Anthony Casa is officially stepping down as chairman of Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) — a trade group representing the interests of independent mortgage brokers — in the wake of a lawsuit accusing him of filming and disseminating sexist and graphic videos directed at the wife of a Rocket Mortgage executive. Casa’s departure was first reported Thursday by HousingWire.
Anthony Casa | Photo credit: LinkedIn
Casa, in a statement to Housing Wire, said he would not be leaving the community, rather, “getting back in the weeds of serving and educating borrowers and starting a new mortgage brokerage here in Philadelphia.”
“I will be an active member of AIME, I will be a participant and resource to this community in any way I can,” Casa told HousingWire. “I encourage everyone to double down on your support of AIME, our true partner lenders, and this community we’ve all built together.”
Casa was sued in July, after allegedly filming a video of himself making lewd, sexual remarks, about the wife of a Rocket Mortgage executive at a social gathering, accusing her of engaging in sexual acts with another industry executive. He then is accused of sending those videos to other mortgage industry leaders.
Lenders like Flagstar Bank and Caliber Home Loans cut ties with the trade association due to Casa’s comments. At the time that Casa’s remarks became public, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, also spoke out against Casa’s actions.
Casa initially took a leave of absence from the trade group, but has since made it permanent.
In a now-deleted LinkedIn video, Casa issued an apology and said there had been some back-and-forth with the executive, prior to the video, according to HousingWire. Casa initially founded the organization Brokers Rallying Against Whole-tail Lending, as an advocacy group against large wholesale lenders like Rocket Mortgage.
In a statement to HousingWire, AIME acknowledged Casa would be moving on.
“AIME is continuing to make strides to support the broker community. The mission and vision of the organization remain unchanged and the momentum will continue into 2021 with innovative initiatives like Spark and Best in Class to support brokers who are both new and well established. All business operations will continue to be overseen by AIME’s EVP of Strategy Katie Sweeney, and President Marc Summers.”
