Dimitry Yakubovich, mortgage broker and president of Green River Mortgage LLC has settled a lawsuit for deceptive advertising and sales practices and for violating the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. Yakubovich has since moved to Florida and no longer operates Green River. The settlement bars him from brokering loans in Colorado. The settlement also obligates him to pay $7,887 in restitution.

According to the complaint, Green River ran advertisements in the "Mortgage Marketplace" sections of The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, advertising low teaser rates and/or low minimum monthly payments associated with Option ARM loans. Yakubovich allegedly ran these advertisements to "get the phone ringing."

The complaint also alleged that Yakubovich designed the advertisements to make the low teaser rates associated with option ARM loans look like fixed interest rates. Finally, the complaint alleges that Green River loan officers induced two elderly couples to enter into unsuitable option ARM loans by misrepresenting the teaser rate as a fixed interest rate and by failing to disclose the numerous risks associated with the loans, including the potential for negative amortization and hefty pre-payment penalties for refinancing.

The lawsuit was filed by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and resulted from investigations initiated by the Attorney General in late 2006 and early 2007 into the deceptive advertising practices of numerous mortgage brokers.

This is settlement is one of several the Office of the Attorney General has reached with mortgage brokers and other lenders since 2008.