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On Tuesday a federal jury found Anthony T. Williams guilty of
32 counts of wire and mail fraud in a mortgage debt reduction scheme targeting distressed homeowners, mostly non-English-
speaking Filipino immigrants in Hawaii.
After a four-week trial before U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi, Williams, 48, of Nashville, Tenn., was convicted of enlisting 112 victims in Hawaii, falsely promising that he could eliminate their existing home mortgage obligations by filing bogus documents with the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances.
Williams created two companies, Mortgage Enterprise Investments (MEI) and Common Law Office of America (CLOA). Though neither company was licensed to service or modify mortgages, prosecutors said he promised clients he could reduce or eliminate the debt to their lenders, telling them he was a “private attorney general” and exhibiting an “official-looking law enforcement badge and credentials,” according to a news release from the U.S.
Attorney’s Office. He was not affiliated with law enforcement and did not have a license to practice law.
Prosecutors said that between 2012 and 2015 Williams fraudulently obtained $218,000 with his scheme. He told clients he could eliminate their existing home mortgage obligations by filing bogus documents, including new MEI mortgages and notes obligating homeowners to make monthly payments to MEI, with the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances. He then instructed homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments to their lenders and to pay him directly instead.
Several witnesses testified that they had relied on Williams’ representations and subsequently went into foreclosure and lost their homes.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 24.
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