Judge Halts Eviction Of Seniors

Attorney General Spitzer said today that his office has obtained a temporary restraining order to stop eviction and foreclosure proceedings against senior citizens who were victimized in a mortgage scam.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Westchester County, alleges that Catherine Martino of Deer Park, and her associate, Richard Wilson, of Williston Park, defrauded at least 13 people, mostly senior citizens, from both Brooklyn and Westchester County in two types of scams that included high-pressure door-to-door solicitations and possibly forged real estate documents.

In view of the advanced age of nearly all the victims, and in some cases, their homebound status, it would have been particularly deplorable for them to lose their homes," Spitzer said. "Therefore, I am requesting that the court void the questionable mortgage transactions and return home ownership to the elderly victims."

Martino, through her companies, BBC Properties, Inc. and BBC Funding of Hauppage, is accused of fraudulently obtaining the deed to a senior's property, taking out a mortgage using the home as collateral, and then keeping the proceeds for herself and defaulting on the loan.

In once instance, a Mt. Vernon woman, who had received solicitations from Martino, agreed to apply for a $5,000 loan at a 3% interest rate. At a home visit to the woman, Martino asked to see her property deed and other identifying information. After Martino had left allegedly to make copies of the documents, the woman noticed paper in her wastebasket on which it appeared that Martino had been practicing other people's signatures, including that of the woman.

The woman later learned that apparently Martino had forged her signature on the deed, obtained a mortgage on the home, and defaulted in paying that mortgage, placing the woman at risk of foreclosure and eviction.

Spitzer expressed his appreciation for the excellent investigatory work of the New York State Banking Department. Specifically, he cited the efforts of Supervising Confidential Investigator Delroy Levy and Irwin Nack, Acting Director of Criminal Investigations.

The suit filed by Spitzer seeks to cancel at least seven mortgages totaling $827,000 and to stop the lenders from foreclosure and eviction proceedings. It also asks the court to:

• declare that the title to the properties remains with the victims;
• order the refund of over $6,500 to consumers who paid up-front fees for loan applications never submitted;
• force Martino to pay restitution and damages to the seniors and civil penalties for over twenty violations of laws prohibiting deceptive business practices and false advertising and requirements that all mortgage brokers be licensed by the State Banking Department.
• hold the notaries who signed the fraudulent deed transactions liable for damages to the seniors; and permanently bar Martino from further real estate sales or acquisitions.

In addition to refunds for the elderly victims and civil penalties for those violations, Spitzer has requested that the courts invoke a new consumer protection law that provides additional civil penalties of as much as $10,000 for deceptive and fraudulent acts perpetrated against the elderly with willful disregard of their rights.

The presiding judge, Justice Orazio R. Bellantoni, has set a May 19 hearing date for the case. The Money Store, Gotham Bank of New York, Executive Mortgage Bankers, Ltd., Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp., and United Holding Corporation are also named as necessary parties to the case because they claim to be the holders of the mortgages in question.

In addition, the District Attorneys of Brooklyn, Suffolk and Westchester counties have filed criminal charges against Martino. These charges include grand larceny, falsification of business records, and offering false instruments for filing.

This case was handled by Carole Fern, Deputy Regional Office Head In Charge of Public Advocacy of the Department of Law Westchester Regional Office together with Senior Investigators Cindy Trimble of the Westchester Office and Stephen Boyle of the Suffolk Regional Office.