The Florida “law firm” used the unsuspecting lawyers’ licenses and had more than 300 clients.
A fake law firm in America reportedly used Craigslist to recruit real lawyers to do their work while reeling in more than 300 clients who were near being foreclosed from their homes.
According to The Sun-Sentinel, Joseph Anton Hilton, 56, and Adam Forman, 46, owners of the fake firm, The Asset Protection Law Firm, are facing an assortment of charges including operating a law firm without license and practicing law without a license.
The fake firm which offered residential loan modifications and debt consolidation used Craigslist to attract junior lawyers and used these lawyers’ credentials for corporate filings, retainer agreements with desperate homeowners and other legal documents.
The Sun-Sentinel writes that Hilton, who used the name Joseph Starr with clients, and Forman told homeowners not to pay their mortgages and ignore notices because the law firm would be dealing with their banks at a “higher level.”
The group duped homeowners to pay hefty upfront and monthly fees, the report notes, and had a plan to perpetrate the alleged fraud as long as possible.
The junior lawyers’ credentials were used to file documents that meant to delay foreclosures in order for the firm to keep on collecting its fees.
The fake firm then resorted to threats and harassment when clients tried to stop paying the fees.
From all accounts, the operation was substantial as about 15 other employees were working at the fake law firm which also went under the following names: Consumer Legal Advocates II, LLC; Consumer Legal Advocates, Inc.; The Asset Protection Law Group, P.A.; Oracle Marketing Co. and Consumer Legal Resources of Florida, LLC.
According to The Sun-Sentinel, Hilton is jailed on $250,000 bond; Forman is being held on $75,000 bond. Hilton was arrested at the firm’s office while Foreman was later arrested elsewhere.
