County Judge Candidate Once Accused Of Practicing Without Bar License
BY BUDDY NEVINS
A Broward County Court candidate was accused of practicing law without a license when she was in the scandal-stained loan modification business a decade ago.
One of three candidates running for the open County Court Group 9, Leonore Greller was a target of a news release from a company that formed in 2009 to expose loan modification fraud.
Leonore Greller
The loan modification industry emerged during the recession when many homeowners found themselves in financial trouble. Loan modification companies promised to lower the mortgage payments on homes that were suddenly worth a fraction of what they cost.
But some firms, operated by shady characters, were committing outright fraud. Using boiler room tactics, scammers collected advance fees from frantic homeowners promising to obtain loan modifications which were never provided.
Greller, who was in the heart of the industry, was never charged with wrongdoing. She was never accused by authorities of involvement in fraud.
What exactly she did in the industry is in question.
Greller’s campaign resume states she was the “Director of Loss Mitigation” for Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House of Plantation in 2008-2009. She “personally negotiated the modification of more than nine hundred mortgages…,” the resume says.
A news release from a firm that exposed mortgage mitigation scams had a different spin. The release alleged Greller’s negotiations for the Plantation firm was practicing law without a license.
Steve Dibert of MFI-Mod Squad alleged the Plantation firm was using Greller as an attorney, although she had not yet become a member of the Florida Bar and thus was ineligible to practice law in the state. The firm was “offering the legal services of an attorney (Greller) who is not a member of The Florida Bar,” stated the release.
There was more:
The Plantation firm where Greller worked, now defunct, was “operating as an unlicensed modification company and using boiler room-style tactics to solicit homeowners in other states,” according to Dibert’s news release.
Ouch.
Statements like that are not advantageous to a judicial candidate.
Greller did not directly answer an email to her campaign website concerning her practice of law and her background.
She did state that she left the mortgage modification business on December 8, 2011 having “surrendered” her license after The Florida Legislature passed tougher regulations governing the industry.
Greller passed the Florida Bar in 2010 and is now primarily a mediator. She also practiced law in New York since 1985.
Her opponents in the Group 9 County Court race are civil trial attorney Corey Amanda Cawthon and Tanner Demmery, of the Broward Public Defender’s Office
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MFI-Mod Squad Exposes Illegal Loan Modification Company
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (BUSINESSWIRE) Steve Dibert, founder of has exposed another shady loan modification company that’s ripping off consumers across America. The company, Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House, is located in South Florida.
“But these companies are still running rampant. I think he needs to step it up a few notches and become a modern-day Eliot Ness.”
One month ago, MFI-Mod Squad started receiving complaints about Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House via MFI-Mod Squad.com.
“Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House fits the pattern of all the other shady modification companies I’ve investigated,” says Steve Dibert, President of MFI-Mod Squad. “They’re operating as an unlicensed modification company and using boiler room-style tactics to solicit homeowners in other states. I’ve received complaints about them from people in Kansas, Michigan and Massachusetts. It’s companies like this that give the Sunshine State a black eye.”
MFI-Mod Squad discovered several shocking things:
- Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House is operating in direct violation of FS 501.1377, which requires all foreclosure rescue and loan modification companies who collect an upfront fee to be licensed.
- The company is offering the legal services of an attorney who is not a member of the Florida Bar.
Jacques Beckerman, a self-proclaimed principal of Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House, confirms these facts with the following comments he made on the mortgage website, BrokerOutpost.com:
“Now, most people would ask, why would I give you money when I can do it myself? The answer we give our clients is, our attorney, Leonore Greller – who works in the office 10-12 hours a day and has been acting as a reputable mitigation attorney for the last TWENTY FOUR YEARS – knows people high up the executive chain and has the legal know how on how to deal with and negotiate with the mortgage lenders. It’s that simple. They pay us for our knowledge and advice. NOT for a modification.” This information has been saved and is available for media inspection.
Mr. Beckerman’s comments about offering free loan modifications contradict email messages that Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House sent to a potential client in New England:
“This e-mail will confirm the following one time Fee of 2700.00…This fee will not exceed at any time during or after your modification. Nor, will the Attorney of this Company charge anything extra or come up with any additional charges as well… Please overnight Bank Check for 60% ($1620.00) of the required amount. The remainder must be paid within the time frame as we agreed.
Joseph DiMarzo
Senior Modification Specialist
Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House, Inc.”
This business model is very similar to Lincoln Lending, which was shut down by the state of Florida several weeks ago.
“I commend the efforts of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum to shut down these companies,” says Steve Dibert. “But these companies are still running rampant. I think he needs to step it up a few notches and become a modern-day Eliot Ness.”
About MFI-Mod Squad
Headquartered in Boynton Beach, Florida, MFI-Mod Squad, LLC is the only privately-funded loan modification investigation firm in the United States that offers its services for free. The goal of MFI-Mod Squad is to expose illegally-run loan modification companies and the people who run them.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:39 am
She should have no problem fitting in down at the court house if elected. LOL
February 15th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
It is attempted smears such as these that stop well qualified, earnest, hardworking, professionals from seeking public office. I have been a New York Attorney for 33 years. I have never had a complaint against me. I was vetted by the Florida Bar for NINE months before I was admitted to the Florida Bar. BrowardBeat implies that I was practicing law without a license in Florida. First, I was a licensed mortgage broker and Mr. Nevin knows it because I sent him the email copied below that I had sent to the Office of Financial Regulation, when they asked me for my information.
I was in the heart of the loan modification industry. And everyday I helped people modify their mortgages, all over the United States. But I was not practicing law and I would not practice law in the State of Florida without a law license. Indeed, having been in Florida since 2007, I decided I missed practicing law, and took the Florida Bar. I wasn’t accused by authorities of practicing law without a license or involved in fraud because both are patently, absolutely, without any doubt, false.
Let me very clear. In addition to me having a mortgage license, Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House had power of attorney to negotiate on behalf of each of the homeowners. We did everything to help the homeowner. It is clear to me that this is a politically motivated smear using far less than full and accurate and appropriate information. A full examination of the facts with Mr. Nevins and any other interested parties should produce an entirely different view from that which has been digitally disseminated.
My homeowners received modifications if they were qualified! And every 30-60 days I made certain their files were updated. Every file in my office represented the house of a family who needed a modification. A family who had been one set of tires or a leaky pipe from not being able to pay their mortgage. And when the Florida Fraud Task Force knocked on Mortgage Mitigation’s doors and asked to see every contract and conferenced with me and the principals, the Florida Fraud Task Force was satisfied that the Company was operating within the appropriate guidelines.
The Browardbeat said the following, “Greller did not directly answer an email to her campaign website concerning her practice of law and her background. . . She did state that she left the mortgage modification business on December 8, 2011 having “surrendered” her license after The Florida Legislature passed tougher regulations governing the industry.”
First, the proper thing to do when you do not want to continue holding a mortgage brokerage license that will cost $1,200 a year and additional continuing education credits, is to surrender it. It is not the word I use. I would use the word, “Lapse.” But the word Office of Financial Regulation uses is the word “surrender.” And I did not surrender my mortgage license because of “tougher regulations governing the industry.” I had passed the Florida Bar, had been vetted for nine months, and had no reason to require a mortgage brokerage license.
With regard to my response to the inquiry, I answered in an email to Mr. Nevin, who was the person who asked, as follows:
Thank you for taking the time to carefully review my “condensed” Resume posted on the GrellerforJudge.com website. On my earlier full CVs, before I had surrendered the licenses on 12/8/11, I had included the following:
Florida/National 2009-2012 Mortgage Brokerage Business License (NMLS # 330139)
Florida/National 2007-2012 Mortgage Broker/NMLS Loan Originator (Individual # LO641)
Please note that the Florida License (#180660) was transmuted into the National NMLS license, and I had to take and pass the National License test as well. The Florida Mortgage Broker Business license was originally MBB100000630, issued on 9/1/2009.
I am also attaching an email that I sent to the Office of Financial Services, the regulating agency, regarding its 2010 inquiry, very similar to yours. In 2009 the Florida Legislature, in response to abuses and President Obama’s mortgage modification programs and agreements with the banks, modified Chapter 494 of the Florida Statutes (the Florida Mortgage Brokerage and Lending Act) and the modification was signed by then Governor Crist on June 29, 2009. Essentially, individuals and companies could no longer provide modification loan services without an active Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Broker Business, or Mortgage Lender License. I received an inquiry letter and responded. No further action was taken.
Please feel free to ask additional questions.
I will not be held responsible for the words or actions of anyone other than myself. I am a relentless protector of rights. Anyone who has had the good fortune to encounter my relentlessness knows that it is true. The question will be, do you trust an article that appeared on the Internet in 2009, written by Steve Dibert, a person I encourage you to Google, or do you review my record and determine for yourself that I have been unjustly, politically smeared. Your determination will decide whether or not to vote for me.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:43 pm
Crooks are supposed to run for the County Commission. The bench is for alcoholics and pill poppers.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:57 pm
correction *principles= Principals
I also encourage you to go to grellerforjudge.com and view the Resume page
February 15th, 2018 at 4:21 pm
Ms. Greller
I decided to look you up and decide for myself about your candidacy. I am completely befuddled about your resume.
https://www.grellerforjudge.com/resume.html
You do not even list that you currently work for a law firm or are a sole practitioner. You claim in your resume that you are an experienced trial attorney but you have nothing listed to back up this claim either here or on in New York.
Your resume seems to have a lot of adjectives but not a lot of actual documented work experience. Many gaps in time between when you were an professor in the 1990s and you worked in the mortgage industry between 2008-2012
February 15th, 2018 at 5:55 pm
Leonore,
That’s not how Beckerman promoted and advertised the company or you. He advertised you as being in-house Florida counsel as he played on the fears of desperate homeowners so he could pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I also still have all my research material on Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House. As luck would have it, I still have the names and phone numbers of the people who called me alleging Beckerman ripped them off.
Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House came under investigation by several state AGs over their activities in 2009. Former Florida AG Bill McCollum was about to shut down Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House the same year due to my blogging about it and receiving hundreds of complaints. The Federal Trade Commission was also watching them. However, Beckerman high tailed it out of Florida and went back to Long Island before McCollum could shut him down.
Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House was also one of the reasons the FTC cracked down on loan modification companies by enacting the MARS rule.
I encourage people to read those negative comments about me that are written by people using fake identities, fake phone numbers and fake emails. Fake, why? because they are written by people like Jacques Beckerman and other scam artists who I have busted scamming people. They want to hide in the shadows of the internet and do exactly what you are attempting to do.
Unlike your friend Jacques, I’m still in business. So that tells you how credible those fake comments are. The only people use them against me are people with shady pasts or scam artists. So go ahead keep throwing punches at me. We’ll see what happens next!
February 16th, 2018 at 7:14 pm
I stand by what I said. I was no longer at the Company by July 31, 2009. I took the Florida Bar and was not at Mortgage Mitifstion when it closed. Beckerman left shortly after your article. I have no idea who these hundreds of people are or were. I certainly did my job and am proud of the job I did. Beckerman had no right to say what he said and I was not a principal nor did I profit by commission. And he was certainly not my friend.
I am not hiding in the shadows. I’m here. I don’t need to hide because I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m bound by the Judicial Code of Conduct. You are not.
and
February 16th, 2018 at 7:30 pm
I have no further comment
February 17th, 2018 at 8:25 am
There is a zero point zero percent chance I will be voting for her. No way.
February 18th, 2018 at 7:37 am
Correction* mitifstion=scam
February 19th, 2018 at 11:46 am
If she was NEVER charged and NO COMPLAINTS were FILED with The Florida Bar for practicing without a license we are left WITH ‘Allegations’ BY A PRIVATE PERSON. I’ve seen this before statements THEN NOTHING OR INVESTIGATIONS THAT LEAD TO NOTHING BUT THR PUBLIC NEVER HEARS THETE WAS NOTHING THERE.
February 20th, 2018 at 1:37 am
As Amos and Andy used to say, you may have been the broker, but I was the brokee.
February 27th, 2018 at 10:41 am
If she was investigated for 9 months by the Florida Bar before being admitted that means there was some sort of issue for them to look into. Most lawyers pass the character and fitness portion much much quicker.
February 28th, 2018 at 1:56 pm
I hear a fundraiser for Greller that was to be hosted by some local attorneys at Morton’s tonight was cancelled at the last minute.