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Jan. 3, 2008 at 8:10am Eastern by Barry Schwartz
Traffic Power's CEO Jailed Over Alleged Foreclosure Scams
SEO Company CEO Arrested, Jailed: Accused of Foreclosure Scam from Search Engine Watch reports Traffic Power's CEO, Matt Marlon, was jailed for allegedly committing foreclosure fraud. The news comes from Las Vegas's News 3 station, which reports Matt Marlon was arrested for allegedly conning homeowners faced with foreclosure to give the company their homes.
Traffic Power is a popular name in the search engine marketing industry. Traffic Power sued Aaron Wall of SEO Book for defamation, but the SEM community stood behind Aaron to help the case get dismissed. In fact, the case brought out a landmark Google change, where Google supported Aaron by confirming a penalty was issued on Traffic Power and their clients - this was the first time Google publicly confirmed they penalized a site.
Carolyn Ellsworth with the Secretary of State's Office explained:
He would locate victims by doing a search of the public records on the Recorder's Office (website) for notice of default that are recorded then contact the victims saying he was interested in purchasing your home.
Once he located his victims, Marlon would convince those homeowners that he would help them recover from foreclosure. Ellsworth said, "He'd give them documents saying he'd take care of everything. Take care of the payment, take care of paying off the mortgage and I'll pay you some cash too. He'd have them sign a contract of sale." He would then put renters in the house, who thought they were leasing to eventually own the homes. He even was accused of not paying his taxes.
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By Barry Schwartz
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