In response to a poaching lawsuit filed two months ago Home Mortgage Alliance Corporation (HMAC), wholesale lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited have denies the allegations and is countersuing HMAC and its co-founder Alfred Hanna on behalf of employee Michael Turturro and his company, jets league.
OCMBC’s counterclaim raises eight counts, including defamation, breach of contract, fraud and unfair business practices. HMAC attorney Alan Lindeke said house line The counterclaim is a “resort to time-tested defense tactics in an attempt to deflect and distract from the blatantly misleading misconduct of Turturro, OCMBC, Inc. dba Jet Advantage Mortgage and Jet Alliance.”
In late May, direct lenders HMAC accused OCMBC of poaching Turturro and several key employees while aiming to exploit its dba, jet mortgageaccording to a lawsuit filed in California Orange County Superior Court. Turturro joined HMAC in late 2022 as a “senior employee” of Jet Mortgage and division president, the filing added.
The HMAC lawsuit alleges that Turturro was restricted from using confidential company information for his own benefit and that he gave $800,000 to a marketing agency to develop the Jet Mortgage brand. But in May 2024, he resigned from HMAC “without prior notice,” the complaint states.
According to OCMBC’s counterclaim, Turturro is discovering federal housing finance agency (FHFA) banned Hanna from serving as CEO in 2017, citing “prior misconduct.” affiliated funding companydatabase administrator Internal Lenders.
The counterclaim alleges that despite the FHFA order, “Hanna co-founded HMAC in 2013” and that the company “established business relationships with regulated entities,” such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and warehouse lenders. According to court documents, Hanna was obligated to disclose these prior conduct to Turturro before recruiting him, but that did not happen.
According to the countersuit, Turturro founded Jet Alliance in October 2022 and later witnessed alleged unfair business practices by Hanna and HMAC. These included a failure to properly and promptly compensate vendors and employees who were allegedly required to deposit their own funds as reserves for potential loan losses but never recovered the money.
Turturro also said HMAC allegedly received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to pay employees but used the funds to renovate its business offices.
OCMBC’s counterclaim alleges that as a result of Hanna’s conduct and the FHFA’s restrictions, Turturro decided to resign in April 2024 and brought accounts and account executives to OCMBC.
OCMBC and Turturro allege that HMAC engaged in a campaign of “public defamation and defamation of the reputation of Turturro and Jet Alliance.” The campaign allegedly included sending an email containing a link to the poaching lawsuit to 20,000 recipients. They also allege HMAC contacted current and former colleagues of Turturro and falsely told them he had engaged in inappropriate behavior with borrowers and brokers.
In response, HMAC lawyer Lindeke said, “This case involves the public and deliberate misappropriation of Jet Mortgage’s name, likeness, employees, customers, trade secrets and intellectual property rights.” The plaintiffs “unswervingly fulfill their commitments and look forward to their litigation.” .
“Finally, HMAC dba Jet Mortgage is a licensed mortgage company in good standing in 47 states and the District of Columbia and is a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac approved direct seller,” Lindeke said. Vendor/Service Provider and is an FHA and VA approved seller.”
OCMBC seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, restitution and compensatory damages, among other things.
