Quick Answer: California Attorney General records show Mitchell Stein faces state allegations of running a widespread mortgage fraud scheme through deceptive “mass joinder” lawsuits that bilked homeowners out of millions. The court issued a temporary restraining order freezing Stein’s personal assets and placing them under court-appointed receiver control.
The California Attorney General has responded to the suit filed by Mitchell Stein, Esq. that he filed against people as an extension of the California mass joinder raids, see an article on a similar suit here. This suit by Stein was filed in several states, including Florida, California, and New York.
The response by the California Attorney General’s office rebuts some of the allegations made. The response states:
Mitchell Stein, and his law firm were sued last month by the California Attorney General and a temporary restraining order was issued to “freeze personal assets held in Stein’s name and place them under the control of a court-appointed receiver.” The court granted the motion, “finding absent such relief, Stein was likely to continue violating the law and to dissipate ill-gotten gains that rightfully belonged to the victims.”
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The State of California action against Mitchell Stein alleged “involvement in a widespread mortgage-fraud scheme by which they used false and misleading representations and an illegal running-and-capping scheme to introduce homeowners into joining so-called “mass joinder” lawsuits against their mortgage lenders.”
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“The California Attorney General’s complaint alleges that the Mass-Joinder Defendants bilked homeowners out of millions of dollars by the use of deceptive mailers, brochures, and websites, and numerous false and misleading representations.”
One of the points I read from commenters often in respond to the California AG action and raids is that the AG is trying to stop legal actions against the banks. The AG response address this is when it says, “The California Attorney’s complaint expressly takes no position on the underlying merits of the mass-joinder lawsuits filed by Stein, but instead relates solely to the means by which Stein and other Mass Joinder Defendants marketed the suits.”
Apparently the reason Stein filed this action on the bankruptcy court in Florida is due to his ongoing bankruptcy case he filed March 13, 2009, just one day after he filed his first mass joinder lawsuit against Bank of America.
Stein’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy was confirmed on February 7, 2011 and allowed payments to creditors lasting eight years.
On August 19, 2011, two days after the California State Bar assumed jurisdiction over Stein’s law practice, Stein filed an adversary proceeding against the California Attorney General asking for “at least $10 million in damages for purportedly violating the automatic stay.” The action filing by Stein wanted to prevent the California Attorney General from its enforcement action.
Three days later Mitchel Stein filed another effort with the bankruptcy court in Florida to prevent the turnover of all property stein zed from Stein. On August 26, 2022 the Florida Court denied Stein’s motion after finding Stein had “no likelihood of success on the merits.”
At the hearing Stein “raised the issue of a Mercedes Benz AMG SL55 Roadster which Stein represented he owns pursuant to a compromise approved by the bankruptcy court. The Court then prevented the state court receiver from taking his Mercedes. – Source
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Mitchell J. Stein was ordered inactive to not eligible to practice law in California on January 1, 2012.
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