Lawyer accused of scamming homeowners skips court appearance

A North Carolina attorney facing felony charges for her alleged role in scamming poor homeowners failed to appear at a hearing related to her criminal case scheduled last week.

Ilesanmi “Ile” Adaramola is accused of finding properties facing foreclosure and forcing them into auction by falsifying documents, among other things, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Adaramola and notary Lisa Roberts-Allen, allegedly used a Jim Crow-era law that permitted one owner of a jointly held property to force a sale, with bidders purchasing the property at significantly less than market value. The buyer would then sell the property at a profit.

Adaramola was charged with six counts of notary fraud, while Roberts-Allen was charged with nine counts of notary fraud and 32 counts of felony forgery. One of Roberts-Allen’s alleged victims is her own uncle, the outlet reported.

James Mills, Adaramola’s former lawyer, told the court he did not represent Adaramola, nor did he know where she was. Mills said in court that Adaramola told him that another lawyer — Steve Lindsay — was representing her, though Lindsay later said that was not true.

Lindsay, when reached by the Asheville Citizen-Times, said he was looking forward to being hired by Adaramola as her lawyer, but it had not yet been finalized.

Failing to appear in court can be a crime, but the judge did not order Adaramola’s arrest. Her hearing was instead rescheduled, the Citizen-Times reported.

Attorneys can sometimes find themselves in hot water concerning real estate matters.

Last January, disbarred attorney Sanford Solny was indicted by the Brookly district attorney for the third time in six years for allegedly defrauding homeowners to the tune of $2.3 million. Solny was charged with possession of stolen property, grand larceny and scheme to defraud.

— Ted Glanzer