Victims strike back at shady lenders

The companies promised foreclosure protection only to wind up taking the homes themselves.

By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 13, 2007

Correction: Christopher Tomasulo consulted for Safe Harbour Foundation but was not involved in forming that company or a related firm called Silverstone Lending, as was alleged in a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 12.

TAMPA - Calvin Lewendowski, a 55-year-old Sarasota house remodeler, turned to the Safe Harbour Foundation last year after he was promised the nonprofit would save his home from foreclosure.

Instead, Lewendowski found himself in the jaws of a loan shark. Safe Harbour referred Lewendowski to a second company, Silverstone Lending, which used illegal fees and usurious interest to take away the home, an action Lewendowski called cold-blooded.

On Friday, Lewendowski and other victims struck back, filing a $40-million federal lawsuit against 18 individuals and companies, including Safe Harbour, Silverstone Lending and Peter C. Porcelli, a Clearwater businessman who operated the lending business despite being banned by a federal judge in 2004 from offering such credit products to consumers.

The lawsuit, filed in Tampa by attorney Michael A. Wasylik, tracks a St. Petersburg Times investigation of the questionable loan operation published in May.

The suit accuses Porcelli and his associates of engaging in racketeering by making false promises through the mail in order to obtain borrowers' homes through fraud. The suit alleges that Porcelli and others arranged bailout loans with usurious rates as high as 500 percent, violated truth-in-lending laws and charged illegal brokerage or servicing fees.

The plaintiffs seek millions in actual and punitive damages, an injunction declaring usurious loan deals unenforceable and an order restoring ownership of homes to the original owners.

Also named as defendants are Bonnie Harris and Christopher Tomasulo, who formed Safe Harbour and Silverstone with Porcelli, and Thomas C. Little, an attorney who served as registered agent for the two companies and represented Porcelli when he was handed the lifetime federal prohibition against offering loans or other credit products.

Porcelli, his attorney Lee Atkinson and the other defendants could not be reached for comment Friday.

Porcelli, 55, made a name for himself as a direct mail and telemarketing tycoon who owned the Tampa Bay Smokers, a fast-pitch softball team he took to two world championships.

He turned to mortgage lending after the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on his boiler room telemarketing, finding it took $200 apiece from thousands of victims and left them with little more than dummy credit cards backed with phony magnetic strips.

Porcelli was indicted on conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud charges this year in connection with the credit card telemarketing. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to cooperate with an ongoing government investigation. At a sentencing set for Oct. 29, Porcelli faces a prison term of 121/2 to 191/2 years.

The FTC has collected only $50,000 of a $12.4-million judgement lodged against Porcelli and his telemarketing companies in 2004, so collecting damages in the new federal suit may be a long shot. But some plaintiffs hope for something more basic.

"It was a shoddy thing, a terrible thing to do to somebody," Lewendowski said. "I don't want to ruin (Porcelli) or his family. I just want my house back."

[Last modified November 12, 2007, 13:00:36]