Consumer News And Recalls

I-Team: Alleged Home Swindler Preyed On His Family

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Last week WBZ talked to victims who say John Seigler and his associates took homes from people seeking help. Now we've learned the man behind the business even preyed on his own family.

"I would describe him as a man always on the move trying to convince people, trying to get money."

Those words from the woman who knows John Seigler best -- the woman who he was married to for 19 years. She doesn't want her face shown because she doesn't want to be connected to the man who was exposed in our I-Team investigation about swindling people's homes. "I would like to stop it. I don't like to see people getting hurt… I think it's rotten, if they're doing wrong, they need to stop."

Katie Skeens lost her Dorchester home. Skeens turned to Seigler and Marie Magny for help, but they took her home along the way.

Seigler is the director of Blue Hills Investors Group and the former head of Richfield Loan Finders -- both businesses were run out of a storefront in Mattapan. They say they'll pray for you and save you from losing your home.

"People trust people who believe in god, that's the way he convinces people."

Seigler's now estranged wife says he stole her identity, forced her to sign the papers and bought a Dorchester home using her name. Now the house is headed into foreclosure. "I did not want to buy the house," she said.

"He forced you to sign?" asked WBZ's Kathy Curran.

"Yes, you don't want to cross him."

Attorney General Martha Coakly can't comment on WBZ's investigation, but foreclosure rescue schemes are now banned in the state because so many people have fallen victim. "They turn to someone they know or think is going to work in their best interest and now they've lost everything. They have no deed, no equity in their property and no ability to recoup."

Seigler's now estranged wife says he doesn't have any license or any financial background. The only thing he has is a GED.

WBZ called the company on Tuesday and John Seigler is no longer on the voicemail. There's another man's voice speaking Seilger's exact words, that they're praying for you and your family and that they'll help people facing foreclosure.

The attorney general's office has investigated about 20 foreclosure rescue schemes since they were banned last June.

If you belive you've fallen victim to the foreclosure rescue scheme business, call the Attorney General's Consumer Hotline at (617)727-8400.

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