The owners of a Phoenix-based real estate consulting company stand accused of posing as both Realtors and mortgage lenders, and defrauding a number of Hispanic families by convincing them that they were buying a house, when, in reality, they were only leasing the house.
According to the office of the attorney general for the state of Arizona, Mark Brnovich, Ruben Diaz and Rodrigo Diaz, the owners of ProSolutions, LLC, preyed on Spanish-speaking families who wanted to buy a home.
Brnovich’s office filed an Arizona Consumer Fraud and Civil Racketeering Lawsuit against ProSolutions and its owners, accusing them of acting as a home loan financing officer, thereby taking thousands of dollars in down payments from families who thought they purchased a home but later discovered they never owned the home.
According to Brnovich’s office, the Consumer Fraud Lawsuit alleges ProSolutions misrepresented the nature and terms of various home financing transactions for the company’s own financial gain.
“In several instances, ProSolutions allegedly mischaracterized lease agreements as purchase agreements and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of home payments from consumers before consumers learned that they did not hold the title to their homes,” Brnovich’s office said.
Brnovich’s office also stated that ProSolutions allegedly used a variety of other “deceptive practices” to take the title to the homes their clients were living in and forced their clients to lose thousands of dollars in down payments.
The complaint also alleges that ProSolutions mishandled deposits paid by consumers and failed or refused to refund deposits to consumers despite agreeing to do so.
According to Brnovich’s office, Ruben Diaz and Rodrigo Diaz are not licensed real estate agents or financial lenders in Arizona, despite representing themselves as such.
In addition to filing the lawsuit, Arizona is also asking a judge to issue a temporary order that would freeze the assets of both men, ban them from engaging in the business practices alleged in the complaint, stop collection and eviction actions against consumers, and require the production of business records.
“Arizonans trusted this business to help them turn their dream of homeownership into a reality,” Brnovich said. “Dozens of families lost their hard-earned savings and we want to help them get their money back.”
