Florida Attorney General widens foreclosure firm probe

The Florida Attorney General's office broadened its probe into sloppy or fraudulent documentation at foreclosure law firms. The office opened a preliminary investigation of three more firms, including two in Tampa.

Tampa firms Daniel C. Consuegra and Albertelli Law, as well as Plantation-based Kahane & Associates, received letters of inquiry in early December from the Economic Crimes Division of the attorney general's office.

The letters say the office has received complaints of "unfair, deceptive and unconscionable practices" by the firms.

The companies have 45 days to provide documentation, including consumer complaints received in a two-year period beginning in April 2008 and correspondence regarding remedies taken to assure proper methods are being followed in filing foreclosures. The firms have not yet responded.

None of the firms were immediately available for comment.

The Attorney General's Office is already formally investigating four foreclosure firms after it received similar complaints. Those include the Plantation-based Law Offices of David J. Stern, Florida Default Law Group in Tampa, Shapiro & Fishman, which has offices in Boca Raton and Tampa and Marshall C. Watson in Fort Lauderdale.

The attorney general's office has called those four firms "foreclosure mills" and said they submitted "fabricated" or "misleading" documents in an effort to get foreclosure cases through the court system.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pulled all foreclosure work from the Stern firm late last year. That action followed the attorney general's release of employee depositions detailing allegations of unethical behavior.

The mortgage giants added other companies to its attorney network in Florida to cover cases Stern's office was handling. One of those was the Consuegra firm, which was added to the list in November.

Gerald Richman, a lawyer representing Shapiro & Fishman, said he's pleased the attorney general isn't only focusing on his client, but "I don't think the office should be focusing on law firms at all."

Shapiro challenged an attorney general subpoena last summer and won. The Palm Beach County judge said the office had no power to investigate law firms and that firms fall under the Florida Bar instead. The 4th District Court of Appeal is expected to hear arguments in the case later this month.

However, a Broward County judge upheld the subpoena in the Stern case.

Richman said he thinks the attorney general is sending the inquiry letter instead of subpoenas because "they may be concerned about their subpoena power."