Kasowitz Secures Appellate Reversal to Protect Elderly Pro Bono Clients in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

On January 16, 2025, Kasowitz Benson Torres, as co-counsel with The Legal Aid Society, secured a significant appellate victory in the New York Appellate Division, First Department, on behalf of two elderly victims of a mortgage fraud scheme who were at risk of losing their childhood home to foreclosure.
 
Following oral argument on January 2, 2025, the appellate court unanimously reversed a Bronx County Supreme Court decision that had granted summary judgment and a judgment of foreclosure to the lender before any discovery, despite the victims’ defenses of fraud and usury.  In a detailed per curiam opinion, the court adopted all of Kasowitz’s arguments, finding “questions of fact as to whether plaintiff used the corporate form to conceal a usurious loan” and raising concerns that the loan structure was “designed to dress a consumer transaction as a commercial one.”  The case has been remanded for discovery to allow these issues to be fully examined.

The Kasowitz team handling this pro bono matter includes partners David J. Abrams, Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, Fria R. Kermani, and associates Joshua Marks (who argued the appeal) and Paula Ajumobi.