![]() ![]() South West Consulting Enterprises, Inc.The defendants conducted business through a number of entities and trade names, including: The joint complaint alleges that the defendants and their companies violated the CCFPL, as well as the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC’s Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule (the MARS Rule or Regulation O), the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the Covid-19 Consumer Protection Act. Today’s filing marks the first joint FTC and DFPI action that relies in part on the enforcement powers of the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL), enacted in 2020. Instead, defendants pocketed the borrowers’ payments, which the complaint estimates total at least $6.3 million. In exchange for unlawful and high up-front monthly fees, the defendants promised financially distressed homeowners that they would negotiate with mortgage companies to lower their interest rates, monthly payments, or principal amounts. ![]() In the joint complaint, FTC and DFPI allege that the defendants, doing business through multiple entities located in the Los Angeles, California, area since 2018, deceived hundreds of homeowners nationwide into paying for fraudulent mortgage modification services. “We are excited to build on our relationship with California’s DFPI in this case and will continue to work with our state partners to shut down schemes that take advantage of consumers experiencing financial hardship.” “At a time when millions of Americans were dealing with a pandemic and struggling to pay their mortgages, defendants preyed on consumers with false promises of mortgage assistance relief” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The DFPI has taken strong, decisive action against the companies behind this scheme using the California Consumer Financial Protection Law to put a stop to their illegal activities and protect not only California consumers, but also consumers nationwide.” “Illegal mortgage relief assistance schemes prey on the most vulnerable homeowners and are a significant threat to the generational wealth that home ownership provides for consumers,” said DFPI Commissioner Clothilde Hewlett. The court issued a temporary restraining order to halt the scheme and freeze assets, and appointed a receiver to assist with taking over the defendants’ businesses and administer any potential relief for victims. Michael Dominic Grinnell) falsely promised to reduce homeowners’ mortgage payments and prevent foreclosures, defrauding distressed homeowners out of millions of dollars in the process. The complaint alleges that defendants Roger Scott Dyer and Dominic Ahiga (a.k.a. SACRAMENTO – A federal court today unsealed a joint complaint by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against a recidivist mortgage assistance relief scam. ![]()
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