BALTIMORE — The Maryland Attorney General's Office has filed charges against a home builder accused of taking millions of dollars from customers whose homes they never finished.
Trak Homes LLC, was an award winning Baltimore County based building company that operated under the name Zander Homes between 2014 and 2019.
The owners, Alexander and Regina Trakhtman, claimed to specialize in building pricey large custom homes, including for local athletes.
“Consumers paid significant amounts of money to Alexander Trakhtman and Trak Homes LLC, whom they trusted to build their homes. These consumers have been betrayed and cheated out of that money and left with unlivable homes, and in some cases, no homes at all,” said Attorney General Anthony Brown.
Some of their alleged violations include failing to pay sub-contractors, who in turn placed liens on the homes of customers, leaving them with the bill despite already having put down a deposit in excess of 5 percent. Zander previously lied telling customers they would receive waivers for such leans, charging documents say.
The Attorney General suggests Zander illegally placed customer deposits into their own general account instead of a required escrow account, which led to those funds being unprotected and misappropriated.
According to prosecutors customers often times were left in the dark because Zander barred them from communication with subcontractors.
Additionally, the company is accused of not complying with state licensing laws, yet still collected thousands of dollars for uncompleted work.
Back in May 2019 WMAR-2 News investigative reporter Mallory Sofastaii spoke to one victim who said six liens had been placed against her, equaling about $200,000 as result of Zander's misdeeds.
Former Ravens player Torrey Smith even took to social media saying he too was a victim of the scheme.
Two months later the company ended up closing its doors and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
As result customers never received their home or any kind of reimbursement.
The Attorney General is seeking to bar Zander from future deceptive practices. They are also pursuing a $10,000 civil penalty for each violation committed, as well as restitution for impacted customers.
“We will continue holding Trak Homes, Zander Homes, and the Trakhtmans accountable for violating consumer trust, not delivering on promises, and taking money that was meant to pay others," said Brown. "My Office will continue to bring to justice those who deceive consumers in our state.”
