Tuesday, April 28, 1998 | 9:50 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Craig Meyer says Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa is off base in her civil suit that charges his company misled up to 20,000 low-income prospective home buyers who paid a $500 fee for help in 21 states.
"When the attorney general hears our side, I am sure she will find everything legal and proper," Meyer said Monday, referring to the lawsuit by Del Papa that accuses the National Affordable Housing Coalition of Reno with deceptive advertising and trade practices.
The company, Meyer said, has been challenged in other states and has survived.
"As it stands, the National Affordable Housing Coalition promised the American dream, but delivered the American nightmare," Del Papa said.
The Reno-based company, owned by Craig and his wife, Linda, was started in October 1996.
Since then, the lawsuit says, the coalition solicited the public in at least 21 states through infomercials and radio ads to pay $10 to attend seminars to learn how persons with poor credit and low incomes could buy a home.
Those attending the seminars were given a sales pitch to pay $500 to join a home buyer's network, where instructions would be given on how to buy a home regardless of qualifications.
The Del Papa lawsuit said the workshops consisted of misrepresentations about availability of funding, availability of pre-selected properties for purchase, credit counseling, free home warranties and government housing programs.
"The attorney general's Bureau of Consumer Protection believes that some 15,000 to 20,000 memberships have been sold at $500 each. Of those, no more than 900 members are reported to have purchased homes and most of those did so without the help of the National Affordable Housing Coalition," she said.
The Better Business Bureau in Reno has received more than 300 complaints from across the country from people who claim they have been unable to obtain either the promised service or the promised refund.
Meyer disputed the allegation and said his company made 30,000 refunds last week and it has returned $1.3 million in the last nine months.
The lawsuit seeks to put the coalition out of business. It also wants the company to give up its profits and make restitution to consumers. It also seeks to impose a fine of $2,500 against each defendant for each deceptive act.
Others named in the lawsuit are Chief Financial Officer Scott Krieger, also of Reno; and Brian Wilkes, Rick Brown, David Shamey, Mark Gonzalves and Gus Fernandez, all of whom live outside Nevada.
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