Subpoena targets records on mortgage advertisers
John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News
Published December 19, 2006 at midnight
The Colorado attorney general's office has subpoenaed the Denver Newspaper Agency for information about mortgage companies and their owners who previously had advertised in the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post.
A year ago, Attorney General John Suthers said that as part of his crackdown on mortgage fraud, he would investigate companies that advertised super-low mortgage rates in the newspapers, saying the ads could be bait-and-switch ploys.
In the subpoena issued on Friday to the agency, which handles advertising and all other business operations for both papers, the attorney general asked for all the information the agency has on Leo Shifrin, Mark Shifrin and Jerry Johnson and companies with which they are affiliated.
The companies include Mortgage Planning and Lending Specialist Ltd., Jupiter Lending, Mile High Mortgage, CBA Inc., Consumer Mortgage Group Inc., Mortgage Processing Group Inc., Shifrin Inc., Wholesale Mortgage Lending LLC, Vision Title Agency of Colorado Inc. and VTA of Mile High, according to the subpoena.
The agency has until 9 a.m. on Jan. 2 to comply with the subpoena.
"We probably have 15 open investigations, including this one involving all of their associated companies," Jan Zavislan, deputy attorney general for consumer protection, said on Monday.
Because it is an ongoing investigation, he said he could not give many details.
But he said that under state law his office can only issue a subpoena if it believes it has evidence of violating the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits deceptive trade practices.
Newspaper agency spokesman Jim Nolan had no comment on the subpoena.
"We don't know what the attorney general's office is after," Nolan said.
Both Johnson and Leo Shifrin on Monday said they had done nothing wrong and already have supplied the attorney general's office with all their documents. Zavislan said it is "unclear" whether they have fully complied in turning over documents.
Johnson and Shifrin said they have been told that the attorney general's office is seeking information on all mortgage lenders who advertised in the papers.
"We quit advertising with The Denver Post quite some time ago," Johnson said.
Johnson said that because Colorado is only one of two states that doesn't license mortgage brokers, the attorney general's office has said "they are not going to put up with any shenanigans," including deceptive ads from lenders.
He and Shifrin said they support licensing brokers. Next year, for the first time, mortgage brokers will be regulated but will not be licensed.
"I think it is the attorney general's job and obligation to protect the public, and that is what they are doing," Shifrin said. "We don't even feel like they are investigating us, because they are asking for this information from all mortgage companies that advertised in the papers."
Johnson said they have a number of complaints against their companies with the Better Business Bureau but argued that's to be expected, given their size. He said they have resolved all their disputes except one with a woman in Louisville, who Johnson said has complained anonymously against them on an Internet site, www.ripoffreport.com.
"If you make 10 loans and you have five complaints, that's terrible," Johnson said. "But we were doing 2,000 to 3,000 loans a year, so you would expect more complaints. Comparing us to other mortgage companies is like comparing Sears with some mom-and-pop store."
rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207
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