Selfish Mortgage Scammers Slammed With $4 Million Fine

By Suzanne Stathatos Wed., Jul. 25 2012 at 7:30 AM

Categories: Law & Order, Lawsuit

Well, crime that pertains to mortgage fraud ...

Here's yet another reason SoCal doesn't give us a warm and fuzzy feeling. Attorney General Harris announced yesterday that folks who were busted operating a national loan modification scam down in south have been ordered to pay a $4 million bill for their crime.

Two million dollars of this is supposed to go to consumers (that's you) who got screwed after they were falsely promised modified mortgage loans. Sound familiar?

Orange County-based Statewide Financial Group, Inc., reaped more than $2 million from some 1,000 customers for loan modification services between January 2008 and July 2009, according to the AG.

"These defendants took advantage of vulnerable people in extremely difficult circumstances," Harris said.

The Attorney General had been after these housing crooks for nearly three years. Now, she's found the business owners -- Zulmai Nazarzai, Hakimullah Sarpas, and Fasela Sheren -- liable for violating California's Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law. As punishment, the accused scammers now have to pay $2 million in civil penalties, and another $2 million to disgruntled customers.

Just like the last national scam the Attorney General recently cracked here, the rest of this sum will be split among every U.S. Homeowners Assistance loan modification customer who asks for a refund.

In 2010, Harris put Nazarari behind bars because he continuously refused to comply with court orders or to hand over $360,000 in money the court said he owed. A year later, Harris, sick of the housing scams herself, formed the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to go after those nefarious mortgages and foreclosures that have seriously harmed homeowners up and down the state.

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