Dive Summary:

• The inspector general's office of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund has brought charges against a Brentwood, Calif., man who they charge conned underwater homeowners by taking fees and mortgage payments from them after claiming he was able to cut their balances by 25%.
• Alan David Tikal, 44, told the people from whom he took money that they should ignore late notices and other communications from the lenders whose mortgages he said he was replacing with loans from his company.
• People lost $3.1 million between January 2010 and this year, prosecutors said.

From the article:

A California man accused of scamming hundreds of distressed borrowers out of $3.1 million in fees and mortgage payments is facing multiple federal charges. ...