Madigan Files Lawsuit Against Mortgage Rescue Companies

By aaroncynic in News on Sep 28, 2011 8:20PM

Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit against four mortgage rescue companies in Tuesday.

The Daily Herald reports Madigan alleges the companies committed fraud by using attorneys to collect fees up front and then not delivering services. The companies charged are:

- ZeTrust Legal Services of Chicago
- Legal Modification Network LLC of Woodridge
- Loan Litigators International LLC, originally based in Lombard and now closed
- Exelpol Management & Consulting Inc., a dissolved corporation that was based in Schaumburg.

Madigan’s suit is part of a muti-agency effort to target attorneys and companies who practice such methods. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office also filed suit against Arlington Heights-based loan modification and debt settlement company, Legal Housing and Debt Advisor LLC.

“These operators are scamming families out of thousands of dollars and actually making foreclosure more likely,” Madigan said in a statement, the Sun-Times reports. The lawsuits shut down the businesses and bar them from providing any mortgage rescue service in Illinois, forces them to pay civil penalties of $50,000 each and $50,000 for each act committed with intent to defraud and seeks restitution to 76 customers scammed by the companies.