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.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Another Attorney Gets Pinched For Allegedly Sticking Her Sticky Fingers Into Real Estate Escrow Account & Pilfering $40K Held As Downpayment In Home Sale Transaction
From the Office of the Nassau County, New York District Attorney:
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a suspended attorney from Islip has been arrested for allegedly stealing $40,000 from a mortgage escrow account. The money had been earmarked as a down payment for a home.
Nancy Enoksen, 49, was arraigned today [August 14] [...] and charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a D felony). [...] If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum of 2-1/3 to seven years in prison.
“Attorneys who betray their clients’ trust and victimize those whose interests they have an obligation to protect, disgrace their profession and when they steal, we will hold them criminally accountable,” DA Singas said.
DA Singas said in January of 2015, the complainants had retained Enoksen to represent them in the sale of their home in Broad Channel, Queens. The complainants’ buyers gave a cashier’s check for $40,000 payable to “Nancy Enoksen as Attorney” as a down payment on the house. However, in April of 2015, Enoksen’s law license was suspended due to unrelated professional misconduct. Subsequently, the complainants retained a new attorney but when it was time to close on the home in June of 2016, Enoksen is alleged to have refused to release the $40,000 down payment to the new attorney. Attempts to recover the funds by the complainants have been unsuccessful.
A review of bank records showed that over the course of several months, Enoksen moved the money from her escrow account, located at a TD Bank in Hicksville, and into her operating account. She is accused of using the money to make payments to several credit card companies and make purchases at Stop and Shop, CVS, restaurants and other retailers.
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)
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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)
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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)
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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
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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)
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ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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