Colorado trio fined for Predatory Lending

Steven Chavez, Colorado Division of Civil Rights Director announced that Dean Juhl, Charles Brandt and Jessica Felicano have been found to have violated Colorado’s Fair Housing laws.

Juhl, Brandt and Felicano are accused of targeting Latino homebuyers in the Greeley area. The trio according to documents used discriminatory and predatory practices that caused the homebuyers to eventually lose the homes to foreclosure.

Juhl was the former director of New Frontier Bank which is now defunct. The trio marketed and focused their advertising in Spanish media markets and hired bilingual sales staff to entice Latino Homebuyers to purchase properties that they were not financially able to purchase.

The trio’s company JC Distinguished Finance LLC led Latino homebuyers to believe that JC Distinguished Finance LLC was a trusted mortgage broker as they hired employees that shared similar cultural heritage. The Latino homebuyers were promised they could refinance within a couple of years and make a profit from the refinance. The Latino homebuyers that attempted to refinance were told their homes were not worth what they paid for them and that no equity was available to refinance.

The vast majority of the homebuyers were referred by Mark Strodtman. Mr. Strodtman was convicted of mortgage fraud and sentenced to thirty one years in prison.

Juhl, Brandt and Felicano have all been fined ten thousand dollars each and have been ordered by the court to stop any and all illegal discriminatory housing practices that may be going on a JC Distinguished Finance LLC.


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