A new lawsuit filed against the lender behind the controversial real estate coaching company"iFLIP Chicago" alleges that the company took advantage of inexperienced Black investors in an effort to seize land near the future home of the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago's South Side.For months, NBC 5 Responds has heard from dozens of Chicagoans who said a real estate camp that was supposed to teach them how to flip homes instead flipped their lives upside down.
It was enough of a setback to send several investors into foreclosure, like Haamid and local realtor Tatianna Barnett. The investors' loan agreements contained a"cross collateralization and cross default" clause which essentially meant that if they fell behind on payments or defaulted on any other loans, the lender could automatically take money from the borrower’s account to settle the debt.
“This is a big venture firm in New York taking advantage of the little guys in Chicago,” Loftis said. “I think from the perspective of the folks in New York, if you have this group of African Americans doing business on the South Side of Chicago, that's an easy group to take some risks with.” Loftis said, just like the amateur investors, Bey wasn’t sophisticated enough to understand what was happening or stop it. Loftis said the only ones to benefit from the deals was Roc 360.