TUCSON – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a Consumer Fraud Lawsuit against Sonia Hodgin and Hodgin & Co, LLC (“Defendants”). Defendants are accused of violating the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act by charging struggling homeowners thousands of dollars for foreclosure assistance services and failing to provide those services.
“Arizona homeowners who lost their homes to fake foreclosure schemes should immediately file a complaint with our office,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "This office will continue to fight for vulnerable homeowners who fall victim to fraudulent foreclosure schemes."
The Consumer Fraud Lawsuit alleges Defendants misrepresented the nature of fees charged for their services. In at least one instance, Defendants claimed they could help a homeowner avoid foreclosure and entered into a contract in which Defendants agreed to assume the homeowner’s mortgage loan obligation. Defendants falsely told the homeowner they would take over the monthly payments on the existing mortgage loan in exchange for a deed to the property. Defendants later represented that they would pay the homeowner directly so that the homeowner could pay the mortgage loan obligation. Defendants failed to remove the homeowner from the mortgage loan obligation and failed to assume the mortgage loan obligation as agreed. Defendants failed to pay the mortgage loan servicer or homeowner, resulting in the servicer foreclosing on the property.
Defendants also entered into an agreement with separate consumers to sell this same property to purchasers, charging these purchasers a down payment and monthly payments for the property. Defendants failed to apply the purchasers’ monthly payments to the underlying mortgage loan and continued to accept monthly payments from the purchasers after the homeowner’s mortgage loan servicer initiated foreclosure proceedings.
The State is requesting consumer restitution, reimbursement for the cost of the investigation, and attorney's fees. The State also requests the court order Defendants to pay civil penalties of up to $10,000.00 per violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
This case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Shanelle Schmitz in our Tucson Office.
If you believe you have been a victim of consumer fraud, please contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6504, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at 1(800) 352-8431. Consumers can also file complaints online by visiting the Attorney General’s website.
For additional information, members of the media may contact Mia Garcia, Director of Media Relations at (602) 339-5895 or [email protected].
Full copy of the Complaint.