Marshall Home, 81, charged customers $500 as part of a purported Arizona-based service to halt mortgage-foreclosure proceedings through an entity known as “Individual Rights Party; Mortgage Rescue Service,” federal prosecutors said.
But his service was a scam in which Home, a Tucson resident and self-described “sovereign citizen,” insisted he had a valid claim of more than $3 billion against the government, prosecutors said.
Home was arrested Friday on charges of false claims in bankruptcy. Prosecutors said he “filed or caused to be filed 173 false claims” against the United States in bankruptcy court and filed a fraudulent petition on March 16 in Arizona that sought to put the United States itself into involuntary bankruptcy.
All in all, prosecutors said, Home’s false claims totaled more than $2.5 trillion.
“The anti-government paranoia of so-called ‘sovereign citizens’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they use their false claims and fraudulent practices to rip-off others,” said U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke.
Some “sovereign citizens” have been linked to credit-repair schemes and say they do not believe U.S. law applies to them.
Home became involved in the bankruptcy of Giordano’s, a Chicago pizza chain and eatery. The Chicago Tribune reported last week that a judge tossed Home from the proceeding for being disruptive.