A Hartford couple claims a Wethersfield business took advantage of them, and it may cost them their home.
Monserrate Torres and Heddy Arcos-Torres are in danger of losing their house to foreclosure. They left a Hartford courtroom Monday pointing the finger at Deowraj "Deo" Buddhu, who they say is responsible for their dilemma.
"I have no words to describe this person," Heddy Arcos-Torres said through an interpreter. "He seems like a nice person, but at the end he was different."
The Torreses said they always made their house payments on time, but when a skyrocketing home improvement loan for new windows caught up to them financially, they made contact with Buddhu. According to court documents, the Torreses said Buddhu told them about a little-known government fund that can help people pay off debt.
"They promised to us that by signing these papers you don't have to pay your house anymore, you don't have to pay your bills anymore, your car, everything's gonna be yours," Monserrate Torres said.
The Torreses said they paid Buddhu more than $20,000, a percentage of their total debt, for a promissory note from the U.S. Treasury.
The note is bogus, according to the Torres' attorney, Manny Suarez.
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"My clients have been victimized by this fraudulent act on behalf of Mr. Buddhu," Suarez said.
The couple claims they were told to stop paying their bills and that Buddhu would take care of everything. However, their lender foreclosed on their house.
"My clients have informed me that they are only simply one or two of over two hundred individuals who have been victimized," Suarez said.
Arcos-Torres said she wants to warn others.
Buddhu did not tell his customers is that he served prison time for forgery, larceny and selling fake documents to illegal immigrants, according to Suarez. Buddhu and his daughter, Sunita, who is alleged to have notarized the papers her father prepared, were permanently barred from filing tax returns for others in 2008. The duo filed fraudulent returns for their customers, which cost millions of dollars in tax harm to the Internal Revenue Service, according to federal officials.
NBC Connecticut was unable to reach Deo or Sunita Buddhu for comment. Wethersfield police would not comment on whether or not they have an active investigation against the father and daughter.
In court Monday, the Torreses asked a judge to drop the foreclosure case against them. Senator Richard Blumenthal's office has offered to help the foreclosure victims work with the banks in any way possible.
