According to criminal court records, Mr. Connelly was involved with others in a mortgage fraud conspiracy that spanned from February through November 2007. During that time period, Mr. Connelly owned and operated a law firm called Connelly & Associates, P.C. Acting through that business, Mr. Connelly assisted representatives from Walkwood Properties, Inc. in closing a number of housing transactions under Walkwood Properties’ real estate purchase program. This program offered various homeowners an opportunity to sell their home to someone associated with Walkwood Properties in an attempt to save the home from foreclosure.
As Mr. Connelly has admitted, however, the real estate purchase program was executed without full disclosure of how each transaction worked and a significant portion of the equity in the victim’s homes was skimmed to Walkwood Properties and other entities. In executing the scheme, Mr. Connelly assisted representatives from Walkwood Properties in making a number of false representations in connection with the transactions to allow the loans to go through. In connection with his guilty plea, Mr. Connelly agreed that if the true nature of the transactions had been revealed to the mortgage lenders, the loans would not have been approved.
Overall, Mr. Connelly agreed to his involvement in six different mortgage transactions resulting in a total loss of $376,464. He was sentenced to twenty-four months in prison.
Foreclosure rescue scams are a huge potential problem for vulnerable homeowners in distress. If a homeowner thinks that he/she has been a victim of foreclosure fraud, contact:
- Federal Trade Commission
- Your state Attorney General
- Your local Better Business Bureau
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