Mark Diamond has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for his crimes against elderly homeowners, but the scars from the damage he inflicted across the Chicago metro area are still visible.
A recent report from a local publication, the South Side Weekly, detailed one family’s struggle to recover from Diamond’s scams. Louise Minter was tricked into taking out a reverse mortgage and had her home equity drained, something Diamond did to “more than 100 elderly and vulnerable homeowners” as far back as 2003, federal prosecutors and housing officials said after his sentencing in January.
Minter died several months ago and her granddaughter, who still lives in the home on Chicago’s West Side, is now dealing with the fallout. The outstanding balance on the loan is due and she is unable to pay it off — potentially forcing the family to vacate the home it’s owned for generations.
“(Diamond) totally destroyed our life,” LaShon Minter Williams told the outlet.
For aging homeowners who are looking to tap into their home equity for repairs or other financial needs, it’s a sobering reminder of what can go wrong. The report took a deeper dive into the pros and cons of reverse mortgages, and for those in need of financing to make needed home repairs, it detailed how local organizations are “trying to provide relief without depriving seniors of the ability to pass their homes down to the next generation.”
South Side Weekly analyzed the number of reverse mortgages originated in the Windy City and surrounding Cook County over the past decade. It found that local activity has followed the national trend of declining use.
National data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) originations dropped from 115,000 in 2009 to roughly 26,500 in 2024.
The number of HECM originations in Cook County shrank from 805 in 2014 to 133 in 2024. But of the nearly 4,000 federally insured reverse mortgages taken out in the county during this span, almost half were within the Chicago city limits — and most of these were in neighborhoods on the south and west sides.
The common thread is that homes in these areas tend to be older and in more immediate need of repairs — something that Diamond exploited with regularity. The outlet also noted that these neighborhoods are “predominantly Black and Latino,” bucking the national trend in which the majority of reverse mortgage borrowers are white.
South Side Weekly spoke with attorney Sam Tenenbaum, who represented many of Diamond’s victims. While the perpetrator is behind bars, the people he exploited have not been made financially whole.
The lenders of the fraudulently originated reverse mortgages were never investigated or held accountable “because real relief would have come by getting these mortgages set aside,” Tenenbaum said.
He went on to say that while a reverse mortgage may be justified by an individual’s income, equity levels or their stage of life, “it’s just not a good idea” if the borrower intends to pass their property to heirs.
The report also mentioned a proposal that would provide state-based grants of up to $40,000 to “low-income, legacy homeowners for minor rehabilitation services to preserve their homes.” The law would apply to anyone ages 62 and older — or 55 and older if they have a disability — if they’ve lived in the home for at least 10 years.
Illinois H.B. 5506, aka the Senior Home Preservation Program Act, was introduced last year but stalled in the state Legislature. It has not been reintroduced this year.