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Pompano women get prison for defrauding homeowners
By Palm Beach Business.com
FORT LAUDERDALE — Two Pompano Beach women have received federal prison sentences as a result of their involvement in a business that claimed it would financially rescue homeowners facing foreclosure but ultimately ripped them off.
Lisa Wright 46, and Cathy Saffer 52, received sentences of 66 and 60 months in prison respectively for their part in Foreclosure Solution Specialists. Wright pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud charges while a jury found Saffer guilty of the same after a two-week trial in March.
According to court records, the two women operated Foreclosure Solution Specialists from 2006 to 2009. Wright and Saffer targeted homeowners facing foreclosure, claiming their business would solve their problems with the bank and help them remain in their homes. They told prospective clients that Foreclosure Solutions would sell their homes to investors who would allow them to live there afterwards. They even promised their clients that they could buy their homes back when things turned around financially for them.
Instead, Wright and Saffer sold the homes to straw buyers using mortgages obtained with fraudulent documents. They pocketed the mortgages and allowed the homes to go into foreclosure. Homeowners who had trusted Foreclosure Solutions lost whatever equity they had, and most lost their homes altogether.
A third defendant, a CPA named Barrington Coombs, faces sentencing in December.
“This case illustrates the lengths that fraudsters will go to victimize and ruin the lives of hard working families,” U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said. “This mortgage fraud scheme robbed homeowners of more than just their homes; it also robbed them of hope and the American dream of home ownership. Through this prosecution, these fraudsters have been brought to justice.”
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