Thirteen Tucson real estate professionals are the targets of a consumer fraud lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who described their scheme as “among the worst abuses of vulnerable consumers that I’ve seen in my time as attorney general.”

Goddard claims the defendants fraudulently lured unqualified novice investors to buy an estimated 130 homes as rental properties.

The named defendants include:

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• Vince Volpe, designated broker of Re/Max All Executives

• William Anastapolous, owner of Tucson Mortgage

• Anthony Zandonatti, owner of AZI Rent2Own (Arizona Investments)

The rest of the defendants included loan officers and originators with Tucson Mortgage, Infinity Funding and Red House Lending, none of whom are still in their positions.

Goddard said the scheme started with getting investors to buy homes that would be managed through a rent-to-own program created by the defendants’ companies. But the program, he said, was designed to fail because it targeted rent-to-own homebuyers with credit problems and ignored whether they could qualify to purchase a home. Volpe said he believes he was named as a defendant because, under Arizona law, the designated broker in a firm should be aware of a fraud committed by an agent in the firm.

“I haven’t done anything in this, but I am the designated broker and I have to address it,” Volpe said. “The agent no longer works here and hasn’t for a year. We’re cooperating with the Attorney General’s office to make sure they have everything they need from us on this case.”

Anastapolous had a message on the voicemail for Tucson Mortgage that he was away traveling last week.

Contact reporter Joe Pangburn

at jpangburn@azbiz.com or (520) 405-2419.