Search warrants were served on five separate locations in California's Orange and San Bernardino counties in the follow up of complaints of an alleged multi-million dollar loan modification scam conducted by the Siringoringo Law Firm and Clausen & Cobb Management Company.
During early morning raids at the office of the law firm, law enforcement officials recovered 445 grams of marijuana packed and ready for sales - leading to further charges, this time drug related. Following the unexpected discovery of marijuana, lawyer Stephen Siringoringo and his wife Kendi Smith-Siringoringo were taken into police custody and booked for possession of marijuana for sales.
Earlier, in July, the California State Bar had ordered Siringoringo to stop practicing law after the State Bar Court found him accepting advance fees illegally to do mortgage modification work. At the time, the court findings observed Siringoringo "poses a substantial threat to clients or the public" because he has already worked for thousands of distressed homeowners.
However, his law license was subsequently reinstated by a California State Bar Court judge and he was listed on the California State Bar website as an active attorney facing disciplinary proceedings over loan modification misconduct. The Garden Grove-based law firm which also has offices in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Glendale has already obtained over 4,300 loan modifications, and sought clients mainly in Spanish speaking coastal and inland regions of California.
The state bar complaint lists declarations from at least 14 individual clients who claim Siringoringo had taken upfront mortgage fees of more than $3,500, and in some cases, such fees were as high as $8,490. According to California state laws, such fees cannot be collected until the mortgage modification is complete. San Bernardino County investigators have asked individuals who believe they have been victims of a loan modification scam by the firm to come forward and contact the real estate fraud division.
