Foreclosure-Rescue Lawyer Disbarred & Charged for Allegedly Faking $1M Court Settlement
A South Florida lawyer reportedly has been disbarred and is now facing criminal forgery charges for allegedly lying to a mortgage-rescue client and falsely claiming to have obtained a dismissal of the foreclosure case against him and a $1 million settlement.
Frank Ingrassia, 51, who formerly worked with disgraced company Outreach Housing, is accused of forging the signatures of two Miami-Dade Circuit judges on fake court documents while falsely claiming victory in the bogus civil suit, the Miami Herald reports. The fake documents apparently were never filed.
He represented businessman William Klein, who retained the lawyer to file suit against his bank in an effort to hang onto his condominium in Aventura, Fla., after Ingrassia made the news in 2008 by suing banks first, contending that they had provided fraudulent mortgages.
Klein said Ingrassia even told him detailed bogus tales of dramatic courtroom hearings. Now, he tells the newspaper, Ingrassia “set me back to the point where I don’t know what my future is going to be. I have to litigate all over again.”
Ingrassia, who is a former assistant attorney general, declined to comment.
The prosecutor in Ingrassia’s case says there’s no evidence the lawyer mishandled anyone else’s case in this manner.
An earlier Miami Herald article provides additional details.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com (2008): “Fla. Law Firm Has Filed About 70 Fraud Suits Against Lenders”
