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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man already accused in an alleged home loan modification scam faces new federal charges for also allegedly running a telemarketing scheme.
Federal prosecutors charged Chad Andrew Gettel, 42, also known as Chad Warner, with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with call centers run out of Phoenix, Arizona, and other places.
Meantime, he is scheduled to attend a change of plea hearing Thursday in the multimillion dollar home loan case. A federal judge sent Gettel to jail in February for violating the terms of his pretrial release agreement.
Telemarketers offered fraudulent products, including "Amazon rooms and accompanying advertising," "government grants," and "business opportunities," according to charging documents filed in U.S. District Court.
Gettel and others used fake names to create businesses with false company records to open merchant accounts at various banks that maximized the credit card processing limit of the accounts, the charges says.
Related:
Utah group faces charges of defrauding thousands with home loan modifications
A group accused of preying on thousands of vulnerable homeowners caught up in the housing implosion of 2008 now face federal criminal charges. Prosecutors say the scheme involved more than 10,000 victims with losses of more than $33 million.They knew that the banks would eventually close the merchant accounts due to the large number of chargebacks and then they would disappear, leaving the banks with the losses, according to the charges. Once an account was closed, Gettel would shift processing to another merchant account they had created, the charges say.
In 2015, Gettel was among six people charged in a 40-count federal indictment alleging a home loan modification scam that prosecutors say involved more than 10,000 victims nationwide who suffered more than $33 million in losses.
Prosecutors allege the defendants targeted distressed homeowners trying to save their homes from foreclosure following the 2008 financial crisis.
The group created the false impression that its loan modification business was a law firm. But while homeowners waited for months to hear about the status of their loan modification, their bills went unpaid, according to prosecutors.
