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First Posted: 4/26/2013 9:18:57 AM

WILKES-BARRE – Another bank is seeking to foreclose on property owned by a Wilkes-Barre attorney who was charged last week with mail fraud for allegedly bilking clients in an investment scheme.
Northwest Savings Bank of Warren on Monday filed a notice of mortgage foreclosure against attorney Anthony Lupas and his wife, Lillian, for a loan they held on a property located in Buck Township.
According to the suit, the Lupases obtained a loan for $74,200 in 1988. They have failed to pay the monthly mortgage of $651.16 since July 2011 and now owe the bank $42,278 in principal, interest, late charges and other fees.
The filing is the latest of several collection actions against Lupas and his wife within the past year. Court documents filed Friday by attorney Ernest Preate Jr. allege two other banks claim defaults of $284,730 and $50,000.
Lupas also is facing lawsuits filed by 20 persons who allege he scammed them out of money by falsely stating he had invested their money in a trust fund that would pay them 7 percent tax-free interest.
Preate, in the court filing on behalf of five plaintiffs, said Lupas enticed investors with claims that their money would back gas drilling operations on land in Bear Creek Township that Lupas said was owned by Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples.
Theta Land Corp., one of the DeNaples’ companies, once owned the property on Penobscot Mountain. The land was transferred to The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit corporation, and again transferred to Luzerne County in June 2004, the filing said.
According to Preate’s filing, Lupas provided a trust agreement to investors stating they would be able to withdraw their $50,000 investment and receive 7 percent interest if gas or oil was discovered on the land by Dec. 10, 2010.
Lupas, 77, of Plains Township, was charged on Thursday with one count of mail fraud by federal authorities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to seek an indictment against him. He remains free on home confinement with electronic monitoring pending further proceedings in the case.