One of the first attorneys under investigation by the State Bar of California for inducing struggling homeowners to pay for fraudulent loan modification services pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal charges that he lent his former law license to others as part of the $12 million scheme.
Ronald Rodis, who operated Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group in Newport Beach, Calif., was arrested the day before he entered his plea. Two other nonlawyers at his former firm, Bryan D’Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris, were arrested on Tuesday and have pleaded not guilty. Federal prosecutors charged each of the three with 10 felony counts associated with collecting $12 million in retainer fees from more than 1,800 homeowners in 2008 and 2009, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
