Under the pressure of ongoing investigations by the Florida Department of Banking & Finance and federal housing authorities for improper lending practices, GreatStone Mortgage has given up its Florida mortgage license, according to a recent story in the St. Petersburg Times (Times). The Department of Banking and Finance has notified other states of its Florida license revocation.
GreatStone reportedly sold more than a $1 billion in mortgages — many subprime — across the U.S last year.
Former employees of GreatStone met with the Times and made allegations that include the following:
- Creation of ‘dummy bank accounts’ for ‘fake loans’
- Predatory lending practices
- Sexual Harassment
- Solicitation for prostitution of employee
One of the managers accused of sexual harassment is actually among the former employees criticizing the company.
The company was reportedly started in 1994 by Corey Brower and Steven Cohn in New York. The Times indicated that they moved to Florida in 1996, sold mobile homes through a company they owned called Dream Maker, started Foundation Funding shortly afterward and eventually renamed it GreatStone Mortgage.
The Times said that multimillion-dollar suits have been filed by Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Bear Stearns Mortgage Capital Corp. and Washington Mutual, alleging that GreatStone has defaulted on about $40 million in loans advanced to write mortgages. HUD is reportedly investigating the company for what it calls “predatory” lending practices, citing a mortgage default rate nearly twice the national average.
The Times reported the following recent activity by a key GreatStone executive:
- Brian Stulman, brother-in- law of GreatStone’s CEO, incorporated B.A. Temple Mortgage Corp. in Tampa.
- Stulman incorporated a second company, E.J. Benchmark Leasing Services Inc., at the same address.
The phone number listed on the company’s website is disconnected, and the company did not respond to an email inquiry by MortgageDaily.com.
