Two (Now Disbarred) Florida Attorneys At Center Of Real Estate Scam Accusations

In South Florida, the Miami Herald reports:

• As expected, following Nov. 13's Action Line on land sales involving unlicensed broker Daniel Stephen, (if link expired, try here) his company, First Loan Solution, and the firm of lawyer Marie Estime-Thompson, we received calls from additional readers who said they were victims of unscrupulous dealings. Yvonne Walker of Pembroke Pines said she paid Stephen and Estime-Thompson's firm about $20,000 in 2005 for acreage in Taylor County (along the Panhandle) to which she never received legitimate title. Calls to the Thompsons' firm in North Miami rang either busy or disconnected.

• Merlyn McKenzie of Miramar called in a similar complaint, saying she paid Stephen and the Estime-Thompson firm $9,250 as a down payment for a lot in Madison County.
  What we didn't expect was to hear from family.

• Between them, Marie Estime-Thompson and her husband, Ruben Thompson (also a lawyer), have to their names five Miami-Dade properties; all are in foreclosure. One of them, ... , in downtown Miami, is a historic building in the heart of Overtown that, until March 30, 2005, belonged to Brenda Killens Evans, a cousin of Ruben Thompson's.

***

• Evans ... filed a complaint with the Florida Bar. In response to Bar inquiries, Thompson disputed Evans' allegations and claimed she had sold him the property. Then, on Oct. 18, both he and his wife were disbarred, at their request, which shut down the Bar's investigation.

For more, see Bad real estate deals dash family dreams. (no longer available online).

To file a complaint against a Florida attorney, go to The Florida Bar's Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) for more information.

If a Florida attorney is representing you and screws you out of money or property through dishonest conduct, go to The Florida Bar's Clients' Security Fund for more information.

For other states, see the Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (American Bar Association - July, 2007); or try this Google search.