Arizona men accused of posing as mortgage lenders to swindle Hispanic families

According to a lawsuit by the state attorney general, two Arizona men posed as realtors and mortgage lenders to cheat Hispanic families who thought they were buying homes, when in reality they were only leasing them

The owners of an Arizona real estate consulting company are facing accusations that they posed as both realtors and mortgage lenders to defraud a number of Hispanic families, tricking them into thinking they were buying a house that they were actually only leasing.

Ruben Diaz and Roderigo Diaz, owners of ProSolutions, face an Arizona Consumer Fraud and Civil Racketeering Lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, according to a HousingWire report. The suit accuses the owners of ProSulutions of fraudulently acting as loan financing officers and misrepresenting the terms of home financing transactions, HousingWire reported.

“In several instances, ProSolutions allegedly mischaracterized lease agreements as purchase agreements and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of home payments from consumers before consumers learned that they did not hold the title to their homes,” Brnovich’s office said in a statement.

ProSolutions is also alleged to have used other “deceptive practices” to take the titles to the homes of their clients, forcing those clients to lose thousands of dollars in down payments. The company also allegedly mishandled deposits and refused to refund some customers’ deposits despite agreeing to do so, according to HousingWire.

Brnovich is also asking a judge to freeze the assets of both men, ban them from engaging in the business practices alleged in the lawsuit and halt collections and evictions against their customers, HousingWire reported.

“Arizonans trusted this business to help them turn their dream of homeownership into a reality,” Brnovich said in a statement. “Dozens of families lost their hard-earned savings and we want to help them get their money back.”