A former lawyer in Long Beach has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his roles in a mortgage modification scheme which posed as a successful law firm.

Ronald Rodis, 52, lent his name and voice to advertisements touting the services of the Rodis Law Group, which offered loan modification services for a flat fee in the wake of the mortgage crisis. Federal prosecutors charged him and two other men—Bryan D'Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris—of conspiring to defraud struggling homeowners by misrepresenting Rodis Law Group's ability to negotiate the terms of home loans. Rodis pleaded guilty in June 2016 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

As part of his plea, Rodis admitted that between October 2008 and June 2009, he participated in a scheme to convince homeowners to pay between $3,500 and $5,500 for the firm's services. In radio advertisements he recorded, Rodis claimed the firm had “a team of experienced attorneys” who were “highly skilled in negotiating lower interest rates and even lowering your principal balance.” Prosecutors, however, maintain that the firm was a boiler-room telemarketing operation, Rodis was the firm's only attorney, and it rarely achieved the lofty results promised. According to California State Bar records, Rodis voluntarily surrendered his law license in 2009.