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One of six defendants in an alleged home loan modification scam pleaded guilty Tuesday in a case that federal prosecutors say involved more than 10,000 victims in nearly every state who suffered losses of more than $33 million.
James Scott Creasey, 37, of Riverton, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and admitted that he was a willing participant in the operations of the CC Brown company. Members of the telemarketing team that Creasey led made false statements to potential customers to get their money and then failed in most cases to help those who signed up to obtain mortgage loan modifications.
Creasey faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball set sentencing for April 21.
"He had a small role at CC Brown for a short time and he's taking responsibility for that but he certainly wasn't the architect of it," Creasey's attorney, Loren Washburn, said Tuesday.
A federal grand jury handed up a 40-count indictment in March 2015 against Creasey and Chad Gettel of Salt Lake City, John McCall of Park City, Noemi Lozano of San Diego, Sheridan Black of South Jordan and Jeremiah Barrett of Bountiful.
Gettel and Lozano hired an attorney and used his name to set up CC Brown Law LLC in July 2009, making it appear that a law firm was offering the loan modifications, when in reality attorneys did little or no work for the company, according to the 30-page indictment. Gettel then bought lists of homeowners who were delinquent on their mortgages and hired other firms to market CC Brown's services to them.
Around January 2010, Gettel hired McCall, who was a licensed attorney in Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho but not Utah, and who controlled CC Brown along with Gettel, the indictment states.
They then formed an in-house telemarketing staff in Utah and hired Black, Barrett and Creasey, who eventually managed or supervised the operation — which, according to the indictment, continued to make false statements to potential clients.
Telemarketers told potential clients that CC Brown had a 90 percent success rate in obtaining loan modifications, that there was a money-back guarantee and that attorneys would provide the work necessary for a loan modification.
Those who agreed to hire CC Brown were billed about $4,000 and additional monthly fees, the charges state.
But there was little or no attorney involvement in any loan modification efforts and some customers received no services for their fees.