Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has announced the arrests of Joseph Yorkus and James Bartczak for operating businesses designed to steal mortgage payments from local homeowners. Yorkus, who was out on bail from his February arrest for the operation of a similar swindle, and Bartczak, who is still in custody, were booked on new charges in connection with this attempted scam.

In February, Yorkus and Bartczak were arrested for allegedly setting up “Great Western Business Services” which is alleged to have been used to embezzle homeowners’ mortgage payments, by sending letters to the homeowners falsely stating that the homeowners’ loans had been transferred from Bank of America to Great Western. The letters instructed the homeowners to make their mortgage payments to Great Western rather than Bank of America who actually owned the loan. The scam resulted in numerous victims missing mortgage payments which could potentially result in foreclosure despite the fact that the homeowner had actually made their payments, albeit to the scammers instead of their true loan servicer.

The arrests were based on new allegations that in addition to fraudulently operating Great Western Business Services, Yorkus and Bartczak were also operating three other fraudulent companies, “BAC Collections,” “Fresh Start Consultants” and Learn Your Rights,” for the purpose of convincing homeowners to pay their mortgage through those businesses. Yorkus and Bartczak falsely represented that these companies would assist homeowners in obtaining credit repair and loan modifications, as well as principal reductions. Instead of obtaining the loan modifications, the homeowner’s payments were diverted by Yorkus and Bartczak for their own personal use. One of the alleged victims is a senior citizen who lost over $10,000 based on the fraudulent promises by the duo.

“This case is another example of the type of organized, systematic fraud that is rampant in the mortgage and foreclosure rescue businesses. My Mortgage Fraud Strike Force is dedicating all its resources to investigating and aggressively prosecuting these kinds of scams,” said Nevada AG Masto. 

For more information, visit http://ag.state.nv.us.