Disbarred attorney charged in claimed $44M foreclosure rescue scheme; bail is set at $17.8M
A disbarred California attorney has been indicted on dozens of felony charges concerning an alleged $44 million mortgage foreclosure rescue scheme and is being held in lieu of $17.8 million in bail
Stephen Lyster Siringoringo, 34, was hit with double trouble on Thursday when he was both officially disbarred and the subject of a press release by the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office .
He is accused of illegally taking thousands of dollars in up-front payments from struggling homeowners, through his Garden Grove-based law firm, as well as failing to offer meaningful relief to many of his clients. Nearly 800 filed complaints with the State Bar of California, according to the Press-Enterprise.
In a 2014 stipulation (PDF) in a civil attorney disciplinary case that is linked to a California State Bar web page, Siringoringo admitted both that he had collected up-front fees from 14 clients in mortgage loan modification cases, which has been prohibited by state law since 2009, and that he had not performed all the services he promised his clients. However, he also made full restitution to the 14 clients at issue in the disciplinary case, the stipulation says.
An unsigned 2013 decision (PDF) in a different civil attorney disciplinary case, which is still listed as pending, says another 20 clients also paid up-front fees to Siringoringo’s firm. However, the filing notes that Siringoringo estimated that he had helped 4,300 homeowners actually obtain loan modifications and says the attorney restructured his cases into stages after the state law banning up-front payments was enacted, so that payment would be made only after each stage of the case was completed.
The Whittier Law School graduate and a co-defendant pleaded not guilty last week in San Bernardino County Superior Court to nearly 50 counts of money laundering and grand theft, according to the Hesperia Star and the Press-Enterprise. Another co-defendant is still at large.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Search warrants served on law firm in loan-modification probe; lawyer faces marijuana charge”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “‘Huge’ Number of Lawyers Accused In Civil and Criminal Mortgage-Related Fraud Cases”
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyers in multiple states face inquiry, or worse, over legal fees in mortgage foreclosure matters”
ABAJournal.com: “Feds and 15 states sue law firms and attorneys, alleging mortgage-relief scams”
