State Stops Giant|Foreclosure Scam

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) - New Mexico sued six people and their 12 businesses for millions of dollars in what the state calls a foreclosure rescue scam, "the Praedium Enterprise."

Mukhtiar Singh Khalsa dba Praedium Preservation is the lead defendant in the July 22 lawsuit in Bernalillo County Court.

Attorney General Hector Balderas accuses the defendants of a multitude of sins: including taking thousands of dollars in advance to stop foreclosures, but doing nothing to stop them — and even taking possession of the homes and renting them out without the homeowners' permission.

There are some of the attorney general's many allegations against the many defendants:

that Khalsa, the founder and president of the enterprise, practices law without a license;

that Paul A. Lucero Jr. also practices law without a license, and has told the court that he is the representative of a trust which also is a defendant;

that Gregory Bryan Molinar practices law without a license, while holding himself out as the vice president of administration for the Enterprise, and also holds himself out as trustee of another defendant trust, in which Khalsa also claims an interest;

that Joshua R. Simms is an attorney, a "staff attorney" for the Enterprise, who maliciously abused court processes, with the other defendants, and that he "acted unlawfully" by helping the other defendants violate the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule and aiding and abetting their unauthorized practice of law.

Other defendants include Gurnam K. Khalsa, Hardeep Singh, P&L Fusion, and another of Mukhtiar Khalsa's dbas, www.homeownerstory.org, which Web page was active on the Internet Thursday morning.

The 61-page lawsuit, with 36 pages of attachments, describes a typical foreclosure rescue scam: promising to stop foreclosure for an upfront fee, promising to get clear title without paying off the mortgage, and charging monthly fees for services that are never provided.

One man paid $7,000 up front, and when he complained that nothing had been done on his case, was told that the money he'd paid was "for membership," not for services, and he couldn't have it back, the attorney general says.

Another victim moved out of her home during foreclosure, then learned there were renters in the house, paying rent to defendant Lucero, who told her she had signed over the house to him—which she denies—and told her than when he sold the house he'd give her $8,000, according to the complaint.

The Enterprise also would file false mortgages on a property involving two Praedium-controlled trusts, then file a foreclosure on the lien, followed quickly by a stipulated judgment to one of the trusts, the attorney general says.

Defendants include Praedium Preservation, Praedium LLC, New Mexico Home Project, 11 Sombrillo Lane Trust, 1512 Summerfield Trust, P&L Fusion LLC, JRSPC LLC and the 517001251 Trust.

The state seeks restitution, release of mortgages, injunctions and fines of up to $1 million per violation of the MARS Rule, $5,000 per violation for unauthorized practice of law, $16,000 per violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and other fines for malicious abuse of process, civil conspiracy, and violations of the mortgage foreclosure consultant fraud prevention act.

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