Thompson & Vondran: Administrative and Criminal Defense of Real Estate and Loan Modification Matters

This blog is to announce a joint venture between the Law Offices of Steven C. Vondran and the Law Office of Daryl Thompson.  As many of you who have been reading my blogs probably realize, there was/is an epidemic of loan modification scam and ripoff cases affecting California Homeowners.   The California State bar has been inundated by over 1,000 complaints of loan modifications scams and ripoffs per month.  In addition, the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) has also experienced the same types of complaints against attorneys, brokers, “attorney-backed” and “attorney based” – law centers and law groups, foreclosure consultants, and others who are engaged in accepting advances fees for loan modifications.  The same holds true for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the California Attorney General.  These regulators are now out in full force seeking to suspend and revoke real estate and law licenses and in some cases may be seeking to put violators in jail.

Now, our office has stood up for people that we believe were wrongly scammed and victimized by loan modification brokers and attorneys who were literally ripping people off.  This will not change.  However, one thing we have also noticed is that in this process, there are some people who simply did not qualify for a loan modification and did not therefore receive a loan modification who then complained to the above-mentioned regulatory agencies which in many cases will trigger a investigation and perhaps subsequent investigation, indictment, and/or licensing proceeding.  In other words, there are many individuals coming under investigative scrutiny, and while some of these cases are undoubtedly valid, others are likely wrongful forcing the named defendants to justify their activities and otherwise defend themselves.

In some cases, we are hearing that individuals who work for companies deemed to be scam loan modification companies are also being indicted and coming under licensing and other scrutiny.  At the end of the day, there is a major “round-up” of companies and individuals facing disciplinary and other legal action in regard to their loan modification activities.  

These cases will test many different areas of the law and ethics including:

1. California Foreclosure Consultant Law
2. California Laws of Fraud and Deceit
3. Issues of Breach of Fiduciary Duty
4. Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
5. California Attorney Ethics including fee-splitting, partnership with non-attorneys, runners and cappers, etc.
6. False Advertising
7. DRE advance fee agreement rules
8. Trust Fund Accounting
9. Search and Seizure
10. SB 94 (illegal collection of advance fees under the new law which prohibits such)

Thus, the interplay between criminal law and real estate law makes these types of cases challenging to analyze and defend.  The join venture between our law firms is designed to help you analyze your case given these multiple legal and ethical issues that must be explored.

If you are being charged with a crime (district attorney of attorney general), or with administrative licensing or disciplinary proceeding (DRE or State Bar) you need legal counsel on your side that can determine what defenses, if any, are available to you.  As is typical in any case of this nature, it is often in your best interest not to speak to anyone until you have spoken to your lawyer. 

Contact us for a confidential discussion of your case.  

We have provided a website that provides resources involving the regulatory investigations, criminal proceedings, and other resources involving the loan modification fallout at www.ThompsonVondran.com. 

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NOTICE:

The foregoing information is general legal information only and shall not be relied upon as legal advice, or a substitution for legal advice.  If you have specific legal questions about your foreclosure case, or loan modification case you should seek out the advice of a real estate attorney.  In addition, the information posted above may not be 100% complete, accurate or up-to-date.  The Law Offices of Steve Vondran is licensed to practice law in the state of Arizona and California and only seeks to solicit and serve Clients in these two states. Steve Vondran, Esq. is a licensed attorney and real estate broker in California and Arizona.  He can be reached by email at steve@vondranlaw.com or toll free (877) 276-5084. Daryl Thompson, Esq. is only licensed to practice law in California.

This is an advertisement and communication pursuant to State Bar Rules.  Please do not send us private or confidential information through any of our above-listed websites.   Sending us an email does not create an attorney-client relationship (only signing a legal retainer will do this).  Past indications and references to success in other cases is not indicative of future results and cannot be relied upon as such.  Every case, lender, investor, borrower, and property are different.

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