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Foreclosure Scam Exposed: Two Lawyers and Two Others Charged in Washington DC
WASHINGTON – A shocking indictment has been unsealed, charging four individuals, including two lawyers, with conspiring to defraud thousands of distressed homeowners who thought they were hiring a legal firm to help them avoid foreclosure.
The defendants, David Maresca, 48, of Manassas, Virginia, Scott Marinelli, 51, of Mountainside, New Jersey, Sam Babbs, III, 41, of Orlando, Florida, and Terrylle Blackstone, 35, of Woodbridge, Virginia, allegedly reaped millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.
The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud for charging clients on the false and fraudulent promise to help them avoid foreclosure but never providing any of those legal services.
The scheme involved marketing Synergy Law and Themis Law through telephone, television, and Internet advertising which told homeowners that attorneys could help them avoid foreclosure. The defendants, through the law firms, operated call centers, where workers used scripts during calls with homeowners falsely promising that an attorney would review the homeowner’s case file.
According to the indictment, the defendants knew these representations were false and fraudulent. Synergy Law and Themis Law never operated a “national law firm,” and never provided legal services to homeowners. Neither Synergy Law nor Themis Law had attorneys review homeowner files, and neither Synergy Law nor Themis Law had attorneys contact a client’s lender to discuss a mortgage resolution.
The victims signed agreements in which the law firms promised to provide “legal representation,” “attorney services” and “legal services” to the homeowner-client. Synergy Law required homeowner-clients to pay an initial retainer amount (often between $995 and $1,750), followed by a monthly recurring amount (often between $595 and $1,200), for as long as Synergy Law represented the homeowner.
The indictment further charges Maresca, Marinelli, and Blackstone with five counts of mail fraud; Maresca, Babbs, and Blackstone with three counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud; and Maresca with five counts of monetary transactions in criminally-derived property, and two counts of falsification of bankruptcy records.
The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs, of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Kareem A. Carter of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”) Washington, D.C. Field Office.
Key Facts
- State: Washington DC
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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