Attorney who drew 800-plus
complaints agrees to disbarment
By Amy Yarbrough
Staff Writer
A Garden Grove attorney who was the subject of hundreds of
complaints from distressed homeowners agreed to be disbarred last month for his
misconduct in 14 of those cases.
Stephen Lyster Siringoringo [#264161], 33,
admitted to taking illegal advanced fees from homeowners in loan modification
cases, failing to provide those homeowners with an accounting and aiding in the
unauthorized practice of law by allowing non-lawyers to meet with those
clients, according to a stipulation filed Oct. 15 in State Bar Court.
Although he stipulated to 29 counts of misconduct in the 14
cases, the State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel said it has received 796
additional complaints about Siringoringo’s conduct.
The Siringoringo Law Firm would set up retainer agreements
with its clients where loan modification work would be split into stages. In
the first two stages, which involved completing the loan application, clients
would be charged between $2,000 and $3,500. In the third stage, when the loan application
was submitted and the firm purportedly negotiated with lenders, clients would
be charged $495 every 30 days while awaiting the lender’s decision.
Siringoringo provided refunds ranging from $1,500 to $5,970 in
the 14 cases outlined in the stipulation. Other former clients may be eligible
for reimbursement from the Client
Security Fund after Siringoringo’s discipline is finalized by the
California Supreme Court.
Siringoringo was the subject of an earlier discipline case. In
2013, the State Bar Court recommended he receive an 18-month suspension for
collecting advanced fees in 20 loan modification matters.
The current stipulation notes that Siringoringo’s similar misconduct
in the prior case occurred only one or two years earlier.
“Significantly, Respondent was aware of the ethically
suspect nature of his conduct in accepting advanced fees in loan modification
cases before any of the 14 clients in the current matter retained him,” it
read.