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.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Heirs: Caretaker Ripped Off Our Dementia-Afflicted Granduncle Out Of Millions In Real Estate! Suit Filed To Resolve Manhattan Land Grab
In New York City, the New York Post reports:
An elderly, lonely Manhattan pharmacist was allegedly duped by a Polish immigrant and her attractive daughter into signing over his $13 million real-estate portfolio before he died — and now his family is fighting for the properties, The Post has learned.
Retired Boghen Pharmacy owner Joseph Bogen, 91 — whose family name is spelled differently from the Upper East Side business — died in 2011, leaving no children and no wife.
But when it came time to read his will, his family — including relatives of his late wife, Anna Bogen — was shocked to learn his entire fortune had been left to Elzbieta Sztuka, her daughter, Karin Michonski, and Michael Wallerstein, the daughter’s fiancé — whom the elderly man had met only five years prior.
“He was tricked!” said Michael Friedman, an attorney for Bogen’s grandnieces and grandnephews, who are fighting in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court to get back their granduncle’s millions.
Bogen was a lonely octogenarian living on the Upper East Side when he ran into Sztuka in 2006. The Polish immigrant claims he became smitten with her immediately, court papers show. “He was all alone for almost 16 years,” Sztuka said of Bogen’s time as a widow. She insisted it wasn’t his money that sparked her attention.
A Mount Sinai Hospital doctor noted a “history of dementia” in Bogen’s report during a 2010 visit, family attorneys said. “She came in and helped him clean [his home] up, helped him with his finances, cooked his meals, took him shopping and exercised a certain degree of control over him,” Friedman said.
***
Without a will, his family would have received his property under state law.
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)
<< Home