Federal Judge Rejects Colony Ridge’s Attempt To Dismiss DOJ Lawsuit

A federal judge shot down an attempt by Colony Ridge, a massive land development north of Houston, Texas, that has systematically attracted illegal immigrants, to dismiss a joint Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lawsuit against the development.

Judge Alfred Bennett rejected Colony Ridge’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, which alleges that the sprawling development targeted Hispanic buyers with predatory lending practices and took advantage of language barriers, advertising in Spanish while presenting loan documents in English.

The joint lawsuit is the first of its kind to allege that a defendant engaged in predatory mortgage lending and “reverse redlining” by specifically targeting Hispanic buyers with unfavorable terms before churning them through foreclosures. The suit, announced in December, came amid a series of investigations from The Daily Wire revealing Colony Ridge’s intentional marketing to illegal aliens, with social media advertisements that encourage potential buyers to “own land in the United States.”

Colony Ridge’s lawyer, Ari Cuenin, argued in August that the government did not meet the legal standard to claim that the development was engaged in reverse redlining. Judge Bennett disagreed, stating that the “allegations, taken as true, easily satisfy the elements of a reverse redlining claim.”

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“As such, plaintiffs plausibly allege that Colony Ridge discriminated against Hispanic consumers, as required for an Equal Credit Opportunity Act claim,” Bennett added. The federal judge did, however, dismiss a company that created loan documents on behalf of Colony Ridge from the suit.

The development, which spans more than 60 square miles, maintained many of its controversial marketing and financial tactics amid the lawsuit. One Daily Wire investigation found that Colony Ridge boasted that it does not check the creditworthiness of potential buyers even as it faced the federal lawsuit over predatory lending. Colony Ridge, operated by brothers John and William “Trey” Harris, offers loans on land sales at a 12.9 percent interest rate.

In addition to the joint federal lawsuit, Colony Ridge also faces a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which similarly alleges that the development uses deceptive trade practices to churn buyers through a cycle of foreclosures.

Paxton told The Daily Wire that “literally every sale” made by Colony Ridge could be fraudulent, with each violation coming with a penalty of at least $10,000. With an estimated 50,000 to 75,000 residents, the financial penalties could be catastrophic for the development.

Colony Ridge faces an ongoing investigation from the Environmental Protection Agency, the scope and results of which have yet to be made public. The development is also reportedly facing investigations from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.