Costa Mesa woman sentenced to 6 years for mortgage modification scam

A Costa Mesa woman was sentenced this week to nearly six years in federal prison for running a mortgage modification scheme to defraud homeowners facing foreclosure.

Najia Jalan, 31, was ordered to serve 70 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and to pay $236,785 in restitution.

Prosecutors said Jalan, who is not licensed to practice law, impersonated attorneys and used company names such as National Legal Help Center, United Mortgage Protection Center, OC NonProfit, American Consumer Law Center and US Litigation Firm to manipulate customers into paying thousands of dollars in fees for fake services.

“Najia Jalan masqueraded that she was part of Treasury, that she was an attorney and that she was a consumer advocate, convincing homeowners to pay her as the first step in getting their mortgage modified under HAMP [the Home Affordable Modification Program],” Christy Goldsmith Romero, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said in a statement. “She made up fake corporations, stole people’s names and even set up a fake … hotline to lure in desperate homeowners.”

According to investigators, Jalan, who used several aliases, including Poh Yee Neo, Korina Taylor and Sarah Adams, sent one man a letter purporting to notify him that his mortgage lender was under investigation for possible fraud. In another case, a Florida woman paid Jalan more than $50,000 in legal fees to avoid foreclosure after her divorce but ended up losing her home anyway, authorities said.

Two special agents with the U.S. Treasury Department arrested Jalan last year at Los Angeles International Airport after she boarded a flight headed to Afghanistan. Charges included mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Jalan, who has previous convictions for burglary, theft, possession of narcotics, obtaining money under false pretenses and felony possession of a controlled substance, pleaded guilty in July to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.