Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Files Lawsuit Against Colony Ridge Developers for Fraud and Misleading Trade Practices
Houston-area development Colony Ridge has been hit by a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The lawsuit indicts the developers of fraud and misleading trade practices.
Colony Ridge Developers Face Lawsuit from Texas Attorney General
The lawsuit, as per a news release from the AG office, was filed after a month-long investigation into the Colony Ridge developer’s company, which is run by brothers John and William “Trey” Harris III. The investigation revealed that the developers were indulging in untrue, deceptive, and often misleading sales and marketing strategies.
The lawsuit also alleged that the developers were specifically targeting immigrant and Hispanic communities by lending them loans at astronomical interest rates without any thorough inquiry into their income sources.
The lawsuit alleges that there is hardly any infrastructure, and the hapless buyers of the land often have to wait for months or years to accrue city services, which often make the land much more expensive in the long run. It is often left to the buyers to install transformers and light poles much before they can own or reside in the land they have purchased.
Colony Ridge, located about 40 miles from downtown Houston, has attracted a number of immigrants who could not afford property in the urban centers. The population is estimated to be in excess of 40,000.
The Colony Ridge community has also started a heated debate after conspiracy theories became viral on social media. These unsubstantiated claims talked about rising crime and violence in the area in recent times, a claim which has been refuted by both local residents and police officials. However, some Republicans like Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott have asked for an investigation into the project and the persons behind it. Paxton had earlier also talked about the fact that many of the people who live in these communities are immigrants in a letter to members of Texas’ congressional delegation.
The charges against the developers are not unfounded because the U.S. Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had, in December, filed a lawsuit indicting the developers of using a bait-and-switch modus operandi to prey on low-income Hispanic groups. The developers offer them land and loans at very high rates. The land is often not suitable, and the owners do not repay the loans, leading to foreclosure. The land returns to the developers, who sell them to other naïve customers. As per data, one in three properties in Colony Ridge ends in foreclosures, and this is 10 times the national average.
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