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California state regulators say they’ve teamed up with the Federal Trade Commission to shut down a Los Angeles-based mortgage relief operation that allegedly deceived hundreds of homeowners nationwide into paying at least $6.3 million for fraudulent mortgage modification services.

Launched in 2018, backers of the operation promised to help distressed homeowners negotiate with mortgage companies to lower their interest rates, monthly payments or principal amounts, according to a joint complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).

Instead, defendants Roger Scott Dyer and Dominic Ahiga are accused of pocketing borrowers’ payments, according to the Sept. 12 complaint. Inman was unable to reach Dyer or Ahiga, also known as Michael Dominic Grinnell, for comment.

Although regulators said they “file complaints when they have reason to believe that the law has been or is being violated,” they were careful to note that the “case will be decided by the court.”

The complaint was unsealed Monday after regulators obtained a temporary restraining order from a federal judge allowing them to halt the mortgage relief operation and freeze its assets. A receiver has been appointed to assist with taking over the defendants’ businesses and to administer any relief for victims.

The complaint alleges that the mortgage relief operation lined up victims through a number of entities, including Home Matters USA, Academy Home Services, Atlantic Pacific Service Group, and Golden Home Services America. The corporate defendants named in the complaint are Apex Consulting & Associates Inc., Green Equitable Solutions, Infocom Entertainment Ltd Inc. and South West Consulting Enterprises Inc.

But it turned out that the homeowner’s $1,754 monthly payment “was going directly to Home Matters, and nothing to my lender, so now my lender tells me that we owe them $25,000.”

It was the first joint FTC and DFPI action under enforcement powers provided under the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL), enacted in 2020.

The joint complaint alleges that the defendants and their companies violated the CCFPL, as well as the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC’s Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule (the MARS Rule or Regulation O), the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the Covid-19 Consumer Protection Act.

“We are excited to build on our relationship with California’s DFPI in this case and will continue to work with our state partners to shut down schemes that take advantage of consumers experiencing financial hardship,” Levine said.

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Email Matt Carter

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