattened themselves to nearly $60 million ill gotten gains and is now facing a lawsuit. They took on the minorities by advertising through the radio to sell off the units to ‘straw buyers’ – buyers who never laid eyes on the houses. The Secret Service and FBI are carrying out investigations. 27 residents have been their victims.

The ploy was to play upon the sentiments of the elderly and minority groups who are in a difficult situation. The foreclosure notice triggers off panic. One cannot think straight. The virus is spreading across the country and accordingly legal steps are being initiated to prevent further abuse. Maryland had drawn up laws as early as 2005.

To get at the root, the D.C Council is thinking of a law (initiated by Mary M Cheh) that will nip the menace in the bud – prevent declaration of absurd promises like the one Metropolitan Money Store is supposed to have made and flouted. A provision in the bill is also being made that anyone who comes forward as a helper is legally bound to see to the best financial interests of the borrower. With the housing problem turning worse and with no hope in sight it is urgent for the authorities to see to the protection of the victims. The bill might not be the ultimate answer but it is a beginning – at least.

There is little doubt that the con artists will put on another mask and find devious ways and means to suck the blood of the helpless. But it’s also true that the humane factor in the human being will rise to the occasion again and again to fight evil with good.