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.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Another Closing Agent Gets Pinched For Allegedly Glomming $391K In Real Estate Escrow Funds Owed To Seven Victims; Suspect Falsely Claimed To Be Authorized Agent for Major Title Insurer; Two Homeowners Left Facing Foreclosure When Prior Loans Were Not Properly Paid Off During Transaction Closings
The Florida Department of Financial Services recently announced:
Florida’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) [] announced the arrest of Kristine Ann Spahr, 41, after her alleged intentional misappropriation of nearly $400,000 in real estate escrow funds as an effort to gain personal monetary profit while she was illegally operating her Nassau and Duval county-based insurance company, Signature Title and Trust LLC.
In January of 2015, DIF received a complaint that alleged Spahr’s title agency, Signature Title and Trust, had closed a real estate transaction that listed Chicago Title Insurance Company as the policy evaluator. After looking further into the complaint, DIF established that neither Spahr nor her company had been appointed to represent or sell policies on behalf of Chicago Title.
At this time DIF, in accordance with DFS’s Division of Agents and Agency Services, moved forward with their investigation revealing that in 2014 Spahr had forfeited her title agency license as a condition to work as an agent for another title insurance company, Grace Title. While working for Grace Title, Spahr continued to illegally operate her previous company, Signature Title and Trust LLC, without the required licensing.
DIF’s investigation later revealed that on at least seven separate occasions, while illegally operating her previous company, Spahr defrauded her clients by keeping their real estate escrow funds and failing to provide her clients with the title insurance coverage in which they had paid for.
Of the seven fraudulent transactions, two victim’s homes had prior mortgages that were not paid off from the escrow accounts and were facing foreclosure while unpaid federal and county tax liens were not paid off in several of the other victim’s real estate closings. In total, funds in excess of $391,000 were found to have allegedly been stolen by Spahr.
Kristine Spahr was booked into the Nassau County Jail and has been charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, a felony of the first degree. This case will be prosecuted by the Assistant State Attorney Stephen Siegel of the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, and if convicted, Spahr faces up to 15 years in prison.
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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