June 8, 2009
During the real estate boom, a lot of consumers bought houses they couldnt afford. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has acted against a Florida mortgage broker who she says contributed to the problem.
Coakleys office has obtained a judgment against Florida-based Zeus Funding and its manager, Rachel Noyes, for deceptively persuading Massachusetts homebuyers to purchase homes that were well out of their price range. The order directs both parties to stop doing business in Massachusetts and pay $480,887 in civil penalties, fees and costs.
Especially in these difficult economic times, we will not permit unscrupulous parties to prey upon working class people, Coakley said. Consumers place their trust in mortgage and real estate professionals and these defendants violated that trust. Such conduct will not be tolerated in Massachusetts.
The judgment resolves an August 2006 lawsuit filed by the Attorney Generals Office against Zeus Funding, LLC, a Florida company; New England Merchants Corp., a Massachusetts company; Rachel Noyes, manager of both Zeus and New England Merchants; Champagne Associates Real Estate, a Massachusetts company; and Roberta Robinson, the manager and sole officer of Champagne.
The lawsuit alleged that the defendants used their businesses to deceptively persuade low-income consumers into purchasing homes and committing to mortgages the consumers could not qualify for or afford. The defendants also made misrepresentations and omissions in order to get consumers to use their real estate and mortgage brokerage services.
The judgment issued against Noyes and Zeus prohibits them from selling or soliciting any services or product to Massachusetts consumers and from engaging in loan origination or loan brokering in the Commonwealth. The judgment also orders Noyes and Zeus to pay $450,000 in civil penalties in addition to approximately $31,000 in attorneys fees to the Commonwealth.
