The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has reached settlements with two Valley “foreclosure help” firms it filed complaints against this year as part of the national “Operation Loan Lies” crackdown on mortgage fraud.
Richard Winer, principal of the firm Taken Care of Investments, has agreed to pay fines totaling $691,000, half of which goes to consumers who lost money to the firm, according to a Maricopa Superior Court consent judgment.
Glendale-based Hope for Homeowners Now and its principals, Matthew Castaneda and Michael Winding, have been ordered to pay almost $580,000 in fines, according to a default judgment filed in Superior Court. In