Brooklyn lawyer federally charged with misconduct
An attorney with a debt relief and settlement company serving financially disadvantaged individuals has been charged with federal mail and wire fraud.
Attorney Michael Levitis, with an office on East 12th Street in Brooklyn, is the principal of Mission, a for-profit company with offices on Coney Island Avenue. Mission marketed and sold debt relief services to financially strapped persons via phone calls, mailings, and other solicitations. The federal government asserts that Mission and Levitis “committed deceptive and unfair practices causing substantial financial injury to consumers.”
The defendants allegedly violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule by requesting or receiving fees from debt-relief clients before actually negotiating or otherwise reducing the clients’ debts. In October 2010, the federal government instituted the rule that prohibits companies that sell debt relief services over the telephone from charging fees before settling or reducing a customer’s unsecured debt.