Koster
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced on Thursday that he has obtained a summary judgment against a real estate company and two of its operators for allegedly defrauding consumers.
Greenleaf and The Real Estate Company, as well as business operators Scott Dasal and Eric Gagnepain, allegedly defrauded consumers by selling them homes that were already owned by investors that they had solicited.
Under terms of the judgment, the defendants are permanently barred from engaging in any home sales or rentals in the state. They must also provide more than $308,000 in restitution to customers. Another $30,000 will be paid to the state.
According to the suit, the defendants would allegedly take out mortgages on homes without the consumers purchasing the homes knowing.
Koster says while consumers were led to think they were purchasing the homes from Greenleaf and were buying an ownership interest in the home, the money the consumers then paid to Greenleaf, which they were told was for the mortgage, was then allegedly used for the defendants' operating expenses.
Consumers learned the truth the hard way, when banks foreclosed on the loans, Koster says.
"The attorney general's office will pursue consumer fraud to the fullest extent of the law," Koster said.
A lawsuit against former Greenleaf Director of Finance William Strong is still pending.