The government seized about a half-million dollars in assets from the bank accounts of two Oceanside businesses dealing in loan modifications for struggling homeowners, according to federal court documents filed this week.

Dean Chandler, a lawyer who owns the 1st American Law Center in downtown Oceanside, and Gary Bobel, who owns the Lead Source, a marketing business on El Camino Real that runs a call center and performs other services for 1st American, recently filed a joint motion for the return of the assets, which were seized on June 23 when the FBI raided the offices.

Chandler said this week that 1st American has been unable to pay employees, buy new national television ad time or process client paperwork since the raid.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie Chu, a prosecutor with the major fraud unit of the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, said she will oppose the motions. She declined to discuss any accusations against the pair.

There have been no indictments, and the federal search warrants in the case remain sealed, but Chandler said the government suspects him of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, crimes he vehemently denies.

"There is not any fraud in my business," he said. "There may at times have been lack of communication or lack of a timely refund, but there has never been fraud."

FBI officials have refused to discuss the case. Attempts to reach Bobel were unsuccessful.

Chandler said his Mission Avenue business in downtown Oceanside has been reduced from about 60 to six employees and may close its doors for good this weekend.

Before the business was raided, numerous Internet consumer review sites contained allegations from unhappy customers that the business was a "scam," pocketing an advance fee, then failing to return calls or help with loan modifications.

Chandler said those allegations were false. He said the company has a money-back guarantee on its $3,495 loan modification and has returned about $750,000 since opening in April 2009. He said he has provided the government with documents proving that customers were given refunds.

Other consumer reviews on the Internet say the business helped them. Chandler said the company had achieved a satisfactory loan modification for 50 percent to 60 percent of its approximately 3,000 clients.

However, the Better Business Bureau has given the 1st American Law Center an "F" rating, with 80 complaints filed against the business in the last year, 41 of them involving refund or exchange issues and 24 regarding service issues, according to an online report.

"Prior to the raid, there were about 40 or 50 complaints, which I'm not happy with," Chandler said. He said many customers are unhappy that refunds take about five to eight weeks, but he said their contracts warned them it would take that long.

Yvonne Driemeier of Valley Mines, Mo., said she complained to the Better Business Bureau in February after 1st American Law Center failed to return calls or send a refund.

"We can look back now and say we should have done things differently, but we trusted these people," said Driemeier, a secretary with two teenage children.

Last year, when her husband was laid off from his job as a mechanic, the family fell behind on the payments for the house they'd lived in since 1999, Driemeier said.

In September 2009, Driemeier said a friend told her the Oceanside company had negotiated more affordable mortgage payments with the bank for her. So Driemeier contacted the business, and she signed a contract, sending $1,750 up front.

Driemeier said she was told not to contact the bank and to send all correspondence regarding foreclosure proceedings to 1st American. She was told five times that her case was looking good, she said.

But in mid-November 2009, her bank surprised her with the news that a foreclosure sale was days away. This time, when she called 1st American, she said she was told, "There is nothing you can do."

The bank foreclosed on the house, and her family moved into a rental home. 1st American stopped returning calls, faxes and e-mails, Driemeier said.

Chandler said he couldn't comment on specific cases, but he acknowledged there were some cases in which he had learned employees had not communicated well with clients.

"I've apologized to more than one person for that happening, and I've jumped all over my staff," he said.

Chandler said he provided the FBI with careful records that show the company worked with banks to win a loan modification for every paying client. The records show every phone call, fax and e-mail with lenders, he said.

He said he hasn't been able to call back clients since the raid. He said 35 laid-off employees still have active phone numbers, and their voicemail boxes get about 150 messages a day. He and his tiny staff can't respond, he said.

And he said the government seized all the money destined for customer refunds.

Chandler was admitted to the California Bar in 1992, according to the California State Bar's web site. He has never had any action against his license, according to the site, a fact Chandler points to as a mark of his honesty.

According to motions by Bobel and Chandler, the FBI seized about $142,736 from a joint account owned by Bobel's Lead Source and Chandler's law center.

In court documents, Bobel said Lead Source collected customer payments via electronic transfer as a service for the 1st American Law Center, and the money was due to be transferred to the Law Center's account.

According to Chandler's motion, agents seized almost $20,000 from a Citibank account in 1st American's name and about $10,800 in a Bank of America account held by the Chandler Law Center.

Agents also seized about $320,000 from separate accounts belonging to Bobel, documents state.

In addition to Lead Source, Bobel said he is co-owner of a media business that produced and sold national ads for clients such as 1st American.

In 1986, Bobel was sentenced to four years in federal prison in San Diego federal court for "conspiracy to possess marijuana," a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.

He was released from custody in 1987, but sent back to prison for a parole violation, said prisons spokesman Ed Ross.

The facts of his case were not immediately available, because older cases are not maintained in Department of Justice's publicly accessible electronic system.

Chandler said he was not concerned with Bobel's conviction 25 years ago. He said his business associate in recent years had become strongly involved with the drug addiction recovery community.

Anyone who thinks the 1st Amendment Law Center owes them money can call the San Diego FBI at 858-565-1255.

Call staff writer Sarah Gordon at 760-740-3517.