State AG To California Sheriffs Statewide: Stop Post-Foreclosure Evictions Of Home Occupants Not Named In Writ Of Possession Who Can Present "Claim Of Right To Possession" Form

From the Office of the California Attorney General:

• Attorney General Kamala D. Harris [] issued an information bulletin to California law enforcement agencies to reinforce integral eviction procedures under the California Homeowner Bill of Rights.
  
  Under current California law, occupants of a foreclosed property who are not named in eviction documents - such as tenants - can present a “Claim of Right to Possession” form to temporarily stop the eviction process up to and including when the Sheriff comes to remove them from the property.
  
  Following the 2012 national mortgage settlement, Attorney General Harris sponsored the landmark California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR), which took effect on January 1, 2013. The legislation package included additional protections for homeowners and tenants facing foreclosure. Although HBOR has been in effect since 2013, advocacy groups have reported cases in which Sheriffs proceed with the eviction process despite being presented with a Claim of Right to Possession form. This bulletin provides guidance for Sheriffs performing evictions following a foreclosure.
  
  “This bulletin clarifies integral protections and due process available under the Homeowner Bill of Rights,” said Attorney General Harris. “I sponsored this bill to provide a fair process for vulnerable Californians who are facing the loss of their homes. I thank the advocacy organizations for their tireless work on behalf of those affected by the foreclosure crisis."
  
  Prior to HBOR, occupants who were not named in an Unlawful Detainer Complaint were required to respond to a “Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession” within 10 days of service. This is no longer the case.
  
  Under HBOR, certain post-foreclosure occupants, such as tenants, can temporarily stop the eviction process by presenting a Claim of Right to Possession, including at the time of the lockout, to the Sheriff at the property.
  
  Once a claim is presented, the Sheriff should take no further action until notified by the court. The bulletin further instructs Sheriffs on how to respond when presented with a Claim of Right to Possession.

For more, see Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Bulletin to California Law Enforcement Agencies Detailing Eviction Protections for Californians.

For the bulletin, see Protections for tenants and other occupants during post-foreclosure evictions, as found in The California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR).

For the relevant claims forms, see:

• Claim of Right to Possession and Notice of Hearing,
• Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession.

Bay Area Real Estate Operator Milks California Ellis Act's Tenancy-In-Common Loophole To Buy Rent-Controlled Rental Properties, Boot Long-Time Tenants, Do Quick Fix-Up, Then Flip For Huge $$$

In San Francisco, California, Beyond Chron reports:

• San Francisco Ellis Act displacement as a profit-making scheme has become such a convention, that family trusts may now be increasingly funding the rip-off. The following case illustrates the triple whammy rip-off that affordable housing advocates have been trying to curb: (1) the City loses valuable rent-controlled housing stock, (2) the City loses artists, dancers and musicians who have contributed to the cultural beauty of the community, and (3) long-term contributors to the unique fabric of San Francisco are expelled. Meanwhile, gluttonous speculators, including family trusts, profit hugely, never bearing the true societal cost of their Ellis Act exploits.
  
  On August 19, 2015 affordable housing raider Shun You Sun, (aka Danny Sun), purchased the 2820-2824 Folsom Street building, located in the heart of the Mission where Folsom and 24th Streets intersect. Sun is described as a flashy bejeweled little man, who drives fancy cars. Barely 7 months after gaining title, Danny Sun served eviction notices on all 12 long-term residents, 9 of whom are San Francisco-based artists.
  
  Whereas the Ellis Act was intended as the means for legitimate landlords to go out of residential rental business, Danny Sun never intended to be a landlord. Rather, his history is to acquire rent-controlled buildings, expel the long-term tenants, perform a quick rehab and sell the operation as a tenancy-in-common at a huge gain. The Steven Adair McDonald law firm routinely cranks out the paper for these serial evictors.
  
  ***
  Danny Sun is a serial Ellis exploiter. Last year Sun completed the same kind of Ellis exploit, removing three long-term households at 642 Natoma Street, followed by sale as TIC units, which will bring about $2.7 million. [...] The ground level at 642 Natoma Street is now selling for $869.000.00, the other two TIC units having been sold at over $900,000.00 each.

For more, see 9 Mission District Artists Face Eviction In Ellis Syndication Scheme.

Over 16,000 Low-Income Elderly, Infirm Oklahomans Potentially Face Nursing Home Boot If State-Proposed 25% Medicaid Reimbursement Rate Cut Goes Into Effect (Not To Mention Thousands Of Job Losses)

Tandie Hastings, president of the board of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers, writes in an op-ed piece in The Oklahoman:

• The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, facing the possibility of major budget reductions, is threatening to cut Medicaid reimbursement rates by 25 percent. If that happens, it's impossible to overstate the health care crisis we will face in Oklahoma.
  
  Nine out of 10 nursing homes would be in danger of closing, potentially leaving more than 16,000 vulnerable and elderly Oklahomans homeless and without medical care. Almost 17,000 nursing employees would lose their jobs.
  
  Lawmakers have told many residents and employees not to worry — the Medicaid rate cut may be much lower than 25 percent, perhaps 10 percent or even 5 percent. These words are meant to be comforting, but those of us in the nursing profession know the truth: Nursing facilities have been underfunded for so long that any cut threatens a large-scale collapse of the system.
  
  At a 5 percent reduction in Medicaid reimbursements, 44 percent of Oklahoma nursing facilities are in danger of closing, potentially displacing 8,000 seniors.

For more, see Oklahoma health care provider: Potential cuts would cripple nursing homes.

Sale Of Decades-Old Assisted Living Facility Leads To The Boot For Over Two Dozen Seniors, Leaves Equal Number Of Staff Members Looking For Work

In Clovis, New Mexico, the Clovis News Journal reports:

• Just when they thought they were settled down to live out their retirement years, residents at the Clovis Senior Citizen Resident Center are looking for new homes.
  
  The nonprofit Christian-based community is shutting down on June 1, more than six decades after it opened.
  
  “We have sold the property and the facility, and the new owners don’t feel as if their mission with the property is to have an assisted living facility here,” said Senior Citizen Resident Center Administrator Bobby Jack Stewart.
  
  Stewart said there are other factors, such as state regulations requiring a new sprinkler system, but the primary reason for closing is the new owners are “moving a different direction than an assisted living facility.”
  
  Stewart said a local church is purchasing the facility, but he could not comment on which church or what they plan to do with the property because the sale is not complete.
  
  The facility opened 67 years ago, Stewart said. In 1990, it became an assisted living facility.
  
  “We were the oldest state-licensed assisted living facility in the state of New Mexico,” Stewart said. “Back then it opened under the terminology ‘new and innovative’ because they hadn’t even invented the name ‘assisted living’ at that point.”
  
  “Now they (assisted living facilities) are all over the place, but there’s not that many in Clovis.”
  
  Today, the center is home to 26 senior citizens and an equal number of employees.
  
  The residents are in the process of finding new homes, and they’re not happy about it, according to Stewart. “Most senior adults … they don’t like a lot of change,” Stewart said. “It’s not been real favorable.”
  
  Additionally, employees will be in need of jobs. One in particular is Virginia Shonkwiler, the assistant administrator. “I’m very sad,” Shonkwiler said. “It breaks my heart that we have to close our doors.”
  
  Starting out as the dietary director for 17 years, Shonkwiler has been with the organization for 25 years. “It’s like a second family here. It’s another home to go to. You get so connected with the residents and the employees … It’s just been a privilege and joy to work with the elderly, and we’re really going to miss everybody.”
  
  Stewart said he uses his Christian faith to remain hopeful about the future. “The good Lord knows what’s going on and will take care of us,” he said. “I believe that with all my heart.”

Source: Clovis Senior Citizen Resident Center closing.

Another Boise-Area Mobile Home Park To Shut Down, Leaving Nearly 100 Low-Income Residents Facing The Boot; New Landowner Offers No Reasons For Closure, Gives Only Six Months' Notice To Pack Up & Leave; Many Elderly, Social Security-Dependent Locals Own Trailers Too Old & Expensive To Move To Other Locations

In Nampa, Idaho, KTVB-TV Channel 7 reports:

• Nearly 100 people in Nampa will soon be without a place to live. This comes after the owner of the Karcher Village Mobile Home Park surprised residents there with eviction notices Monday night.
  
  This is the second trailer park in Nampa to close in as many months.
  
  Residents of the Rushmore Mobile Home Park just up the road were told last month that they'd have to leave as soon as the failing septic system gave out.(1)
  
  At Karcher Village there are no health concerns to speak of, but still residents have been told they need to go.
  
  "It's home. I've lived here most of my life. It's home," said Linda Monosso. Linda Monosso has lived here at the Karcher Village Mobile Home Park for 42 years. “It's within walking distance of my pharmacy and my bank," she said.
  
  Monday night, Linda and the nearly 100 other residents were served eviction notices.
  
  In a letter from his attorney, the owner of the park gave no reason as to why he is closing the park. The residents were simply told they have six months to remove their trailers.
  
  ‘We just can't do it. Where are we gonna put the trailer? Even if we could afford to move it,” said Cat McPherren.
  
  Cat McPherren grew up at Karcher Village and now lives here with her mother Linda Monosso. She says many of the residents here are elderly and live off of Social Security.
  
  To make matters worse, their trailers are too old for other parks to take them in. “We just have no options,” said McPherren.
  
  The park's owner told residents that if they leave their trailers behind, they will be billed for the removal - another expense for folks who are already living on a shoestring.
  
  “Where are we gonna get money to move the trailer? Where are we gonna get money to pay rent that's higher than we can afford? If I have to, I'll pitch a tent down by the river,” said Everett Reed.
  
  For the woman who has lived here since 1974, Linda Monosso never thought she'd have to pay to start a new life somewhere else. “The only thing I could think to possibly do would be to use my burial money,” she said.
  
  We did reach out to Joshua Taylor, the attorney for the owner of this mobile home park to ask him what led to the decision to close it down. Our calls were not returned.
  
  City officials told KTVB this was the first they had heard about the closing.
  
  As it stands now, the residents have to be out by Halloween.

Source: Residents told they must leave Nampa mobile home park.

-----------------------

(1) See Failure Of Aging Septic Tank Triggers Mass Eviction In Boise-Area Trailer Park (Low-Income Residents Fear Loss Of Their Mobile Homes As Lack Of Funds May Prevent Them From Moving Structures From Rented Lots).

Homeowner Who Paid In Full For New Roof Winds Up w/ Mechanics' Lien On Her Home Anyway As Contractor Stiffs Supply Company Out Of Cost Of Job Materials

In Hudson, Florida, Bay News 9 reports:

• A Hudson woman may have a new roof and a zero balance on her bill, but a supply company says she still owes money and she now has a lien on her home. “It’s just not right,” Joan Joseph said.
  
  Joseph contacted Ike’s Roofing earlier this year to replace the roof on her home. She showed us the receipts that show she paid Ike’s Roofing about $7,000 for the work and that her balance was paid in full.
  
  Joseph then received a notice in the mail from SRS Distribution saying they put a lien against her home.
  
  “It states here that they, Ike’s, did not pay his bill to SRS and that they were going to start initiating a lien against me,” she said.
  
  SRS Distribution is the supply company used for the roofing materials. SRS claims Ike’s Roofing did not pay the bill for the supplies, even though Joseph paid her bill in full.
  
  Under Florida law, the supply company can go after homeowners for unpaid supplies, even if the homeowner paid their contractor in full. These companies can put liens on a person’s home and foreclose on that home to pay the balance.
  
  “Generally speaking, it’s just as serious as a mortgage foreclosure,” local attorney Trent Cotney said. “A contractor or a supplier or subcontractor can file suit for foreclosure on the home to pay off the lien.”
  
  Cotney is a lawyer who specializes in lien law and other law related to the construction industry. He is not involved in Joseph’s situation. He said homeowners should get lien releases before making final payments. A lien release protects the homeowner from the contractor or supplier from filing a lien against their home.
  
  Homeowners can also contact different administrative agencies to file complaints.
  
  “They can contact their local business department or they can contact the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation,” he said.
  
  Joseph has done that – and more. She’s filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. Joseph also said she has a lien release from Ike’s Roofing, but there is still a lien on her home.
  
  SRS Distribution filed a lawsuit against Ike’s Roofing in Pinellas County in April. Lawyers for SRS Distribution confirmed this lawsuit, but refused to answer questions about SRS filing liens against customers.
  
  Ike’s Roofing could not be reached by phone or email. When we went to his business, the gate was locked and no one was there.

Source: Lien placed on Pasco woman's home after contractor fails to pay for supplies (Homeowner paid $7,000 for new roof, balance paid in full, Supply company put lien on home, saying contractor failed to pay, Florida law permits supply companies to go after homeowners for unpaid supplies).

Brooklyn Man Dodges Jail Time, Gets Three Years Probation, Order Of Restitution For Running Home Improvement Racket That Fleeced Four Homeowners Out Of $85K For Unperformed Work

From the Office of the Kings County, New York District Attorney:

• Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson [] announced that a Brooklyn man was sentenced for stealing $85,900 from four Park Slope homeowners who hired him to perform work on their properties. The defendant took money for work that was not performed and at times falsely claimed to be a licensed contractor.
  
  District Attorney Thompson said, “Dominick Valoroso ripped off hard working homeowners in Park Slope and Prospect Heights who were simply trying to improve their homes. This case makes clear why anyone hiring a home improvement contractor should check that they are properly licensed by and in good standing with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs so that they don’t fall prey to con artists who will take their money without doing any work.”
  
  The District Attorney identified the defendant as Dominick Valoroso, 42, [...]. He was sentenced [] by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Hecht to three years’ probation following his guilty plea on January 7, 2016 to one count of first-degree scheme to defraud. At the time of the plea, the Court ordered civil judgments of restitution in the amount of $85,900 to be entered for the four victims.
  
  The District Attorney said that, according to the guilty plea, between June 4, 2011 and July 7, 2013, the defendant entered into signed contracts with four different homeowners – three in Park Slope and one in Prospect Heights – to perform work on their property, during part of which time he was not licensed due to complaints filed against him.
  
  The defendant took $14,700 from one homeowner, and did not do any work; he took $54,400 from a second homeowner and completed just $10,400 of the work; he took $21,200 from a third homeowner and did not do any work; and he took $6,000 from a fourth homeowner and did not do any work.

Source: Unscrupulous Contractor Sentenced For Stealing $85,900 from Homeowners (Took Money for Work That Was Not Done).

Contractor Gets Three Years For Bilking Elderly Couple Out Of Over $80,000 For Unfinished, Substandard Improvements On Home That Was Subsequently Lost To Foreclosure

In Summit County, Ohio, Ohio.com reports:

• A contractor apologized to an elderly Copley Township woman he was convicted of bilking out of more than $80,000 in home repairs, saying during his sentencing [] that she and her late husband were “like grandparents” to him. [...] Vertucci, 41, of Green, was found guilty by a jury in January of theft from a person in a protected class, a second-degree felony.
  
  Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands told Vertucci [] that what he did amounted to fraud and sentenced him to three years in prison. She also ordered him to pay $87,618 in restitution.
  
  Vertucci, a self-employed contractor and owner of Allan Vertucci Corporation, plans to appeal. Vertucci’s sentencing was delayed last month to allow his attorney time to gather records for the elderly couple’s credit cards.
  
  Richard and Jean Goodall hired Vertucci in 2012 to renovate their Bridlewood Drive house in Copley Township, including replacing the roof and windows, waterproofing the basement and repairing a septic tank. Vertucci never completed the work and what was done was substandard, investigators found.
  
  A puddle of human waste was discovered in the home’s front yard, which Summit County Public Health said was a result of Vertucci’s work.
  
  Assistant Prosecutor Nik Buckmeier told Rowlands he thought a six-year prison sentence was warranted. He said Vertucci displayed aggressive and predatory behavior against the Goodalls for the nearly two years he worked on their home.
  
  “He essentially stole their life savings,” Buckmeier said. “The condition of the home was deplorable.”
  
  Richard “Dick” Goodall, 80, died in October 2014. Jean Goodall lost their home to foreclosure and filed for bankruptcy.
  
  Rowlands asked Jean Goodall, who walks with the help of a cane, what she would like to see happen to Vertucci.
  
  “We lost all of our money,” she told the judge. “We lost our home. How can he pay me back? You put him where he belongs.”
  
  Jennifer Sheehan, one of Goodall’s daughters, held up a key to her parents’ home that they gave her when she was 10. “This is the only thing I have left,” she said of her childhood home.
  
  Sheehan noted that her mother now lives in 400 square feet, compared to the 2,400 square feet she had in her house.

For the story, see Contractor sentenced to 3 years in prison, ordered to pay restitution to Copley Township family he bilked out of house repairs.

95-Year Old Homeowner Files Lawsuit Seeking Class Action Status, Alleging That Reverse Mortgage Bankster Conducted "Repeated, Unreasonable & Unnecessary Property Inspections" To Maximize Its Fee Income That Eroded Her Home Equity

The New England Center for Investigative Reporting reports:

• A 95-year-old woman backed by consumer and elderly advocates sued two reverse-mortgage companies for charging allegedly excessive fees after she fell into foreclosure proceedings.
  
  The suit, seeking class-action status, said that Texas-based Nationstar Mortgage LLC and Michigan-based Compu-Link Corp. ordered more than 30 property inspections on the home of Retha Floyd — sometimes as often as two or three times a month, and added fees for the inspections to her mortgage debt.
  
  Floyd, of Washington, D.C. faced foreclosure after she fell behind on less than $2,000 in property taxes and insurance payments, but avoided losing her home after working out a payment plan, the May 3 lawsuit said. As reported by The Eye last week, an increasing number of seniors across the country are facing foreclosure because of troubles paying property charges or complications following a spouse who died.
  
  ***
  After Floyd fell into danger of foreclosure in 2012, the companies ordered multiple inspections on her home to allegedly protect their interest, her lawsuit said. The fees for the inspections – some of them “drive-by” looks lasting only a few seconds — eroded her equity in the home, according to the lawsuit.
  
  “Defendants use automated software to order and/or conduct repeated, unreasonable, and unnecessary ‘property inspections’ with the effect of maximizing fee income and cheating borrowers who can least afford it,’’ the suit said.
  
  The suit was filed on Floyd’s behalf in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Legal Counsel for the Elderly, an affiliate of the senior advocacy group AARP; the Boston-based National Consumer Law Center; and the Washington-based law firm Tycko & Zavareei LLP.
  
  National Consumer Law Center attorney Charles Delbaum said Wednesday that there are likely thousands of other “defenseless seniors” being hit with similar charges.

For the story, see Lawsuit says reverse-mortgage companies cheated 95-year-old with drive-by home inspections.

Elderly, Disabled Fort Worth Couple Dodge Bullet When Home Was Inadvertently Foreclosed Out From Under Them For Unpaid Real Estate Taxes When They Failed To Return Texas Homestead Tax Deferral Affidavit; County Officials Work Out Redemption w/ Winning Bidder To Recover Title To Premises

In Fort Worth, Texas, the Star-Telegram reports:

• Last summer, Joseph and Rene Gordon, both in their late 60s, were on the verge of losing their modest family home in the Rolling Hills subdivision of Fort Worth.
  
  Rene Gordon, 66, was in and out of the hospital after two brain aneurysms and a stroke. Overwhelmed by his wife’s poor health, Joseph Gordon, 68, failed to respond to a notice from the Tarrant Appraisal District asking for verification of a tax deferral affidavit that allowed the couple to waive all taxes associated with the property.
  
  So, even though there had been no “for sale” sign on the green lawn of the early 1970s-style brick house, the Gordons faced a tax deliquency and foreclosure action. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the 1,400-square foot dwelling sold on the auction block. Sale price: $23,000.
  
  They couldn’t understand how such a thing could happen. “This guy called me and told me that he had bought the house,” said Joseph Gordon, a former switchman/brakeman for the Santa Fe railroad. “I told him that we haven’t sold the house.”
  
  All told, 2,953 affidavits have been filed with the county tax assessor-collector’s office. County officials anticipate the number of applications will rise in upcoming months, as TAD expects an increase of 14 percent on property values in 2016.
  
  The affadivit is allowable under the property tax code to persons who are 65 or older or disabled. The taxes are picked up after the person dies by the individual’s estate. The application is free and can be filed at the county tax assessor-collector’s office.
  
  “Most people don’t even know that these deferrals exist,” Tax Assessor-Collector Ron Wright said. “These people with deferrals are the most vulnerable people in our society.”
  
  Acquired ‘for a song’
  
  The Gordons had lived in the house since they married in 1980. But Rene Gordon bought it when it was built in 1974. She had worked for 30 years as a licensed vocational nurse at John Peter Smith Hospital. Joseph Gordon said he was shocked when a stranger called him to order him to move out.
  
  “He told me he got the house through the tax people,” Joseph Gordon said. “And he told me if we had $13,000, we could stay here. Otherwise, we had to get out and we were stressing.”
  
  Gordon, who is also disabled, contacted a Veterans Affairs office for help. He had been in Vietnam and thought there could be some form of assistance. Then he called the city.
  
  “Nobody wanted to pay any attention,” Joseph Gordon said. “It got really frustrating.”
  
  One day, wobbly and using a cane to walk, he showed up at Wright’s office with his wife, who also can barely walk because of the stroke she suffered. He explained the situation and informed the office that there had been a “mix-up. “We hadn’t sold our home,” Gordon said.
  
  Wright investigated the matter and learned that TAD had removed the tax deferral exemption when it did not hear back from the Gordons. “I was apoplectic,” Wright said. “I couldn’t believe what happened. … It’s so easy for things to get out of control.”
  
  Wright also learned that the home had been bought by a company that specializes in seizing properties that have been declared tax delinquent. The home was valued at about $72,510 by TAD in 2016.
  
  It sold for $23,000 on the auction block, Wright said. The buyer “picked it up for a song,” he said.
  
  Wright decided to contact the buyer and ask for a redemption, which allows an owner who has lost a home on auction because of a tax delinquency to buy back the home for a percentage of the purchase price.
  
  Wright negotiated a $3,000 settlement with the buyer. Wright paid a portion of the cost; his chief deputy paid the remainder. And the Gordons got to keep their house.
  
  “I didn’t make anyone aware of it,” Wright said. “We’re not looking for any fanfare here.”

For the story, see Tarrant County elderly couple almost loses house after TAD pulls exemption (Elderly couple almost lost their house; County officials removed a tax deferral when homeowners didn’t verify eligibility data; Home went on the auction block when taxes were delinquent).

Lawsuit: Attorney Fleeced His 82-Year Old Dad Out Of $80K In Proceeds From Sale Of Long Island Condo While Representing Him At Closing

In New York City, the New York Post reports:

• A former parking-violations judge once accused of swindling the city also victimized his own father, the dad claims in a lawsuit.
  
  A decade ago Allan J. Patricof landed a sweetheart gig as the city’s highest-paid Parking Violations Bureau judge, raking in $110,472 in 2006 and $84,687 in 2007.
  
  At the same time, he was billing the city for hours he didn’t work, investigators charged. Patricof — whose wife, Rochelle, was a deputy at the city Finance Department, which oversees parking judges — was asked to return $8,645.
  
  Now his dad, Jules Patricof, 89, says Allan, 54, also stole $80,000 from him.
  
  Jules, who lives in Florida, asked his lawyer son to oversee the sale of a Long Island condo Jules wanted to unload.
  
  All Allan Patricof did was show up at the April 2014 closing for the Valley Stream property, which had no mortgage and should have netted Jules the $129,000 sale price.
  
  Instead, Allan sent his pop a check for just $32,632 without “explanation as to why the check was $96,368 less than the $129,000 sale price,” according to court papers.
  
  Allan charged a whopping $7,500 for “legal fees,” paid $6,450 to a real-estate agent and shelled out $2,677 for maintenance and stock transfer fees, but “a total of $79,741 is completely unaccounted for,” Jules claims in the Manhattan federal court suit against his son.
  
  When his dad asked for his cash, Allan Patricof allegedly “only provided non-specific, undocumented and false claims of renovation expenses. In reality, [he] has wrongfully and illegally pocketed the money, which was deposited into his attorney escrow account.”
  
  Jules Patricof is seeking $1.5 million in damages from Allan and hints in court papers his son has caused additional harm with “wide ranging” fraud that the dad doesn’t detail.
  
  Allan Patricof, who denied wrongdoing as a parking judge, declined comment. The Finance Department absolved him of wrongdoing but reassigned him when the allegations resurfaced in 2009, according to reports.

Source: Ex-judge accused of stealing from city — and now his father.

92-Year Old Man Files Lawsuit Saying Son Conned Him Into Signing Over More Than $60K In Cash, Single Family Home

In Chickasha, Oklahoma, the Chickasha Express Star reports:

• A 92-year-old man from Chickasha is suing his son and the man’s divorce attorney claiming he was swindled out of more than $60,000 and a property in Stephens County during a divorce proceeding.
  
  Addie Wilson, through his attorneys The Kanehl Firm PLLC, filed the documents at the Stephens County Wednesday claiming his son William Lee Wilson defrauded him of $60,090.57 and a property in Duncan.
  
  The suit also claims Addie Wilson’s divorce attorney Russell Bills released the deed of the property to the plaintiff’s son without his consent.
  
  According to court documents, on February 2016, while Addie Wilson was divorcing a woman he married three years prior, William Wilson allegedly convinced his dad his ex-wife was going to take everything from him unless he signed over his living trust money and a property in Duncan where his son resided. Court documents claim William Wilson had no real proof of his allegations.
  
  “Being a 92-year-old elderly person, (Addie) Wilson believed his son,” stated the documents. “Defendant William (Wilson) and (Addie) Wilson went to Legacy Bank in Stephens County and signed over $60,090. 57 in his son’s name.”
  
  Russell was asked by Addie Wilson, according to court documents, to create a Quit Claim in his son’s name in December with instructions to not deliver the deed until instructed to do so.
  
  ***
  The suit states William Wilson refused to give the money and property back to his father when he asked for it prompting the lawsuit.
  
  “Defendant William (Wilson) willfully deceived and exploited the elderly plaintiff through fraud,” claimed the suit. “Defendant William (Wilson) conveyed false material misrepresentation knowing it was false ... conveyed a false material representation as a positive assertion without knowledge whether it’s false or true.”
  
  The suit demands the money back and property from William Wilson and attorney fees to recover the deed from Russell, plus punitive damages decided by a jury.

Source: 92-year-old suing son and lawyer for fraud during divorce proceeding.

NYC Federal Jury Convicts Ringleader Of Nationwide Loan Modification Scam That Used Govt's HAMP Program As Backdrop To Fleece Over 30,000 Homeowners Out Of Over $30 Million

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (New York City):

• [D]IONYSIUS FIUMANO, a/k/a “D,” was found guilty [] in Manhattan federal court of orchestrating a massive mortgage modification scheme through which he and his co-conspirators defrauded more than 30,000 American homeowners out of a total of approximately $31 million.
  
  Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Dionysius Fiumano was the ringleader of a heartless criminal conspiracy that preyed on desperate homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. Claiming to offer a lifeline to homeowners, Fiumano deceived tens of thousands into paying exorbitant fees for mortgage modification services they never got.”
  
  Special Inspector General Christy Goldsmith Romero said: “A jury convicted Dionysius Fiumano for his role in orchestrating an elaborate advance fee scheme that defrauded more than 30,000 struggling homeowners out of more than $30 million. Using the Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) as the backdrop for their fraud, Fiumano and his co-conspirators conned homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgage payments into believing their mortgages were being modified. In reality, they did little or nothing to help these homeowners. And when consumer complaints attracted attention, the co-conspirators renamed their companies to continue the fraud. These crimes were uniquely despicable, as HAMP is a free federal government housing program designed to help those most impacted by the financial crisis. Rather than offer relief, Fiumano added to the distress and despair of thousands of innocent Americans struggling to stay in their homes.”
  
  According to the Indictment other filings in Manhattan federal court and the evidence presented at trial:
  
  FIUMANO was the general manager of sales at Vortex Financial Management, Inc., a/k/a Professional Marketing Group, a/k/a Professional Legal Network (“PMG”), an Irvine, California, company that offered purported “mortgage modification” services, that is, assistance persuading the homeowner’s lender to agree to a modification to the terms of the homeowner’s mortgage to make it more affordable. In that capacity, FIUMANO oversaw PMG’s sales staff of approximately 65 telemarketers and managers.
  
  From about November 2011 through May 2014, FIUMANO perpetrated a scheme to defraud homeowners in dire financial straits who were seeking relief through government mortgage relief programs.
  
  ***
  At FIUMANO’s direction, FIUMANO’s sales staff called and emailed homeowners who received PMG’s fraudulent solicitations. During these calls, in an effort to convince the homeowners to pay up-front fees, FIUMANO, through his sales staff, regularly lied to homeowners, including by saying that (a) the homeowners were retaining a “law firm” and an “attorney” who would complete a mortgage modification application and negotiate aggressively on the homeowners’ behalf with banks to modify the terms of the homeowners’ mortgages; (b) the homeowners had been “pre-approved” or “pre-qualified” to receive a mortgage modification; (c) PMG employed underwriters who would calculate and guarantee the homeowners a new, modified rate and monthly mortgage payment; and (d) the up-front fees paid by the homeowners would be paid directly to the homeowners’ lenders, to the attorneys to pay their fees, or to pay the purported “hard costs” of the modification.
  
  In truth and in fact, and as FIUMANO well knew, all of these representations were false.

Source: California Man Found Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court Of Orchestrating $31 Million Mortgage Modification Fraud Scheme (More Than 30,000 Homeowners Victimized in Largest Mortgage Modification Scheme Ever Charged).

Foreclosure Rescue Operator Faces Up To Six Years In Prison After Copping Guilty Plea To False Advertising, Misusing U.S. Government Seal In Connection w/ Peddling Loan Modification Services

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (New Haven, Connecticut):

• [J]OHN VESCERA, 60, of Dana Point, Calif., waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty [...] in New Haven to false advertising and misusing a government seal in connection with the provision of mortgage modification services.
  
  According to court documents and statements made in court, VESCERA was the President of First One Lending Corporation (“First One”) in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. During the peak of the national mortgage crisis, VESCERA and First One offered home mortgage loan modification assistance to homeowners across the United States, including in Connecticut, who were having difficulty repaying their mortgage loans.
  
  ***
  First One [] misrepresented its status with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). First One employees were instructed to inform homeowners that “[w]e’re a HUD approved lender and we represent the government loan modification programs."
  
  In addition, certain of First One’s forms claimed that the company provided “HUD . . . Housing Counseling assistance” and bore HUD’s seal.
  
  In truth, First One had no affiliation with the government mortgage loan assistance programs and was not licensed or approved by HUD for housing counseling or home mortgage loan modification services.
  
  VESCERA pleaded guilty to one count of misuse of a government seal and one count of false advertising. Chief Judge [Janet C.] Hall scheduled sentencing for July 26, 2016, at which time VESCERA faces a maximum term of imprisonment of six years.

Source: Owner of California Company That Offered Mortgage Assistance Pleads Guilty to False Advertising Charges.

S. California Man Gets Pinched For Allegedly Fleecing Homeowner In Foreclosure Out Of Over $10K In Loan Modification Ripoff; Prior Bank Robbery Conviction Compels Judge To Belt Suspect w/ $120K Bail

From the Office of the Orange County, California District Attorney:

• A man previously dubbed the Assistant Coach Bandit by the FBI has been charged for defrauding over $10,000 from a woman through a loan modification scam.
  
  James Allen Ramsdell, 51, Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of grand theft by false pretense, one felony count of foreclosure consultant unlawful advance fee, one misdemeanor count of loan modification unlawful advance, and a sentencing enhancement for a prior prison conviction of a serious and violent felony for bank robbery in 2009 in the San Diego federal court for bank robbery.
  
  If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of eight years and four months in state prison. He is being held on $120,000 bail [...].
  
  Between March 1, 2014, and Nov. 1, 2015, Ramsdell is accused of offering to provide loan modification services to Jane Doe. He is accused of illegally collecting an upfront fee of approximately $920, after the victim had received a bank notice of default on her mortgage.
  
  Ramsdell is accused of instructing the victim to write multiple checks to complete the loan modification but never performing any services. Ramsdell is accused of operating his fraudulent loan modification/foreclosure consultant firm under the fictitious name of Ramsdell Consulting. He is accused of using the fictitious name of Melissa Hurley when communicating with Jane Doe. The defendant is accused of receiving multiple checks from the victim and cashing them, defrauding over $10,000 from Jane Doe.
  
  After having never received modifications on her home loan, Jane Doe submitted a fraud report to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, who investigated this case and arrested the defendant [on] Friday, April 29, 2016.
  
  Prior Prison Conviction for Bank Robbery
  
  On July 6, 2009, Allen pleaded guilty to robbing a Washington Mutual bank branch in San Diego County in 2008 and four other banks in Orange County in the Cities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Tustin. Ramsdell had been coaching youth baseball and soccer in Orange County and the FBI dubbed him the Assistant Coach Bandit.
  
  Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Damon Tucker at (714) 648-3615.

Source: Man Dubbed Assistant Coach Bandit Charged For Defrauding Over 10,000 From Woman Through Loan Modification Scam.

Homeowner Accuses Wells Fargo Of Allowing Unauthorized Withdrawals From Bank Accounts, Denying Reimbursements Of Missing Money, Then Initiating Foreclosure Proceedings On Her Residence When She Couldn't Pay Her Mortgage

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the The Pennsylvania Record reports:

• Attorneys for Wells Fargo Bank in Philadelphia are seeking to enter arbitration proceedings in the case of an account holder who claimed the bank did not secure her accounts and permitted a number of unauthorized withdrawals to be made.
  
  Alexis G. Cocco filed a petition to compel arbitration on Jan. 29, citing a clause in the account agreement Surf City, N.J., plaintiff Jennifer K. Ennis signed with Wells Fargo which stipulates any disputes regarding the account are to be resolved through arbitration with the bank, in lieu of entering a courtroom.
  
  The petition also seeks a stay of proceedings while the petition is pending and once the action is ordered to arbitration, plus a reimbursement of expenses for drafting the petition and defending a case in “an improper forum” – which totals $2,000.
  
  On Thursday, court records stated this case has been listed for a future settlement conference.
  
  Ennis alleges since Jan. 1, 2013, she held three separate bank accounts with Wells Fargo. Ennis noticed she began to suffer losses of funds from all of her accounts, as a result of more than one individual using her bank card and from over-the-counter withdrawals made without her consent.
  
  Ennis says she reported the losses to police and criminal authorities, who informed her she should obtain video proof of the unauthorized withdrawals to aid in the investigation and prosecution of the crime. When Ennis requested video footage from Wells Fargo, she says the bank denied her request – and further denied her requests for reimbursements of the missing funds from her accounts.
  
  Ennis claims this affected the payment schedule associated with her bills, one of which was a mortgage on her home held by Wells Fargo. The bank then initiated foreclosure proceedings on her residence when the mortgage was not paid.
  
  Ennis alleges Wells Fargo breached its express and implied contractual duties to keep her funds secure and restore the losses from the unauthorized withdrawals. Ennis believes she suffered a loss of funds, disparagement of credit standing, direct and consequential damages and other monetary losses. Ennis filed suit for breach of contract, negligence, gross negligence, and extreme and outrageous conduct.
  
  The plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50,000, plus interest and costs in this case.

Source: Wells Fargo Bank attorney seeking account dispute to be sent to arbitration.

Detroit-Area Couple Keep Their Home Previously Auctioned Off Over Unpaid Taxes; Winning Bidder Backs Out Of Deal, Tiring Of Delays Caused By Local Homeowner Lawsuits Over Allegedly Faulty, Undelivered Foreclosure Notices; Postal Service Refunds $75K In County Postage Fees Over Missing Mailings

In Wayne County, Michigan, The Detroit News reports:

• A Westland couple likely will keep their home, after arguing in court they weren’t aware they were facing foreclosure over an unpaid $3,000 tax bill.
  
  Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree said his staff and an attorney for Ron and Bernice King are working on a deal that would allow the Kings to keep the home after the delinquent 2012 taxes are paid.
  
  The Detroit News last month profiled the couple in an article about allegations that foreclosure notices don’t always arrive by mail or get posted on doors. They said they sent payments to the county and believed they were on a plan to avoid foreclosure.
  
  “It is a world of relief,” Ron King, 57, said Friday. “I was scared to death about having to start over. And my health is not good.” “I am glad the Wayne County Treasurer was able to work with us.”
  
  Sabree said the buyer who bid $40,000 on the King’s home at last fall’s auction backed out recently because of the delay caused by the Kings’ lawsuits.
  
  “The buyer got tired of waiting, so that enabled us to sit down at the table and work something out,” Sabree said.
  
  County officials hadn’t commented directly on the Kings’ or other similar lawsuits because they are pending, but have said in court filings they followed the law.
  
  Along with the Kings, 18 families have sued Wayne County and several suburbs in federal court, alleging their foreclosures were illegal because the owners didn’t receive notices and believed they had more time to pay taxes and save their properties. All face possible eviction. A hearing in federal court is scheduled for June.
  
  Among the allegations: certified letters are listed “in transit” more than two years after being mailed. And owners say they never received a foreclosure notice from the company tasked with personally visiting properties.
  
  The Detroit News obtained records of certified mailings through the Freedom of Information Act and sampled 1,000 of the 333,000 sent by Wolverine Solutions in late 2014. The News found more than half are still listed in the U.S. post office’s tracking system as “in transit.”
  
  Sabree said his office hasn’t always received proof from the U.S. Postal Service that a person signed for the letter or that delivery was attempted. But he said he has no evidence to believe the post office didn’t try to deliver the certified letters.
  
  The postal service has agreed to refund the county $75,000 over the problems, Sabree said on Friday. The county spends about $1 million a year on postage for mailings.

For more, see Westland couple to keep home after foreclosure fight.

Buffalo Couple Who Lost Home To Foreclosure Over Unpaid $440 Garbage User Fee Regain Title To Premises After Two-Year Ordeal When Settlement Reached With Winning Bidder

In Buffalo, New York, WIVB-TV Channel 4 reports:

• It was December, 2013: the City of Buffalo had foreclosed on the house Dawn Gonzales and her husband bought for Dawn’s parents on Esser Avenue, and the property was sold at an In Rem auction, two months earlier, to cover a $440 bill for unpaid garbage user fees.
  
  The New Jersey investor who bought the property sent a relative to the house and told Dawn’s parents, Lillian and Bob Rabatoy, they would have to start paying rent or move.
  
  Gonzales was furious when she contacted Call 4 Action, “My mother has Parkinsons, my father is sick. They don’t want to leave the house.”
  
  The Rabatoys were all packed up but had no place to go, then shortly after the Call 4 Action story aired, one of Buffalo’s prominent law firms took their case, pro bono. After more than two years of uncertainty the Rabatoys’ ordeal ended and the case was settled, returning the property to the Gonzales’.
  
  But there was a confidentiality agreement attached to the settlement, precluding anyone connected to the case from discussing the terms, although court records show the New Jersey investor was compensated for his troubles.
  
  “User fees really are the nemesis of the whole system at this point,” said Buffalo attorney Loran Bommer who is a seasoned veteran at representing property owners whose homes or businesses have landed in foreclosure.
  
  The city’s user fees are a hidden danger to the unschooled, even to the banks, according to Bommer, “When it is all said and done the bank, after I speak to them, they will look at me and say, ‘what is a user fee? Why don’t we know about this? Where did this come from?’”
  
  Bommer said the garbage user fee is often a mystery because it is paid separately from property taxes, and even at separate windows at City Hall. A simple solution, said Bommer, would be a written reminder on individual tax bills that user fees have to be paid separately from taxes.
  
  “If there was that line item on the tax bill that said, don’t forget your user fee, I think that would solve at least 50% of the cases that go into court after the In Rem auction process.”
  
  City officials have made some changes in their foreclosure process, in recent years. Councilmembers now try to notify all homeowners whose properties are on the auction block in their respective districts, and officials wait a little longer before foreclosing due to unpaid user fees.
  
  But the safety net that is supposed to protect property owners from unnecessary foreclosure still has a big hole in it–and it needs a patch.

Source: Two-year foreclosure nightmare ends for elderly couple.

Manhattan DA Pinches Disbarred Lawyer, Two Others In Alleged Scheme To Loot & Launder Approx. $5 Million From Attorney Trust Accounts; Victims Include Dementia-Suffering Client Clipped For $500K

From the Office of the New York County District Attorney:

• Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced the indictment of ELI LUSKI, 53, as well as brothers JAY KATZ, 68, and DAVID KATZ, 62, a former attorney, for conspiring to steal and launder approximately $5 million from the escrow accounts of Manhattan-based attorneys over the course of six years.
  
  ***
  According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, from January 2010 to February 2016, LUSKI, JAY KATZ, and DAVID KATZ conspired to enlist attorneys to steal money held in attorney escrow accounts, which contain funds that attorneys hold in trust for their clients and others. The defendants are charged with conspiring to steal approximately $5 million from three escrow accounts, and directing the stolen funds to designated bank accounts.
  
  Beginning in January 2010, DAVID KATZ, at the time a licensed attorney in New York, allegedly misappropriated more than $900,000 from his own attorney escrow account and transferred the majority of the funds to LUSKI. On June 25, 2013, DAVID KATZ was disbarred from the practice of law by the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department for similar conduct.
  
  After stealing from DAVID KATZ’s attorney escrow account, LUSKI, JAY KATZ, and DAVID KATZ allegedly enlisted two other attorneys to steal funds from their own escrow accounts on the defendants’ behalf.
  
  Over the course of the next three years, LUSKI, JAY KATZ, and DAVID KATZ, assisted by one of the co-conspirators, stole more than $3 million from that attorney’s escrow account through unauthorized transfers to the defendants’ personal and business accounts, and to third parties’ accounts on behalf of the defendants. The defendants, with the help of the second co-conspirator, are additionally charged with stealing nearly $500,000 from an escrow account containing funds that a Court expressly ordered that attorney to hold for safekeeping on behalf of a client suffering from dementia.(1)
  
  Upon receiving the funds, LUSKI and JAY KATZ worked together to launder more than $1 million through check-cashing businesses and through one of JAY KATZ’s businesses, Banner Realty Company.

Source: DA Vance: Three Men, Including Former Attorney, Charged with Conspiring to Steal and Launder $5 Million from Attorney Escrow Accounts.

See, generally, Frederick Miller, "If You Can't Trust Your Lawyer .... ?", 138 Univ. of Pennsylvania Law Rev. 785 (1990) for more on the apparent, long-standing tolerance for deceit by many in the legal profession:

• This tolerance to deception is encouraged by the profession's institutional civility. Seldom is a fig called a fig, or a shyster a shyster. No, our euphemisms are wonderfully polite: "frivolous conduct," or a "lack of candor;" or "law-office failure;" or, heaven forbid, a "peculation," a "defalcation," or a "negative balance" in a law firms's trust account.
  
  There is also widespread reluctance on the part of lawyers --- again, some lawyers --- to discuss publicly, much less acknowledge, that they have colleagues who engage in deceit and unprofessional conduct.
  
  This reluctance is magnified when the brand of deceit involves the theft of client money and property, notwithstanding that most lawyers would agree that stealing from clients is the ultimate ethical transgression.[...] The fact is, however, that theft of client property is not an insignificant or isolated problem within the legal profession. Indeed, it is a hounding phenomenon nationwide, and probably the principal reason why most lawyers nationwide are disbarred from the practice of law.

---------------------------

(1) The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York manages and distributes money collected from annual dues paid by members of the state bar to members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by the dishonest conduct of a member of the New York bar acting as an attorney or a fiduciary.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that attempt to clean up the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes a listing for Canadian client protection funds, courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.

See generally:

• N.Y. fund for cheated clients wants thieving lawyers disbarred, a July, 2015 Associated Press story on this Fund reporting that the Fund's executive director, among other things, is calling for prompt referral to the local district attorney when the disciplinary committee has uncontested evidence of theft by a lawyer injuring a client or an admission of culpability;
  
  When Lawyers Steal the Escrow, a June, 2005 New York Times story describing some cases of client reimbursements ("With real estate business surging and down-payment amounts rising with home prices, the temptation for a lawyer to filch money from a bulging escrow account and later repay it with other clients' money has never been greater, said lawyers who monitor the thefts."),
  
  Thieving Lawyers Draining Client Security Funds, a December, 1991 New York Times story that gives some-real life examples of how client security funds deal with claims and the pressures the administrators of those funds may feel when left insufficiently financed as a result of the misconduct of a handful of lawyer/scoundrels.

Another Attorney (68-Years Old) Nearing The End Of His Career Gets Pinched For Alleging Swindling Trust Account Cash From At Least Two Clients While Both Were Subject To Ongoing Bankruptcy Proceedings; Suspect Had Recently Resigned From State Bar Over Same Allegations

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, The Connecticut Law Tribune reports:

• A longtime former New Haven bankruptcy attorney who recently resigned from the bar over allegations of mishandling client funds is now facing a federal criminal charge. Peter Ressler, 68, of Woodbridge, was charged April 25 with embezzlement of debtors' funds, according to the Connecticut U.S. Attorney's Office.
  
  Ressler appeared the same day before U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel in Bridgeport and was released on a $100,000 bond. If convicted, Ressler could face up to five years' imprisonment.
  
  The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut alerted the U.S. Attorney's Office after it reportedly identified criminal conduct by Ressler in at least two cases involving debtors he represented, according to prosecutors. One debtor gave Ressler $450,000, the proceeds of a legal settlement, which Ressler was supposed to hold for the benefit of the debtor and its creditors. A different debtor entrusted Ressler's firm with about $321,409. Ressler allegedly embezzled most of the funds for his own purposes.(1)
  
  The FBI has an ongoing investigation into the matter. Special Agent Timothy Simao wrote in an affidavit dated April 25 that Ressler, in interviews, acknowledged embezzling money from two debtors, 329 Green Street and Eternal Enterprise Inc., "as well as to a wider range of embezzlements involving other clients.
  
  "Ressler has been cooperating with authorities to unpack the scope of the relevant losses caused by his actions," Simao wrote.
  
  ***
  Ressler submitted his written resignation from the Connecticut bar on March 18, and has waived the privilege of applying for readmission. He appeared in New Haven Superior Court for a hearing and formal court acceptance of his resignation and waiver on April 7.
  
  Ressler had self-reported to the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel that he violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, including Rule 1.15, which deals with the safekeeping of property, and Rule 8.4 (4), which includes misconduct, specifically engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

For more, see Feds Charge Former Conn. Bankruptcy Attorney With Embezzlement (may require paid subscription; if no subscription, TRY HERE, then click appropriate link for the story).

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Bankruptcy Attorney Charged with Embezzling Funds.

See, generally, Frederick Miller, "If You Can't Trust Your Lawyer .... ?", 138 Univ. of Pennsylvania Law Rev. 785 (1990) for more on the apparent, long-standing tolerance for deceit by many in the legal profession:

• This tolerance to deception is encouraged by the profession's institutional civility. Seldom is a fig called a fig, or a shyster a shyster. No, our euphemisms are wonderfully polite: "frivolous conduct," or a "lack of candor;" or "law-office failure;" or, heaven forbid, a "peculation," a "defalcation," or a "negative balance" in a law firms's trust account.
  
  There is also widespread reluctance on the part of lawyers --- again, some lawyers --- to discuss publicly, much less acknowledge, that they have colleagues who engage in deceit and unprofessional conduct.
  
  This reluctance is magnified when the brand of deceit involves the theft of client money and property, notwithstanding that most lawyers would agree that stealing from clients is the ultimate ethical transgression. [...] The fact is, however, that theft of client property is not an insignificant or isolated problem within the legal profession. Indeed, it is a hounding phenomenon nationwide, and probably the principal reason why most lawyers nationwide are disbarred from the practice of law.

-----------------------------

(1) The Client Security Fund is a fund established by the rules of the Connecticut Superior Court to provide reimbursement to individuals who have lost money or property as a result of the dishonest conduct of an attorney practicing law in the State of Connecticut, in the course of the attorney-client relationship. The fund provides a remedy for clients who are unable to obtain reimbursement for their loss from any other source.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that attempt to clean up the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes a listing for Canadian client protection funds, courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.

See generally:

• N.Y. fund for cheated clients wants thieving lawyers disbarred, a July, 2015 Associated Press story on this Fund reporting that the Fund's executive director, among other things, is calling for prompt referral to the local district attorney when the disciplinary committee has uncontested evidence of theft by a lawyer injuring a client or an admission of culpability;
  
  When Lawyers Steal the Escrow, a June, 2005 New York Times story describing some cases of client reimbursements ("With real estate business surging and down-payment amounts rising with home prices, the temptation for a lawyer to filch money from a bulging escrow account and later repay it with other clients' money has never been greater, said lawyers who monitor the thefts."),
  
  Thieving Lawyers Draining Client Security Funds, a December, 1991 New York Times story that gives some-real life examples of how client security funds deal with claims and the pressures the administrators of those funds may feel when left insufficiently financed as a result of the misconduct of a handful of lawyer/scoundrels.

Disbarred Last Year For For Fleecing $65K From Dead Man's Estate, Attorney (Finally) Gets Pinched By Authorities In Connection w/ Embezzlement

In Billings, Montana, the Billings Gazette reports:

• A Billings attorney disbarred last year for mishandling a client’s $300,000 settlement is now facing federal fraud charges from the case. Appearing for arraignment in U.S. District Court on April 29, Randy Scott Laedeke pleaded not guilty to two charges of wire fraud.
  
  An indictment accuses Laedeke of embezzling about $65,497 for personal expenses from a client who had received a $300,000 settlement over the death of her husband. The fraud ran for six years, from 2008 until Dec. 31, 2014, the indictment said.
  
  Prosecutor Colin Rubich alleged that Laedeke was hired to represent the estate of “W.N.,” who was killed in a car crash in 2005, and settled the case for $300,000. The heirs included the deceased’s wife and daughter.
  
  Laedeke, under the terms of his contract, deducted $184,599 for his fee and legal expenses, leaving $115,401 to distribute among the heirs. He dispersed $49,903 to W.N.’s wife, leaving $65,497 that should have been distributed among the other heirs, Rubich said.
  
  Instead, Laedeke used the money for personal expenses, the prosecutor said.
  
  Last year, the Montana Supreme Court disbarred Laedeke over his handling of the case, in which W.N. was identified as William Newberg.
  
  Laedeke had been on an indefinite suspension since January 2015 for another complaint and had requested an additional suspension, not disbarment. The court said no.
  
  The Supreme Court justices, in their ruling, agreed with the recommendations from the Commission on Practice, which said Laedeke’s actions “reflect blatant disregard of his obligations as an attorney, and bring disrespect to the profession as well as harm the public.”

Source: Disbarred Billings lawyer denies embezzling $65K from heirs to man's estate.

Another Light-Fingered Lawyer Gets Frog Marched to Prison, Getting Multiple Sentences Covering 4 To 12 Years For Pilfering Cash Out Of Trust/Escrow Accounts; Among Victims Were Pair Fleeced For Over $1.1 Million In Separate Real Estate Transactions

In Staten Island, New York, the Staten Island Advance reports:

• A disbarred lawyer, who swindled clients on Staten Island and in Brooklyn, is on the hook for nearly $1 million in restitution and will spend up to a dozen years in prison, to boot.(1)
  
  Robert Fontanelli was sentenced [] in state Supreme Court, St. George, to one to three years behind bars and ordered to pay $55,760 to a Staten Island client whose personal-injury settlement the ex-barrister pocketed.
  
  The sentence will run concurrently to a separate sentence of four to 12 years in prison and $933,245 in restitution imposed on Fontanelli last week in Brooklyn state Supreme Court for grand larceny and fraud-related convictions.
  
  In June of last year, Fontanelli, then 49, pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to attempted second-degree grand larceny for cheating a client of more than $55,000.
  
  In December 2013, Fontanelli dropped off a check for the victim, which bounced, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case.
  
  Fontanelli, a Brooklyn-based lawyer, had represented the unidentified victim in a slip-and-fall lawsuit, which was settled for $90,000, the source said.
  
  The victim was entitled to more than $55,000 after expenses and Fontanelli's fees were deducted, said the source.
  
  In the Brooklyn case, Fontanelli had pleaded guilty in April of last year to felony counts of first- and second-degree grand larceny and scheme to defraud to satisfy two indictments against him.
  
  According to authorities, Fontanelli helped himself to more than $1 million owed a client from a real-estate sale and to more than $155,000 from another client in an unrelated property deal.
  
  The Appellate Division, Second Department, banned Fontanelli in March 2014 when he failed to cooperate with a Grievance Committee investigating the thefts in Brooklyn.

For the story, see Disbarred lawyer hooked for $989K restitution, gets prison in client swindle.

See, generally, Frederick Miller, "If You Can't Trust Your Lawyer .... ?", 138 Univ. of Pennsylvania Law Rev. 785 (1990) for more on the apparent, long-standing tolerance for deceit by many in the legal profession:

• This tolerance to deception is encouraged by the profession's institutional civility. Seldom is a fig called a fig, or a shyster a shyster. No, our euphemisms are wonderfully polite: "frivolous conduct," or a "lack of candor;" or "law-office failure;" or, heaven forbid, a "peculation," a "defalcation," or a "negative balance" in a law firms's trust account.
  
  There is also widespread reluctance on the part of lawyers --- again, some lawyers --- to discuss publicly, much less acknowledge, that they have colleagues who engage in deceit and unprofessional conduct.
  
  This reluctance is magnified when the brand of deceit involves the theft of client money and property, notwithstanding that most lawyers would agree that stealing from clients is the ultimate ethical transgression.[...] The fact is, however, that theft of client property is not an insignificant or isolated problem within the legal profession. Indeed, it is a hounding phenomenon nationwide, and probably the principal reason why most lawyers nationwide are disbarred from the practice of law.

---------------------------

(1) The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York manages and distributes money collected from annual dues paid by members of the state bar to members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by the dishonest conduct of a member of the New York bar acting as an attorney or a fiduciary.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that attempt to clean up the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes a listing for Canadian client protection funds, courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.

See generally:

• N.Y. fund for cheated clients wants thieving lawyers disbarred, a July, 2015 Associated Press story on this Fund reporting that the Fund's executive director, among other things, is calling for prompt referral to the local district attorney when the disciplinary committee has uncontested evidence of theft by a lawyer injuring a client or an admission of culpability;
  
  When Lawyers Steal the Escrow, a June, 2005 New York Times story describing some cases of client reimbursements ("With real estate business surging and down-payment amounts rising with home prices, the temptation for a lawyer to filch money from a bulging escrow account and later repay it with other clients' money has never been greater, said lawyers who monitor the thefts."),
  
  Thieving Lawyers Draining Client Security Funds, a December, 1991 New York Times story that gives some-real life examples of how client security funds deal with claims and the pressures the administrators of those funds may feel when left insufficiently financed as a result of the misconduct of a handful of lawyer/scoundrels.

Attorney Discipline: Trust Account Problems, Improper Handling Of Client Cash, Property

In the latest issue of its periodic gossip sheet, The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, recently announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 24 attorneys – disbarring four, revoking the licenses of four, suspending nine and publicly reprimanding seven. Five attorneys were also placed on probation.

Of those making this month's hit parade, the following twelve attorneys were disciplined for problems with the way they handled money held in trust, or otherwise improperly dealing with the money or property of their clients or, in one case, an attorney's employees:

• Jose Manuel Camacho, Jr., Miami, suspended until further order, effective 30 days from a Feb. 17 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2000) Camacho was found in contempt for non-compliance. He failed to comply with a trust accounting records subpoena of July 7, 2015, and he failed to respond to an official Bar inquiry dated Sept. 2, 2015. (Case No. SC15-2114)
  
  Richard Brian Carey, West Palm Beach, to be publicly reprimanded by publication, following a March 3 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2009) After being retained, Carey failed to adequately represent a client in a case to negotiate a settlement of a lien with a mortgage company. Complainant subsequently resolved the lien.
  (Case No. SC15-1986)
  
  Bradley A. Conway, Orlando, to be publicly reprimanded and, further, placed on probation for three years, following a March 3 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1993) Conway failed to comply with his professional tax obligation to the Internal Revenue Service, including failing to file and remit funds he withheld from his employees’ wages for unemployment, Social Security, Medicare and income taxes. Conway informed the Bar that his law practice had not been profitable. (Case No. SC15-1410)
  
  David Richard Damore, Daytona Beach, suspended for 60 days, effective March 17, following a Feb. 18 court order. Damore represented a criminal defendant on felony charges. In lieu of payment of legal fees, the client executed a quit claim deed in favor of the attorney, from jail. Damore directed his nonlawyer employee to notarize the deed despite the fact that she didn’t see the client execute the document. It became an issue six months later, after Damore negotiated a favorable plea agreement for the client with the state attorney’s office. (Case No. SC16-196)
  
  Robert William Darnell, Sarasota, to be publicly reprimanded by The Florida Bar Board of Governors, following a Feb. 18 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1986) Darnell had practiced law with three other attorneys and each maintained an operating and trust account. When the company dissolved, it was discovered that Darnell had failed to deposit his overhead checks into the operating account and owed for 10 months of overhead payments. A Bar audit found that Darnell failed to withdraw his earned fees from the trust account. He also made payments for firm and personal expenses directly from his trust account. Darnell had to amend several federal tax returns. (Case No. SC16-197)
  
  Wayne K. Ekren, Port Richey. The Supreme Court granted Ekren’s request for a disciplinary revocation, with leave to seek readmission after five years, effective immediately, following a Dec. 23, 2015, court order. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Disciplinary revocation is tantamount to disbarment. A disciplinary matter pending against Ekren was an allegation that he received $1,000 to represent a client while suspended and never refunded the money. (Case No. SC15-2093)
  
  Santiago Eljaiek, III, Coconut Grove, to be publicly reprimanded and, further, directed to attend ethics school, following a Feb. 18 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1999) Eljaiek represented a couple in various real estate transactions. In 2009, he notarized a warranty deed that was given to him by the husband and affixed with both signatures. Three years later, the couple filed for divorce. The wife filed a complaint against Eljaiek, alleging that during the course of the dissolution of marriage action, she discovered that her husband had transferred ownership of their condo without her knowledge. (Case No. SC15-629)
  
  Charles Francis McKinnon, Homestead. The Supreme Court granted McKinnon’s request for a disciplinary revocation, with leave to seek readmission after five years, effective immediately, following a March 3 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1996) Disciplinary revocation is tantamount to disbarment. Disciplinary matters pending against McKinnon involved allegations of misappropriation and mishandling of client trust funds; failure to comply with a grievance committee subpoena; and neglect of client matters. (Case No. SC16-4)
  
  Austin Scott O’Toole, Boston, Mass., suspended for 90 days, effective March 1, following a Feb. 11 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1991) O’Toole learned that a client was in violation of an injunction and ignored the situation. A complaint was subsequently filed against O’Toole for contempt for failure to pay plaintiffs the funds he’d received from his client. O’Toole also failed to disclose a conflict of interest between him and his client and failed to explain them to his client. (Case No. SC15-1882)
  
  Gilberto E. Sanchez, Tampa, suspended for 18 months, effective 30 days from a Feb. 25 court order. Further, upon reinstatement, Sanchez shall be placed on probation for two years. (Admitted to practice: 2004) A Bar audit revealed that Sanchez negligently handled his trust account and failed to maintain proper trust account records, which resulted in shortages on several occasions over a 2½-year period. Sanchez also commingled funds by improperly using money in his trust account to pay for firm expenses. He also failed to hold funds in his trust account that were entrusted to him for a specific purpose. (Case No. SC16-222)
  
  Catherine Elizabeth Timilty, Pinellas Park. The Supreme Court granted Timilty’s request for a disciplinary revocation, with leave to seek readmission after five years, effective 30 days from a Feb. 25 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1999) Disciplinary revocation is tantamount to disbarment. Disciplinary matters pending against Timilty involved allegations of trust account problems and failure to communicate with a client. (Case No. SC15-2338)
  
  Nikasha Michelle Wells, Mableton, Ga. The Supreme Court granted Wells’ request for a disciplinary revocation, with leave to seek readmission after five years, effective 30 days from a Feb. 25 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2007) Disciplinary revocation is tantamount to disbarment. Disciplinary matters pending against Wells involved allegations of trust account issues and failure to respond to Florida Bar disciplinary inquiries. (Case No. SC16-44)

Source: Supreme Court Disciplines 24 Attorneys.

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Note: Key discipline case files that are public record are posted to attorneys’ individual online Florida Bar profiles. To view discipline documents, follow these steps. Additional information on the discipline system and how to file a complaint are available at www.floridabar.org/attorneydiscipline.