In response to a poaching lawsuit filed two months by Home Mortgage Alliance Corp. (HMAC), wholesale lender OCMBC Inc. has denied the allegations while countersuing HMAC and its co-founder, Alfred Hanna, on behalf of an employee, Michael Turturro, and his corporation, Jet Alliance.
The OCMBC counterclaim brings eight counts, including defamation, breach of contract, fraud and unfair business practices. Alan Lindeke, counsel for HMAC, told HousingWire that the counterclaim is a “resort to a tried-and-true defense strategy attempting to deflect and distract from Turturro, OCMBC, Inc. dba Jet Advantage Mortgage, and Jet Alliance’s wrongful conduct with blatant misdirection.”
In late May, direct lender HMAC accused OCMBC of allegedly poaching Turturro and several key staffers while aiming to capitalize on its dba, Jet Mortgage, according to a lawsuit filed in California’s Orange County Superior Court. The document adds that Turturro joined HMAC in late 2022, becoming a “high-ranking employee” and divisional president for Jet Mortgage.
The HMAC lawsuit alleges that Turturro, restricted from using confidential company information for his benefit, directed $800,000 to a marketing agency to develop the Jet Mortgage brand. But in May 2024, he resigned from HMAC “without prior notice,” the complaint stated.
According to the OCMBC countersuit, Turturro left after discovering that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) barred Hanna in 2017 regarding “prior misconduct” related to his position as CEO of Affiliated Funding Corp., dba In-House Lender.
The counterclaim states that, despite the FHFA order, “Hanna co-founded HMAC in 2013,” a company that “engages in business relationships with regulated entities,” such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and warehouse lenders. Per the court documents, Hanna had a duty to disclose these prior actions to Turturro before recruiting him, which did not happen.
According to the counterclaim, Turturro created Jet Alliance in October 2022 before witnessing Hanna’s and HMAC’s allegedly unfair business practices. These include a failure to properly and timely compensate vendors and employees, who were allegedly required to deposit their own funds as a reserve for potential loan losses but never recovered this money.
Turturro also said that HMAC allegedly received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to pay employees but instead used the funds to remodel its business offices.
The OCMBC countersuit states that due to this conduct and Hanna’s restriction by the FHFA, Turturro decided to resign in April 2024, bringing clients and account executives with him to OCMBC.
OCMBC and Turturro claim that HMAC has engaged in a campaign to “publicly defame and slander the reputation of Turturro and Jet Alliance.” This campaign allegedly included sending an email to 20,000 recipients with a link to the poaching lawsuit. They also accuse HMAC of reaching out to current and former colleagues of Turturro, falsely telling them he had engaged in misconduct against borrowers and brokers.
In response, HMAC counsel Lindeke said that “this case is about the open and deliberate appropriation of Jet Mortgage’s name, likeness, employees, clientele, trade secrets, and intellectual property” and that plaintiffs “remain steadfast in their commitment and look forward to their day in Court to see Defendants pay for their egregious self-dealing and wrongful conduct.”
“Finally, HMAC dba Jet Mortgage is a licensed mortgage company in good standing in 47 states and the District of Columbia, is an approved direct seller/servicer to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and approved as a seller to FHA and VA,” Lindeke said.
OCMBC requests injunctive and declaratory relief, restitution and compensatory damages, among other things.
