The Legal Aid Society is calling on Wilmington Trust Bank to immediately end eviction proceedings against their client, Johnnie Jackson, and return the deed to his family home, as reported by THE CITY.

Mr. Jackson purchased his home – which has been owned by his family since 1956 – from his parents in 1994 and has lived there nearly his whole life with his brother. In 2010, he thought he was taking out a loan that he planned to use for home repairs and to pay off minor credit card debt, but he inadvertently fell into a mortgage and deed theft scheme that was later found by the U.S. Department of Justice to have defrauded more than 1,000 distressed homeowners. He subsequently lost the deed to his family home to Wilmington Bank Trust.

“Our client fell victim to a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that stripped him of his most significant asset, his family home, and now he is being victimized all over again by Wilmington Trust Bank,” said Jennifer Levy, an attorney with the Foreclosure Prevention and Homeowner Preservation Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

“The man who scammed Mr. Jackson was found guilty in 2016 and admitted to frauding thousands of homeowners, yet the deed to our client’s home was never returned,” she continued. “This is a grave injustice, and the Wilmington Trust Bank must restore the deed back into Mr. Jackson’s name.”

Deed theft is rampant throughout New York City, disproportionately impacting communities of color, while compounding the local housing crisis. Since 2014, there have been more than 3,350 complaints of deed theft across the City. Legal Aid’s Foreclosure Prevention Unit assists homeowners in the Bronx and Queens who are struggling to maintain homeownership or who are facing foreclosure. Over the last five years, the team has served over 1,300 clients, achieving positive outcomes for many households.