Bay Area Grand Jury Indicts Four In Alleged Foreclosure Rescue Racket; Filed Fraudulent Documents In Bogus Attempts To Stall Legal Process: DA

In Oakland, California, KGO-TV Channel 7 reports:

• A Las Vegas man has been arrested on a 29-count indictment of defrauding residents of Alameda County in a mortgage rescue scheme. 7 On Your Side has been conducting an investigation of its own into the accusations for two months.

***

• "The allegations are they conspired to commit a real estate fraud scheme in which they offered to save the victim's homes from foreclosure, in fact were not doing that, but in fact, they were just filing false documents under the false promise of saving the homes," said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Lim.

• The Alameda County grand jury has handed down a 29-count indictment against Alan David Tikal, who is doing business as KATN Trust. Tikal alone faces all 29 counts and is under arrest in a Las Vegas jail. If convicted, he could get nearly 22 years in prison for real estate fraud, mortgage security fraud, and filing false documents.

• Three other individuals face similar charges, but far fewer counts. Those three are Bruce Blankenhorn, who faces seven felony counts, Luis De Leon, who faces three felony counts, and Linda Voss, who faces one felony count.

***

• The Oregon Department of Justice confirms that this summer it ordered Tikal to repay $5,000 to four victims. The department has since referred the matter to its criminal division. Also last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency warned that Tikal was inaccurately trying to present himself as a private banker.

For the story, see Mortgage fraud suspect indicted on 29 counts.

For an in-depth story on this alleged racket, see The Modesto Bee: Man jailed in Stanislaus realty scam (He awaits extradition; officials say he peddled phony foreclosure):

• "If there's a way for the bleeping banks to put me in jail, I would already be there," Al Tikal boasted in a recent Webinar, trying to land more clients anxious to keep their homes.

***

• In his Webinar, Tikal referred to 1930s events resulting in banks relying on "vague promises from the government" backing transactions, as opposed to gold. A similar "vapor money theory" three years ago brought prison terms of more than 20 years each to two Bay Area businessmen.(1) In the Webinar, Tikal said he issues "bankers' acceptances" and said he is a private banker with "access to enormous lines of credit in the banking industry."

(1) For examples of court rulings nixing the "vapor money theory" defense in foreclosure actions (the rulings do a good job of collecting cases from around the country that have kiboshed this defense), see:

• Wells Fargo Bank, NA v. Ward, 2006-Ohio-6744 (Ohio App. 10th Dist. 2006),
• Barnes v. Citigroup, Inc., Case No. 4:10CV620 JCH (E.D. Mo. Eastern Div. 2010),
• Jo El Nero: Ali v. Vericrest Finance, No. 10 C 4613 (N.D. Ill. Eastern. Div. 2010): In this case, the homeowner also asserted the "Moor" defense; that he “is an Ancient one of the Indigenous Aboriginal, Muurs/Moors with Ancestral Ties to these lands with all beneficial interest as Titulus . . . .”

By the way, before anyone begins bashing the attorneys who represented the homeowners in these cases, note that each homeowner was self-represented (ie. pro se).