U.S. Department
of Justice
United States v. Advocate Law Groups of Florida, P.A. (M.D. Fla.)
On June 10, 2022, the Court entered a Consent Order in United States v. Advocate Law Groups of Florida, P.A. (M.D. Fla.). The Second Amended Complaint, originally filed on August 16, 2021, alleges that Advocate Law Groups of Florida, P.A., Jon B. Lindeman, Jr., Ephigenia K. Lindeman, Summit Development Solutions USA, LLC, and Haralampos “Bob” Kourouklis violated the Fair Housing Act by interfering with Hispanic homeowners’ exercise of their fair housing rights by targeting Hispanic homeowners for a predatory mortgage modification and foreclosure rescue scheme. As part of the scheme, defendants charged Hispanic homeowners thousands of dollars for their mortgage modification services, instructed Hispanic homeowners to stop paying their mortgages, and instructed them to stop communicating with their lenders. But defendants did little to provide the promised services, resulting in homeowners paying thousands of dollars in fees with no benefit, and, in many cases, resulting in foreclosures and the loss of homes. The original complaint was filed on October 29, 2018. The Consent Order permanently enjoins defendants from providing any mortgage relief assistance services, requires them to implement nondiscriminatory policies in all real estate-related businesses, and requires reporting and recordkeeping. The Consent Order requires defendants to pay $95,000 to three Plaintiff-Intervenors and enters a $4,500,000 judgment, which is suspended based on sworn financial statements showing inability to pay submitted by defendants to the Department. Defendants will be required to resubmit financial statements every six months, and, if any material misrepresentation or omission is found, the entire judgment will be reinstated. Defendants must also pay a $5,000 civil penalty to the United States.
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