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Federal RICO Complaint Filed against Landis Properties Seeks Relief for Aspiring Homeowners

Oct 18, 2024

Attorneys at Langer Grogan and Diver, representing aspiring homeowners victimized by a fraudulent rent-to-own scheme, have filed a class action suit against Landis Technologies, its principals Thomas Petit and Cyril Berdugo, and its investors including the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and subsidiaries of the private equity firm KKR & Co, alleging violations of federal racketeering laws.

Landis Technologies and its co-conspirators operate a rent-to-own scheme they call a “Pathway to Homeownership.” These businesses targets aspiring homeowners who aren’t mortgage-qualified, falsely promising to help make them mortgage eligible while they rent the home.  In reality, these businesses are banking on their customers’ likely failure to succeed in purchasing the home. The victims are cycled through the homes that Landis supposedly purchases for them, while paying extravagant and excessive fees that are lost when they discover the “Pathway to Homeownership” is actually a false promise.

According to Irv Ackelsberg, lead attorney on the case, “Landis’s business model is just the latest iteration of illegal rent-to-own schemes that subprime operators and grifters have been using for decades, but now backed by ‘fintech’ and Wall Street. We hope with this case to hold these businesses accountable and obtain justice for their victims.”

If you were victimized by Landis, please reach out to LGD here.

LGD attorneys, John J. Grogan, Irv Ackelsberg, Mary Catherine Roper and David Nagdeman, represent plaintiffs. 

Bankston v. Landis Technologies, Inc., et. al., No. 24cv5546 (ED Pa).

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