New York AG files complaint against Miami law firm

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accused a Miami law firm and its Brooklyn affiliate with running a fraudulent mortgage rescue scheme.

The lawsuit names Miami-based Litvin, Torrens & Associates, Brooklyn-based Litvin Law Firm and attorney Gennady Litvin, according to the South Florida Business Journal. Litvin has denied all the allegations.

“We are deeply troubled, as most attorneys should be, by the overreach represented by these lawsuits,” Litvin said. “Lawyers are already subject to regulation by bar counsel, the threat of malpractice suits, and judges. Now some attorneys general want to apply laws written to govern non-lawyers providing quasi legal services to lawyers, e.g. rules regulating the ability of attorneys to charge up-front fees for legal services.”

Litvin’s law firms, which are not allowed to represent consumers outside of New York and Florida, sold consumers across the county a comprehensive legal services plan that would supposedly allow them to avoid foreclosure or modify their mortgage for $595 to $750 per month.

But according to the complaint, many consumers were not given the legal representation they were promised, especially since the law firm was not allowed to represent customers outside New York and Florida.  [South Florida Business Journal] – Christopher Cameron