Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
NYC Landlord Agrees To Cough Up $2M To Settle Sexual Harassment, Fair Housing Suits In Connection With Tenants' 'Sex For Reduced Rent' Allegations
In New York City, the New York Post reports:
The rent’s due NOW, buster! An Upper West Side landlord who knowingly employed a child rapist as his building super will cough up $2 million to settle lawsuits after The Post reported allegations that the sicko pressured female tenants to have sex in exchange for reduced rent.
“I’m very happy,” Carol Engle, one of six women who will split the settlement, told The Post [] after signing the agreement with landlord Stanley Katz. For years, Katz had stoutly defended his registered-sex-offender super, William Barnason, as a “prized employee.”
Engle said that when she once complained to Katz about her high rent, he told her, “You should have been nicer to Billy,’’ suggesting that if she’d slept with him, he’d have cut her a financial break. “I said, ‘Stan, Billy is going to be the end of you, you can’t do this to people.’ And he shrugged,” she recalled.
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In 2010, The Post, in the first of a series of articles, revealed claims by Engle and other women that Barnason — who had spent 14 years in prison for raping and molesting three young Long Island girls — tried shaking them down for sex, often drunk, sometimes while trying to barge into their rooms. The women said that complaints to Katz and his son, Stephen, fell on deaf ears — and that all three men routinely referred to them as “just another whore looking for a free ride.”
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Months afterward, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office sued the Katzes and Barnason for violating the federal Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing female tenants — believed to be the first-ever lawsuit of its type. [...] A jury trial in the case was supposed to begin Monday — but was canceled after the Katzes and Barnason signed off on the deal.
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US Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The conduct alleged in this case subjected Stanley Katz’s female tenants to forms of harassment that would be unacceptable in any environment, let alone in their homes. It was also blatantly illegal.”
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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