Search warrants served on law firm in loan-modification probe; lawyer faces marijuana charge
A California lawyer, Stephen Siringoringo, and his wife were taken into custody and face a marijuana charge after law enforcement officials say they found 445 grams of the drug, packaged for sale, in his law office during a search Wednesday.
The search of the Siringoringo Law Office was for a different purpose; warrants were served in five locations in Orange and San Bernardino counties as part of an investigation by the San Bernardino county prosecutor of a claimed mortgage loan-modification scheme, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. At least one other company, a property management firm, was also targeted in the searches.
Siringoringo was ordered by the California State Bar in late July to stop practicing law over his mortgage modification activities, as an earlier Press-Enterprise article detailed. The newspaper tried to reach him at that time for comment, but reported calls to his law office were answered by a recording that said his voice mail was not taking messages.
However, an October post on the Occupy Fights Foreclosures blog says a California state bar court judge subsequently reinstated Siringoringo’s law license.
He is listed on a California State Bar website as active but facing a disciplinary case concerning claimed loan modification misconduct.
A message left Thursday by the ABA Journal at a phone number listed for Siringoringo on the state bar website did not receive an immediate response.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyers in multiple states face inquiry, or worse, over legal fees in mortgage foreclosure matters”
