Consumer Protection

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that Larry Harmon, 48, of Granite Bay, was sentenced Tuesday to 16 months for a scheme to defraud the state Board of Equalization out of more than $4.5 million in fraudulent claims for tax returns on defaulted car loans.

The case was referred to the Attorney General’s Special Crimes Unit for investigation after an auditor with the California Board of Equalization (BOE) noticed the suspicious claims. Harmon had submitted thousands of fraudulent requests with BOE that, if successful, would have resulted in losses of more than $4.5 million.

“Defrauding state government is equivalent to stealing taxpayer dollars,” Attorney General Harris said. “I applaud the cooperation between my office and the Board of Equalization to stop this scheme before any losses occurred.”

“Those who cheat and defraud our tax system impose a selfish and unfair tax increase on their fellow Californians,” said Board of Equalization Member George Runner. “It’s only right that they be brought to justice.”

Harmon, who was sentenced Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court to 16 months in county jail, was arrested in January on 10 felony counts of false claims and forgery. Harmon formerly managed investments for several NBA players, including Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks and Ben Gordon of the Charlotte Bobcats.

As owner of Larry Harmon & Associates, Harmon represented financial institutions seeking sales tax refunds from the BOE. A lender is entitled to submit a refund request to BOE when an individual defaults on a car loan and the vehicle is repossessed.

DOJ agents determined that Harmon created fraudulent bank documents and loan papers, along with a shell company called Premier Capital Finance. He submitted these documents to BOE to request refunds for non-existent banks, including Premier Capital Finance. He also fabricated letters from his attorney attesting to the validity of his paperwork. 

At the time of the search warrant and arrest, DOJ and BOE agents discovered additional fraudulent documents that indicated he was in the process of creating two additional false claims, each for more than $5 million.  

The Board of Equalization and the Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation routinely combine resources to investigate fraud and tax schemes perpetrated against the State of California as part of a joint effort to combat underground economy crimes.

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced an agreement with Tesoro to preserve California jobs, help protect consumers from gas price spikes, and require environmental retrofitting of the state’s largest oil refinery.

“These commitments will protect jobs for potentially thousands of Californians, ensure that California’s oil and gas markets remain competitive for years to come, and lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases and emissions,” Attorney General Harris said.

Tesoro’s August, 2012 acquisition of BP’s Carson refinery was subject to detailed investigation by the California Attorney General’s Office and Federal Trade Commission.

In a letter to the Chair of the California Energy Commission, Attorney General Harris provides details of the agreement reached between the state and Tesoro, which include:

• A guarantee to preserve more than 1,000 jobs at the Wilmington refinery for the next two years.
• Joint monitoring by the Attorney General’s office and the California Energy Commission of gas pricing, volume and refinery capacity.
• Requirements that Tesoro implement safeguards against price spiking from refinery outages through increased capacity for production from other regional refineries.
• A commitment that Arco stations acquired by Tesoro will remain a low-cost fuel provider for California consumers.
• An environmental retrofit of both the Wilmington and Carson refineries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A copy of the letter is attached to the electronic version of this release at http://oag.ca.gov/news .

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed an enforcement action against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) alleging that the bank engaged in fraudulent and unlawful debt-collection practices against tens of thousands of Californians.

The suit alleges that Chase engaged in widespread, illegal robo-signing, among other unlawful practices, to commit debt-collection abuses against approximately 100,000 California credit card borrowers over at least a three-year period.

“Chase abused the judicial process and engaged in serious misconduct against California credit card borrowers,” Attorney General Harris said. “This enforcement action seeks to hold Chase accountable for systematically using illegal tactics to flood California’s courts with specious lawsuits against consumers. My office will demand a permanent halt to these practices and redress for borrowers who have been harmed.”

From January 2008 through April 2011, Chase filed thousands of debt collection lawsuits every month in the State of California. On one day alone, Chase filed 469 such lawsuits in California. The Attorney General’s complaint against Chase alleges that, to maintain this pace, Chase employed unlawful practices as shortcuts to obtain judgments against California consumers with speed and ease that could not have been possible if Chase had adhered to the minimum substantive and procedural protections required by law.

“At nearly every stage of the collection process, Defendants cut corners in the name of speed, cost savings, and their own convenience, providing only the thinnest veneer of legitimacy to their lawsuits,” the complaint states.

Chase used California’s judicial system as a mill to obtain default judgments, the suit alleges, using illegal tactics to flood the state’s court system in order to secure default judgments and garnish wages from Californians.

The alleged misconduct includes:

• Robo-signing: Chase illegally robo-signed various litigation filings, including sworn documents, declarations, and verified complaints, without reviewing the relevant files or bank records or even reading the documents before signing.

• “Sewer Service”: Chase failed to properly serve notice of debt collection lawsuits against consumers while claiming they had been served as required by law. This practice, known as “sewer service,” deprives the consumer of any notice of the lawsuit.

• Filing Irregularities: Chase haphazardly assembled its official legal filings. For example, Chase failed to redact consumers’ personal information in attachments to filings, potentially exposing them to identity theft and in violation of California law. In addition, when asking courts to enter default judgments against consumers, Chase consistently swore under penalty of perjury that the consumers were not on active military duty. In fact, Chase never checked.  This deprived servicemembers of important legal protections to which they are entitled while on active duty.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and a copy of the complaint is attached to the online version of this release at http://oag.ca.gov.

Consumers who believe they have been victims of this misconduct may submit a complaint online at http://oag.ca.gov/consumers.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced California’s National Mortgage Settlement Grant Program has awarded $9.4 million to 21 organizations in order to assist Californians affected by the state’s foreclosure crisis.

“The foreclosure crisis has inflicted wide-ranging and deep harm to California homeowners and communities,” said Attorney General Harris. “These grants will give homeowners and families the financial and legal tools they need to recover.”

The grants will benefit many of the state’s neediest homeowners and families by providing or expanding access to free legal assistance and representation, foreclosure intervention aid, homeowner education and financial literacy clinics, blight remediation services, fraud prevention education and employment support services.

Many of the organizations receiving grants focus on underserved and disproportionately impacted populations, including agricultural workers, communities of color, the disabled, the elderly, immigrant communities, Native Americans, rural homeowners, veterans and active-duty military. Services will be offered in more than a dozen languages, including American Sign Language, Armenian, Cantonese, Farsi, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Grant recipients will begin to implement their programs immediately.

In March, Attorney General Harris announced an additional $1 million California Homeowner Bill of Rights implementation grant to the National Housing Law Project. All grant funds were secured by Attorney General Harris in 2012 through the National Mortgage Settlement.

In March 2012, Attorney General Harris appointed Professor Katherine Porter of the University of California, Irvine School of Law as the California monitor of the commitment by the nation’s five largest banks to perform as much as $18 billion worth of homeowner and borrower benefits in the state.

“In working with homeowners up-and-down California, I have seen the invaluable work being done by community-based organizations like these,” said Professor Katherine Porter.  “Families working to get back on their feet will benefit greatly from the programs funded by these grants.”

Professor Porter has attended dozens of events in the state and has organized forums on best practices for helping struggling homeowners. Upcoming forums will take place in Irvine on Friday, April 19 and in Fresno on Friday, May 3.

The California State Bar has partnered with the Attorney General’s office to administer the grants and monitor compliance. Grant recipients will be required to provide financial and program reports to both offices.

Distribution of funds was overseen by an expert panel that reviewed proposals and provided recommendations to Attorney General Harris.  Information about the expert panel and grant application process is available at: http://oag.ca.gov/grants. 

Attached to the online version of this release are descriptions of the grant recipients’ programs, as well as contact information for homeowners and a map showing counties served by the grant recipients. All supplemental information can be found at: http://oag.ca.gov/news

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today praised the passage of a bill she is sponsoring to upgrade and expand California’s prescription drug monitoring program as an important step in combating a serious public health and law enforcement issue. The bill passed out of the Senate Business and Professions Committee on a 7 to 2 vote.

The Department of Justice’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) program and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) allow authorized prescribers and pharmacists to quickly review controlled substance information and patient prescription history in an effort to identify and deter drug abuse and diversion.

“This legislation will modernize and strengthen the program and provide doctors and law enforcement with a powerful tool to fight prescription drug abuse,” Attorney General Harris said. “CURES is about making government smarter and more efficient. Senate Bill 809 will help save lives.”

Senate Bill 809 by Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) will require all prescribers and dispensers to enroll in and use the system.

“SB 809 allows us to not only save, but strengthen, the CURES program,” said Senator DeSaulnier. “This must be a top priority for California. The technology exists for us to make a real difference in the prescription drug epidemic, and too many lives have been lost for us not to take action. The price to pay is small when there are thousands of lives on the line.”

“Criminal street gangs use the sale of prescription drugs to fund their operations in the United States,” said Chief Dan Drummond of the West Sacramento Police Department. “CURES is a multi-faceted tool that can be used for intervention, prevention, education and ultimately enforcement.”

Attorney General Harris has worked hard to save the CURES program, which had its funding slashed to almost nothing when the Department of Justice took a $71 million budget cut two years ago. She formed a working group with interested parties to push for an improved prescription drug monitoring system.

SB 809 includes a small increase in the provider license fee of 1.16 percent to pay for the annual cost to operate the program and a one-time assessment on health care plans for the upgrade, which will modernize and improve the information gathering and sharing.

In addition, an annual fee on narcotic drug manufacturers who do business in California will pay for two State of California Regional Investigative Prescription Teams. These teams will increase investigation into incidents of prescription drug abuse, pursue organized crime and provide oversight and auditing of prescription pad printers.

Current funding sources are insufficient to operate and maintain CURES.  If another source of funding is not identified, the program will be eliminated on July 1, 2013.

Video of the press conference can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV33itjsrxE

SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced a $1 million California Homeowner Bill of Rights implementation grant to The National Housing Law Project.

“Californians were hit hard by the mortgage crisis and many people are still struggling to stay in their homes,” Attorney General Harris said. “The California Homeowner Bill of Rights gives borrowers more opportunities to stay in their homes, and this grant will help make sure the law is applied across the state and that everyone gets the protection they are entitled to.”

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR) is a set of landmark laws that extend key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers. The laws, which took effect at the beginning of this year, restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents and require loan servicers to document their right to foreclose.

This grant will maximize consumer benefits from the HBOR, while minimizing abuses of the law by providing training to California consumer and housing attorneys from both private and non-profit firms.

The National Housing Law Project will partner with Western Center on Law and Poverty, National Consumer Law Center and Tenants Together to implement this grant.

The National Housing Law Project and its partners will use the grant to:

• Provide high-quality, on-site trainings and webinars to consumer and housing attorneys on how to maximize the HBOR’s protections.
• Train more than 800 lawyers.
• Provide support in cases that raise important legal issues or have potential for broad impact.
• Create a library of litigation materials to help attorneys maximize the HBOR’s benefits.
• Produce a report that analyzes the HBOR’s statewide impact and identifies compliance problems.

Funds provided through this grant were secured by Attorney General Harris through the $18 billion National Mortgage Settlement.

Established in 1968, The National Housing Law Project seeks to advance housing justice by advocating for affordable housing, litigating to uphold homeowners’ and tenants’ rights and offering technical assistance to legal aid attorneys who work with low-income families.

The State Bar has partnered with the Attorney General’s Office to administer the grant and monitor compliance. The National Housing Law Project will provide quarterly financial and program reports to the State Bar and the Attorney General’s Office.

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced a settlement with Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. that will require court-enforceable improvements of staffing levels and quality of care at the chain's 20 facilities. The nursing homes are comprised of 2,360 beds throughout California, most of which are in the Los Angeles region.

The agreement empowers Attorney General Harris to appoint an independent monitor who will ensure compliance with California's staffing laws and conduct an ongoing evaluation of quality of care and staffing sufficiency at all of Skilled's 20 facilities.

"This is a case about neglect and abuse of California's elders by a facility that was supposed to protect and care for them," said Attorney General Harris. "This agreement ensures that the elderly occupying Skilled's 2,360 beds will receive better and higher quality care. At a time when California's elderly population is growing twice as fast as the general population, family and friends should have peace of mind that their loved ones are being well cared for when they are in a nursing home setting."

The independent monitor will make regular reports to the Attorney General and conduct surprise inspections of Skilled's nursing homes for two years. The cost of the monitor, estimated to be $350,000 a year, will be paid for by Skilled.

The Attorney General's enforcement action stems from 76 citations and 209 deficiencies issued by the California Department of Public Health to Skilled's nursing facilities from 2008 to 2012. Specifically, the citations and deficiencies were issued because of Skilled's failure to prevent pressure ulcers, dehydration, malnutrition, over-medication and medication errors, deficient catheter care, urinary incontinence, and naso-gastric feeding care practices.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Justice Department's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (BMFEA).  Attorney General Harris has created specialized BMFEA teams in Sacramento and Los Angeles composed of legal and nursing professionals to combat abuse, neglect and poor quality of care in California's nursing homes.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Harris charged a Sacramento-area residential care provider with manslaughter for negligence that directly led to a patient's death. In January, Attorney General Harris announced a three-year state prison sentence for a nurse who pled no contest to "convenience drugging."

Skilled and its subsidiaries operate nursing homes in Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and Santa Barbara counties. A complete list of the facilities and the settlement document is attached to the online version of this press release.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed a lawsuit against one of the nation's major credit rating companies for inflating its ratings of structured finance investments, which caused California's public pension funds and other investors to lose billions of dollars.

The complaint, filed today in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC violated the False Claims Act and other state laws by using a ratings process based on what senior executives described as "magic numbers" and "guesses."

"For years, S&P placed its priority on maintaining its market share, instead of the investors who trusted in its supposedly objective ratings," said Attorney General Harris. "When the housing bubble burst, S&P's house of cards collapsed and California paid the price—in billions. S&P must be held accountable for its conduct that contributed to one of our country's worst financial crises."

Investors relied on S&P and its competitors to rate these securities because they had access to only general descriptions of the assets backing their investments, which often included mortgages. California's public pension funds also relied on S&P because they are often required to buy securities that received a coveted "AAA" rating, signaling that the investment was top-tier and bore minimal risk.

The complaint alleges that, from 2004 to 2007, S&P systematically misrepresented to the public, and to CalPERS and CalSTRS, that its ratings of structured finance securities were based on an independent, objective and reliable analysis, and not influenced by S&P's economic interests.

In doing so, S&P lowered its standards for rating securities to gain market share and increase profits, and violated the False Claims Act by making false statements about the nature and risk of investments. The complaint also describes the company's efforts to suppress the development of new and more accurate ratings models.

In mid-2007, the housing bubble burst. After securities that S&P had deemed the least risky began defaulting, S&P downgraded many residential mortgage backed securities investments. The market collapsed, and of those securities issued in 2007, more than 90 percent were downgraded to junk status.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and the California State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) – two of the nation's largest institutional investors – lost approximately $1 billion.

Attorney General Harris today joined the U.S. Department of Justice and 12 other states and the District of Columbia in announcing lawsuits in Washington, D.C. The other lawsuits allege violations of the federal Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act and state unfair competition laws.

However, California's suit is unique because it is being filed not only under California's unfair competition laws but also under the state's False Claims Act. This suit includes a claim for triple damages – because when the state makes a purchase based on a false statement, the defendant is responsible for the amount lost times three.

The lawsuit arises from a 20-month investigation into the issuance and rating of mortgage-backed securities by Attorney General Harris's California Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, which she formed in May 2011 to comprehensively investigate misconduct in the mortgage industry. The Attorney General's additional efforts to investigate the mortgage crisis include securing an estimated $18 billion for California in the National Mortgage Settlement and sponsoring the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, a package of laws instituting permanent mortgage-related reforms.

The complaint is attached to the online version of this press release at http://oag.ca.gov/.

SANTA ROSA -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of three suspects who have been charged in a mortgage fraud scheme targeting struggling Northern California homeowners. Six websites allegedly used by the suspects to advertise their scheme have been intercepted and redirected to a resource page on the California Attorney General’s website.

The felony complaint alleges that Ronald Vernon Cupp, 58, of Santa Rosa, deceived homeowners by falsely advertising a way to “kill” their mortgage debt on six websites including www.wekillyourmortgage.com. Cupp was assisted by Randall Gilbert Heyden, 69, of San Rafael, and Angelle Wertz, 38, of Santa Rosa, a public notary who allegedly certified phony legal documents. Cupp allegedly recorded fraudulent documents, which would only delay a foreclosure, not actually satisfy the preexisting mortgage debt.

“Vulnerable California homeowners thought they were working to save their homes but were actually the victims of a fraudulent scheme,” Attorney General Harris said. "Today, it's not enough to dismantle the brick-and-mortar aspect of a criminal operation; we need to shut down criminal operations in cyberspace as well." 

Cupp, Heyden and Wertz are charged in a 57-count complaint alleging theft, forgery, notary fraud and recording of false documents. They were booked at the Sonoma County Jail on Wednesday, January 23. Cupp and Heyden are being held with bail set at $500,000 and $75,000 respectively. Wertz was released but ordered to appear for arraignment on Friday, January 25.

Through Cupp’s business, North Bay Trust Services, homeowners would often allegedly pay upfront fees of between $1,000 and $10,000 and sign a promissory note or new mortgage for a phony offer to eliminate their mortgage debt. Requiring up-front fees is illegal in California. The suspects would then allegedly record fraudulent documentation purporting to be the attorney for the homeowner’s actual lender and then relinquish the mortgage and record a new deed of trust in favor of North Bay Trust Services. The debt to the original lender was never actually satisfied.

The following six websites have had their service suspended pursuant to a court order at the request of the Attorney General Harris’s eCrime Unit:

http://www.northbaytrustservices.com/

http://wekillyourmortgage.com/

http://santarosatrustandtitle.com/

http://sonomafidelitytitle.com/

http://cortemaderafidelityandtitle.com/

http://marintrustandtitle.com/

These pages have been redirected to the California Attorney General’s website (http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/doj-investigation) where individuals are able to file an online complaint form if they believe they may have been the victim of the scheme.

The arrests were a result of a joint investigation by the California Department of Justice Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, Marin County District Attorney’s office, Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and Santa Rosa Police Department.

Below are tips for homeowners on how to avoid mortgage fraud schemes:

• Never pay an up-front fee for mortgage-related services. It is against California law and should be reported to the California Department of Justice.
• Be skeptical of third party phone or online solicitations.
• Do not give your personal financial information, such as your bank account number, social security number or the name of your loan servicer, to a solicitor. Your bank or loan servicer already has this information.

For free, trustworthy advice, on mortgage related matters call a HUD approved counselor – (888) 995-4673.

The arrest warrant is attached to the online version of this press release at http://oag.ca.gov/.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued recommendations for mobile application (app) developers and the mobile industry to safeguard consumer privacy. Today’s report provides guidance on developing strong privacy practices, translating these practices into mobile-friendly policies, and coordinating with mobile industry actors to promote comprehensive transparency.

“Californians want to know what personal information their apps collect, how it is used and with whom it is shared,” said Attorney General Harris. “To meet this need and keep pace with rapidly changing technology, these recommendations strike a responsible balance between protecting consumers’ personal information and fostering the continued growth of the innovative app economy.”

Today’s report, Privacy on the Go: Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem, is the result of an outreach effort that compiled input from stakeholders throughout the mobile industry. Its purpose is to serve as a template for the mobile industry to develop mobile-friendly privacy policies and practices that will improve consumer privacy without stifling innovation.  To accommodate the smaller screens of mobile devices, the report recommends the use of special notifications such as icons, or pop-up notifications to inform consumers about how personally identifiable information is being collected and shared.

The issue of mobile privacy is increasingly pressing as more than half of American adult cell phone owners access the Internet from their phones, and more than 1,600 mobile apps are released every day.

To protect consumers’ online privacy, Attorney General Harris forged an agreement among the seven leading mobile and social app platforms in 2012. The agreement – with Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Research in Motion – involved displaying app privacy policies that users could find in a consistent location in the platform store and review before downloading an app. 

In October 2012, the Attorney General sent letters to approximately 100 mobile app developers and companies that were not in compliance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act and gave 30 days to post a conspicuous privacy policy. In December, the Attorney General filed the first legal action against Delta Airlines, Inc. for violating California’s online privacy law, which requires apps that collect personally identifiable information to conspicuously post a privacy policy.

Last year, Attorney General Harris also established the Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit to enforce federal and state privacy laws regulating the collection, retention, disclosure, and destruction of private or sensitive information by individuals, organizations, and the government. This includes California’s Online Privacy Protection Act, as well as laws relating to cyber privacy, health and financial privacy, identity theft, government records and data breaches.

A copy of the report is available here: http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/privacy/privacy_on_the_go.pdf

To learn more about the Attorney General’s privacy work, visit http://oag.ca.gov/cybersafety.