Fair Oaks Couple Lost Home In Loan Modification Swindle

Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for three men accused of preying on more than a dozen vulnerable borrowers facing foreclosure or unaffordable mortgage payments, including those in Fair Oaks and Carmichael.

From November 2009 to about June 2010, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office says the loan modification business run by Ashik Azeez, 49, Frank Joseph Ferris, 69, and Vicente Jose Perez, 49, all of Sacramento, performed unlicensed loan modification activities, improperly collected advance service fees, and failed to notify clients that paying a loan modification through a third party was unnecessary.

It was at the Arden Way office suite of Turbo Mortgage Modification (later named Turbo Solutions) that Fair Oaks couple Steve and Nancy Duncan came looking for assistance last September. According to the warrant request filed by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael Blazina, the Duncans were facing the possibility of losing their home in five months and needed a loan modification.

Blazina writes that TMM manager Azeez “bragged about some successful cases he handled and gave the Duncans the impression that their loan modification was guaranteed.” The Duncans paid Azeez $2,500 in cash the next day. In December, Azeez told the couple he was unable to get the loan modification because they didn’t get him additional information in a timely manner. The Duncans lost their home in February.

The warrant request also alleges that Azeez and Ferris, the company’s attorney, bilked a woman with two Carmichael properties out of hundreds in upfront costs as they processed her loan modification last March.

Around the same time, a Fair Oaks property owner was allegedly asked by Perez to lie on her loan application during a loan modification process for which she was quoted a $2,500 fee.

The warrant request outlined 16 separate instances in which people were charged upfront for loan modification costs or otherwise swindled, including many that occurred after the company was issued a cease and desist order this past October. Blazina writes that a search of the business in January turned up “documents that indicated Azeez continued to perform prohibited loan modification” for the Duncans and another victim following the order.

As of Wednesday, Azeez, Ferris and Perez were not yet in custody.

“They have all been contacted and advised of the warrants,” said Shelly Orio, media officer with the DA’s Office. “It is anticipated they will turn themselves in, but we are not certain.”

Ferris is also implicated in a separate matter in which he reportedly misappropriated $60,000 in client funds while a licensed attorney.