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.
Monday, May 16, 2016
'Page Six' Piles On After Notorious NYC Landlord Gets Busted; Schadenfreude Fills The Air As Mogul's Critics Can Barely Contain Their Glee
In New York City, the New York Post's Page Six gossip column reports:
The “Bernie Madoff of landlords” has been living it up while running what authorities say is a $45 million mortgage-fraud scheme and using an ex-cop enforcer to scare his tenants out of their rent-stabilized apartments.
Disgraced real-estate mogul Steven Croman, who was busted [last week], and his wife, Harriet, are infamous for throwing lavish, over-the-top parties at their Hamptons summer getaway — which sources said cost them nearly $700,000 in rent one season.
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The couple has a college-age son, Jake Croman, for whom there’s even a Web site — jakecroman.com — devoted to cataloging negative videos and news reports about the “world class d—-ebag,” including him caught in a profanity-laden video berating an Uber driver.
Another Croman son celebrated his bar mitzvah under the giant blue whale model at the Museum of Natural History several years ago, sources said. The event featured a sumptuous feast, free-flowing booze and a performance by singer Ariana Grande, who was paid $500,000 to appear.
Sources familiar with the Cromans could barely contain their glee at Steven’s arrest on charges filed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“They are super-obnoxious. They have no class,” one source said. “They are very lavish people. They are not low-key. They brought it upon themselves.”
Another source said that Harriet was “keeping her cool” and Steven was downplaying the charges against him, which Schneiderman called “the most serious . . . brought against a bad landlord in anyone’s living memory,” while comparing him to Ponzi king Bernie Madoff.
“She is acting like everything is fine. He is acting like he didn’t do anything wrong,” the source said.
Croman, 49, was busted along with mortgage broker Barry Swartz, 53, on more than a dozen counts of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and other charges.
Croman — whose real-estate portfolio includes 140 buildings — is accused of filing fraudulent paperwork that inflated his rental income so he could score bank loans.
He also allegedly employed an NYPD ex-cop, Anthony Falconite, as his “secret weapon” to help strong-arm tenants out of rent-stabilized apartments so he could raise the rents.
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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