Another Repo Home Listing Fraud Lawsuit
Businessman Maurice Jenkins of Fayetteville, North Carolina has been sued for repo home listing fraud for the second time this month. Jenkins was sued at Cumberland County Superior Court by Latoya Haywood.
In her lawsuit, Haywood also named Jenkins’ companies Lessane Properties and Fayetteville Property Center, his wife Wanda, two lawyers and Wachovia Bank for repo home listing fraud.
Haywood’s lawsuit is the second fraud case filed against Jenkins and his group. The first fraud case was filed by Robert Moreau. Both Moreau and Haywood hired Thomas Neville as their lawyer.
In their lawsuits, Haywood and Moreau claimed that they were property investors and both of them were swindled by Jenkins and his group. Each of them purchased rental properties which were managed by Jenkins.
Jenkins admitted operating a real estate fraudulent scheme between 2004 and 2008. In her complaint, Haywood said that after she purchased a rental property from Jenkins, he faked the documents in order to deed the property’s title to one of the companies he owned.
She added that one property that he acquired from Jenkins had hidden debts which the latter did not disclose. The property with hidden liens acquired by Haywood was foreclosed within a year.
According to authorities, the repo home listing fraud scheme operated by Jenkins and his group involved over 120 houses located in the Cape Fear region.
Last April, Jenkins pleaded guilty to defrauding $1 million from four banking institutions following state and federal investigation. He is facing a 30-year maximum penalty in prison, a $1 million fine and a five-year supervised release.
Meanwhile, Jenkins, together with Holly Stevens, was sued by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper last year for defrauding investors. The lawsuit was settled and both Jenkins and Stevens promised not to defraud investors again.
Fraudulent schemes like the one operated by Jenkins has been spreading across the state despite data showing a 42 percent decline in foreclosures activity in the first quarter of this year compared with figures for the same quarter last year.
Properties that received foreclosure filings and were at risk of being placed on repo home listing declined by 20 percent to 5,988 in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the last quarter of 2008.
In March, foreclosure filings in the state slide by 3 percent to 1,977 properties compared with February total and 40 percent less from the March 2008 figures.
