Ben-Ezra & Katz are accused of botching foreclosure cases they filed for lenders and servicers

Co-managing partners of the now-defunct foreclosure mill, Ben-Ezra & Katz, Marc A. Ben-Ezra and Marvin Elliott Katz will be publicly reprimanded and asked to attend ethics school for their roles at the firm. The two former bad boys of foreclosure face reprimand after being accused of botching foreclosure cases they filed for lenders and servicers.

They were accused of failing to supervise employees. The Florida Bar alleged an outside attorney working at the firm robo-signed several affidavits without a notary present and then had them signed by non-attorney employees who knew him.

Lawyers working for Ben-Ezra & Katz also failed to show up at case management conferences in 12 different foreclosure cases with the same judge dismissing five of those cases after no lawyer appeared at designated hearings. The firm also failed to file a substitution of counsel notices after five associates left the firm or went on leave.

The Hollywood law firm laid off most of its staff in 2011 as the state investigated alleged fraudulent foreclosure practices including robo-signing done by employees of the firm. Ben-Ezra & Katz then lost nearly all of their clients including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two lawyers sued for $10 million and lost an appeal after Fannie Mae moved its 15,000 foreclosure cases to new lawyers.