A federal judge shot down an attempt by Colony Ridge, a massive land development north of Houston, Texas, that has systematically attracted illegal immigrants, to dismiss a joint Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lawsuit against the development.
Judge Alfred Bennett rejected Colony Ridge’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, which alleges that the sprawling development targeted Hispanic buyers with predatory lending practices and took advantage of language barriers, advertising in Spanish while presenting loan documents in English.
The joint lawsuit is the first of its kind to allege that a defendant engaged in predatory mortgage lending and “reverse redlining” by specifically targeting Hispanic buyers with unfavorable terms before churning them through foreclosures. The suit, announced in December, came amid a series of investigations from The Daily…
