Massive fraud involved with Ameritrust Mortgage

AmeriTrust Mortgage Corp. is seeking approximately $14.1 million (involving more than 90 Baltimore-area investment property loans) in a federal lawsuit alleging that investors, a mortgage broker, appraisers, title companies, and related entities participated in a sophisticated fraud scheme.

Court records show more than 90 loans originated through one broker using six borrower LLCs, one title agency, and two principal appraisers

Ameritrust, located in Flower Mound, Texas, alleges that properties were acquired at substantially lower prices and resold to connected entities at sharply higher values, supported by falsified appraisals and title reports that omitted recent transactions. AmeriTrust also says the loans defaulted within their first few payments, triggering repurchase demands from secondary-market investors.

The lawsuit was filed Sept. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Firstloans, Inc. started doing busines with Amerifirst back in March, 2024. According to the federal complaint, FirstLoans Inc. entered into a business-purpose broker agreement with AmeriTrust in March 2024. Apparently, the fraud started immediately with Firstloans submitting more than 90 application packages to LLC companies associated with Eluzer Gold.

Analysis of AmeriTrust’s court-filed exhibit found that the listed transactions involved six purchasing LLCs, all purchaser settlement statements were signed by Gold, and every transaction used REXTAR Title Services. Jason Taylor or Christopher Actie was identified on every appraisal.

Taylor, subsequently, was disciplined by Maryland regulators

in 2025, receiving a $1,000 civil penalty and 30 hours of remedial education for statutory and Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice violations.

The scam alleges an LLC would acquire a property for approximately $40,000 to $50,000. The property would then be sold to an affiliated purchasing entity for approximately $200,000, usually in a matter of months.

Every LLC associated with the scam had Shraga Chaim Lerner or Benjamin Eidlisz listed as investor.

The alleged fraud had the purchaser obtain financing from AmeriTrust at the higher price. 69 of the 91 listed transactions were financed at exactly 75% of the stated purchase price, while 18 were financed at exactly 80%.

AmeriTrust alleges some funds represented as down payments were returned to purchasers or affiliates via fraudulent invoices, improper settlement disbursements, and other vehicles. The lender says the purchasing entities represented that they contributed more than $4.7 million in combined down payments.

The complaint highlights three transactions in which AmeriTrust funded loans ranging from $172,000 to $174,000 based on values between $215,000 and $218,000.

After the loans defaulted, the lender says it discovered that the properties had previously sold for between $35,000 and $57,000.

AmeriTrust alleges the corresponding appraisals stated that the properties had not transferred or been listed for sale during the previous 36 months. It claims the appraisers either deliberately omitted the transactions or failed to conduct adequate research.

The appraisals were initially ordered by FirstLoans through an unidentified appraisal management company, prepared in FirstLoans’ name, and later transferred to AmeriTrust, according to the lawsuit.

AmeriTrust says it sold the loans to secondary-market investors shortly after funding them. When borrowers allegedly missed their first few payments, those investors issued repurchase demands under early-payment-default provisions.

The $14.076 million AmeriTrust seeks in compensatory damages equals the combined original principal listed in its exhibit. The figure therefore represents the lender’s damages claim, not a publicly documented net loss after recoveries.

The lawsuit provides more detail behind concerns that had already spread through the Non-QM market.

This latest scam is the latest in some worrying trends in the Baltimore-area market.

Other scams have included recent deed transfers, LLCs appearing on both sides of transactions, unexplained valuation increases, questionable leases, and title discrepancies.

This scam shows why fraud controls cannot stop with a review of each individual loan.

This fraud scheme details why it’s important to assess a pool of loans and look for inconsistencies, or consistencies, amongst the entire group. The fraud in one loan might have been difficult to spot, but 90 loans through six LLC’s and the same appraisal company should have brought up immediate red flags.

mortgage quality control. post-closing audits. pre-funding reviews. mortgage qc.