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Predatory Law / Housing Crisis / Consumer Fraud

How Lanier Law Turned a Housing Crisis into Unethical Profits

When your home is on the line and a law firm promises to save it, you pay. That’s exactly what Michael W. Lanier counted on.

Source: FTC v. Lanier Law LLC — Final Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment — Filed August 12, 2016

While millions of American families were losing their homes in the foreclosure crisis, Michael W. Lanier was collecting fees from them under fake law firm names, promising legal help that the federal government says never came.

The Shell Game: One Lawyer, Six Fake Doors

The operation the FTC dismantled was built for confusion. Lanier Law LLC operated simultaneously under the names Redstone Law Group, Law Offices of Michael W. Lanier, Vanguard Law Group, and Fortress Law Group. Distressed homeowners calling any one of these names were calling the same machine.

In addition to the Florida entities, the scheme reached into Washington D.C. with Fortress Law Group PC, Surety Law Group LLP, and Redstone Law Group LLC registered as separate corporate entities. This cross-state corporate maze was not an accident; it created legal distance between the money and the men taking it.

Rogelio Robles, also known as Roger Robles, served as an owner, officer, manager, and representative across multiple entities. Edward William Rennick III held the same roles. The FTC’s case identifies a coordinated structure where individual defendants directed, controlled, and profited from the deceptive practices carried out by the web of firms.

Confirmed The court found all defendants jointly and severally liable for $13,586,713 ($13.5 million — roughly the cost of building and staffing a full elementary school for an underserved community, or paying a full year’s rent for over 360 families) in unjust enrichment. Every dollar of that is money the defendants took from people who were already in financial crisis.

The Non-Financial Ledger: What Money Cannot Repay

The housing crisis was already the cruelest economic event most Americans had experienced since the Great Depression. Families who had done everything right, made every payment, showed up every day, found themselves underwater on mortgages they could no longer afford after lenders and banks imploded the system around them. These were not deadbeats. These were people who built lives inside four walls and were now being told those walls might disappear.

Into that terror, Michael W. Lanier and his network of firms inserted themselves. They offered something the legal system made sound powerful: attorney representation. The word “law” in a firm’s name carries enormous weight to someone who has never needed a lawyer before. It sounds official. It sounds safe. It sounds like the kind of help that might actually work. The FTC’s findings confirm that Lanier’s operation exploited precisely that trust, misrepresenting that consumers would receive legal representation when the court record indicates they received a service that the FTC characterized as deceptive and unfair.

The Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule exists for exactly this reason. Congress and regulators recognized that desperate homeowners are uniquely vulnerable to promises of foreclosure rescue. The MARS Rule prohibits collecting advance fees for mortgage assistance services and mandates specific disclosures to consumers. The FTC found that Lanier’s operation violated this rule. That means people in the middle of one of the worst moments of their lives paid money upfront, before receiving a single outcome, to a firm that regulators say lied to them about what they were buying.

The defendants also violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule, meaning they cold-called people, including people on the National Do Not Call Registry, to pitch these services. Think about what that looks like in practice: a homeowner behind on their mortgage, possibly fielding calls from their actual lender, picks up the phone and hears what sounds like a law firm offering to help. The psychological pressure in that moment is immense. These were not passive victims who wandered into a bad deal. They were targeted, by phone, when they were most afraid.

The Assets Tell the Story Nobody Filed

The court’s seizure order reveals what became of the money extracted from struggling homeowners. At the time the FTC sought asset recovery, Michael W. Lanier personally held nine real estate properties across Florida and Georgia. Nine. A man who told people he would help them keep one home had accumulated a portfolio of them while his clients’ homes were at risk.

The asset list reads like a prosperity map drawn on someone else’s suffering. Two properties on Dean Road in Jacksonville. A property in Richmond Hill, Georgia. A condo in downtown Jacksonville. A home in Atlantic Beach. A home in the Kensington Lakes development. In addition to the real estate, the order seized a 2013 Dodge Charger, a 2003 Lincoln Navigator, a 1986 Thunderbird Formula 242 boat, and a 2007 Suzuki M109R motorcycle. The boat and the luxury cars were purchased with money sourced, at least in part, from people who could not keep up with their mortgage payments.

Rogelio Robles held his own real estate portfolio: a home in St. Augustine, Florida, and a 50% ownership interest in property in Darlington, Maryland. His financial statement also listed his ownership interest in Fortress Legal Services, valued at $1,088,000 ($1.08 million, roughly what it costs to send 14 students through four years of a public university). That valuation represents what the firm was worth on paper, built on the fees collected from homeowners the FTC says were deceived.

• 2711 Dean Road, Jacksonville FL
• 2709 Dean Road, Jacksonville FL
• 2741 Sack Dr. E, Jacksonville FL
• 7809 Catawba Dr., Jacksonville FL
• 7831 Miruelo Cir E, Jacksonville FL
• 311 W Ashley St. Unit 1708, Jacksonville FL
• 41 Golden Way, Richmond Hill GA
• 1768 Park Terrace West, Atlantic Beach FL
• 12311 Kensington Lakes Dr. #2906, Jacksonville FL
• 883 Garrison Dr., St. Augustine FL (Robles)
• 3707 Berkeley Road, Darlington MD (Robles, 50%)

Legal Receipts: The Court Said It Out Loud

“The Court finds that Defendants participated in deceptive and unfair acts or practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule, in connection with the marketing and sale of mortgage assistance relief services.”

Final Order for Permanent Injunction — Finding No. 2, August 12, 2016

“Judgment for equitable monetary relief is entered in favor of the Commission against Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $13,586,713, which is the amount of unjust enrichment caused by Defendants’ conduct.”

Final Order — Section IV: Monetary Judgment, August 12, 2016

“IT IS ORDERED that Defendants are permanently restrained and enjoined from advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, or selling, or Assisting Others in the advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, or selling, of any Secured or Unsecured Debt Relief Product or Service.”

Final Order — Section I: Ban on Secured and Unsecured Debt Relief Products and Services, August 12, 2016

“Defendants are permanently restrained and enjoined from misrepresenting, or Assisting Others in misrepresenting, expressly or by implication: that a consumer will receive legal representation… the nature, expertise, position, or job title of any Person who provides any product, service, plan, or program… [or] any material aspect of the nature or terms of any refund, cancellation, exchange, or repurchase policy, including the likelihood of a consumer obtaining a full or partial refund.”

Final Order — Section II: Prohibition Against Misrepresentations Relating to Financial Products and Services, August 12, 2016

“Defendant Robles’s ownership interest in Fortress Legal Services, described as worth $1,088,000, identified in Defendant Rogelio Robles’s financial statement dated June 23, 2015.”

Final Order — Appendix A: Assets for Defendant Rogelio Robles, August 12, 2016

Societal Impact Mapping: The Damage Runs Deeper Than the Settlement

Economic Inequality: The System Was Already Broken. They Made It Worse.

The homeowners targeted by this operation were overwhelmingly people already on the economic margin. The foreclosure crisis hit Black, Latino, and lower-income communities hardest and first. Predatory lending had steered these communities into subprime loans they could not sustain, and when the economy collapsed, these were the households scrambling for any lifeline. Lanier’s operation did not target Wall Street. It targeted Jacksonville.

The court found that $13,586,713 ($13.5 million, which could cover emergency rental assistance for over 1,500 families for an entire year) was the amount of “unjust enrichment” extracted from consumers. That language is important. Unjust enrichment means those funds came directly out of consumers’ pockets and into the defendants’ bank accounts and asset portfolios. Every dollar in that number is a dollar that did not go toward a mortgage payment, a car repair, a medical bill, or groceries for a family in crisis.

The defendants’ asset seizure order illustrates the wealth transfer with stark clarity. Multiple investment properties, luxury vehicles, a boat, and a motorcycle were acquired while the firm was, according to the FTC, deceiving people into paying for services they did not receive. The wealth gap between the defendants and their clients was not incidental; it was the product of the scheme itself. Rogelio Robles’s ownership interest in Fortress Legal Services was valued at $1,088,000 ($1.08 million, or roughly 22 years of rent payments at the national median) on paper. That valuation was built, in part, on fees extracted through deception.

The six-entity corporate structure used by the defendants is itself a feature of economic inequality. Building a web of shell firms across multiple states requires legal knowledge, startup capital, and the kind of institutional access that most working-class Americans do not have. That structural advantage allowed the defendants to conduct the scheme, collect fees, and complicate accountability, while their clients had almost no ability to verify which entity actually held their money or who was responsible for results.

Public Health: The Stress of Losing Your Home Is a Medical Emergency

The source document does not include clinical health data, but the established research on housing instability and its effects on physical and mental health is directly relevant to understanding what this operation caused. Housing instability and foreclosure are consistently linked in public health research to elevated rates of depression, anxiety, hypertension, and childhood developmental disruption. When a family pays thousands of dollars to a firm they believe will save their home, and then loses the home anyway, the psychological damage compounds.

The FTC’s case specifically describes a service designed to prevent foreclosure. These were people in acute crisis seeking acute relief. The deception alleged by the FTC, including misrepresentations about legal representation, about refund policies, and about the qualifications of the people providing the service, denied consumers accurate information at the exact moment when accurate information could have meant the difference between finding legitimate help or losing their home and their money simultaneously.

The Cost of a Life: By the Numbers

What Now? Here’s Who to Watch and What to Do

The Named Individuals

• Michael W. Lanier — Named individually. Permanently banned from selling debt relief or mortgage assistance services. Subject to 20-year compliance reporting requirements.
• Rogelio (Roger) Robles — Named individually. Same permanent bans apply. Personal assets, including real estate and business interests, were seized and liquidated.
• Edward William Rennick III — Settled separately. His entities (Surety Law Group LLP, Redstone Law Group LLC) entered a Stipulated Order for $8,000,000 ($8 million, enough to provide emergency rental assistance to over 1,000 families for one year).

Regulatory Watchlist

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — Brought this case. Enforces the MARS Rule and Telemarketing Sales Rule. Report mortgage relief scams at ftc.gov/complaint.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — Enforces Regulation O (the recodified MARS Rule). File complaints at consumerfinance.gov.
• State Attorneys General — Florida and D.C. attorneys general have jurisdiction over entities registered in their states. Complaints can be filed directly with your state AG’s office.
• State Bar Associations — If an attorney or a firm operating under a law firm name deceives you, file a bar complaint. Lanier’s scheme operated under the legitimizing cover of the word “law.”

If You Are Facing Foreclosure Right Now

Do not pay anyone upfront to modify your mortgage. Full stop. The MARS Rule exists because this scheme is common. HUD-approved housing counselors provide free, legitimate assistance. Find them at hud.gov/findacounselor. Your state’s legal aid organization can provide free attorney representation without the fees, the deception, or the boat.

Connect with local tenant and homeowner unions. These grassroots organizations have fought foreclosure mills and predatory servicers in the streets and in court for decades. They have resources, networks, and collective power that no single family fighting alone can match. The system that created this crisis has not changed. The only thing that changes outcomes is organized people demanding accountability together.