NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• Brooklyn's scandal-plagued court system gets a new black eye in a scathing audit that found the borough's public administrator's office riddled with "mismanagement and laziness." The city controller's office uncovered shoddy recordkeeping, suspicious real estate deals and auctions run by a shadowy company that vanished when auditors started asking questions.

• "From the time my auditors began this audit, there seemed to be one startling revelation after another with regard to the lack of detail paid to the process of distributing and accounting for the estates of the deceased," Controller William Thompson said.

• Surrogate judges in each borough appoint a public administrator to oversee the estates of people who die without wills. Thompson's auditors found a "culture of mismanagement and laziness" in Brooklyn's public administrator office. Things were such a mess that Thompson urged all Brooklyn residents to "make out a will as soon as possible" - avoiding the risk of being bilked by the office.

For more, including descriptions of a couple of fishy-smelling deals involving real estate owned by deceased property owners, see Audit reveals shady shenanigans in Brooklyn courts.

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For an example of what happened to one alleged victim of the Brooklyn public administrator's office, see:

• Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Were Funds Pilfered from a Retired Judge’s Estate? (Supporters Say Accounting Should Reopen Criminal Probe),
• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
• NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate.

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

It appears that the Brooklyn office of the public administrator should be getting used to allegations of the "grave robbing" ripoffs of the dead, the near-dead, and others who are otherwise incapacitated, based on an April 8, 2006 story in the New York Daily News (see B'KLYN TOMB-RAID PROBE: EX-JUDGE FOCUS IN THEFTS FROM VICS WITH NO WILLS):

• A WIDE-RANGING SECRET PROBE of the Brooklyn public administrator's office, its booted surrogate judge and contractors hired by the office has uncovered brazen thefts from the assets of people who died without wills, the Daily News has learned.

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

Based on the following excerpt from a June 29, 1988 story in The New York Times, shenanigans in the office of the public administrator may have been taking place for decades. See 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:

• Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested yesterday and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will. The arrests ended an elaborate two-year sting investigation into the city's Public Administrators' offices, said the city Investigations Commissioner, Kevin B. Frawley, who conducted the inquiry with State Attorney General Robert Abrams and State Comptroller Edward V. Regan. An inspector for the Queens Public Administrator's office was arrested in March. The city's Public Administrators' offices handle the estates of people who have died without leaving a properly executed will.(1)

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

According to a June 1, 2009 Daily News story, the Bronx public administrator's office hasn't been so hot lately, either. See Audit Court invested Bronx estate cash illegally.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of public administrators' / public guardians' offices when taking over the assets of the dead and incapacitated.

(1) For other stories involving the Brooklyn Public Administrator's office, see:

• New York Daily News (August 18, 2002): WRINGING OUT THE DEAD IN BROOKLYN (If there's no will, court grabs big hunk of estate),
• New York Daily News (May 29, 2002): Spitzer to probe legal fees (Eying payouts to Brooklyn Surrogate Court counselor),
• New York Daily News (October 28, 2005): 31G RAISE FOR COURT OFFICIALS: SOME ADMINISTRATORS UNDER FIRE,
• New York Daily News (May 15, 2002): B'KLYN COURT PANEL CLOSED TO THE NEWS (The oversight commission for state Surrogate Court administrators marked its first meeting in five years yesterday by barring a Daily News reporter from the session),
• New York Daily News (May 9, 2006): L.I. LAND SALE SCANDAL. COURT OKD AUCTION OF DEEDED SITE (Officials in Brooklyn Surrogate's Court improperly sold off a piece of East End real estate - never notifying the property's rightful owners, the Daily News has learned),
• New York Daily News (December 16, 2008): AG seeking payback on estate fees (Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seeking to reopen 170 estates of deceased people in order to reimburse heirs who were gouged by a greedy Brooklyn lawyer, the Daily News has learned. Legal papers were filed yesterday in Surrogate's Court to recover exorbitant legal fees charged by Louis Rosenthal, former counsel to the Brooklyn public administrator),
• New York Times (February 3, 1988): Wider Inquiry Into Stealing From the Dead (New York State and city investigators, expanding their inquiry into thefts of property from the dead, seized accounting records yesterday from Public Administrators' offices in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx),
• New York Law Journal (July 1, 2005): Judge Loses Seat After Showing 'Shocking Disregard' for Law (New York state's high court finds actions constituted removable misconduct). daily eagle retired judge

Federal Jury Slams Two West Palm Beach Lawyers For $16.4 Million Civil Court Judgment For Their Roles In "Holding Captive" A Wealthy 97-Year Old Texas Man In South Florida While Fleecing Him For "Unnecessary & Excessive Fees" Of $1 Million In Guardianship Racket

In West Palm Beach, Florida, the Palm Beach Post reports:

• Advocates for guardianship reform clamored in vain for years that Florida’s system failed to properly protect incapacitated seniors, that its primary purpose had been perverted to line the pockets of greedy attorneys and professional guardians with the hard-earned life savings of the elderly.
  
  Now they can point to a new federal verdict awarding a whopping $16.4 million in a lawsuit claiming that two West Palm Beach attorneys breached their fiduciary duties while running up “unnecessary and excessive fees” of $1 million.
  
  “It’s really kind of a landmark case,” said Julian Bivins, who brought the suit as the personal representative of the estate of his father, Oliver, a Texas oil man. “It sends a message to these unscrupulous lawyers and guardians that they are not going to be able to get away with it anymore.”
  
  The Bivins guardianship case emanates out of the court of Circuit Judge Martin Colin, the subject of an investigation by The Palm Beach Post into the judge’s conflicts of interest because his wife is a professional guardian.
  
  Colin in open court had heaped praise on the attorneys who lost the case and refused to hold a hearing to decide whether the attorneys had “secretly” kept money from the sale of one of Oliver Bivins’ properties in an escrow account for more than a year, according to court documents.
  
  The Post’s award-winning series featuring Colin, Guardianships: A Broken Trust, resulted in an overhaul of guardianship rules in Palm Beach County. Colin retired last December after he was transferred from the Probate & Guardianship Division because of The Post’s reporting.
  
  Weeks after The Post published, Julian Bivins filed a motion to disqualify Colin, saying his concerns about the “close-knit atmosphere of the Guardians, their attorneys” and Colin had been “glaringly brought to light” in the stories.
  
  Held captive?
  
  The younger Bivins said he felt his father was “held captive” in South Florida by the guardianship so the attorneys could liquidate real estate assets — including a New York City Upper East Side mansion — and charge more fees. Colin granted an emergency order prohibiting the senior from returning to Texas.
  
  The jury found on July 28 that attorneys Brian M. O’Connell and Ashley N. Crispin of the Ciklin, Lubitz & O’Connell firm not only breached their fiduciary duty but committed professional negligence.
  
  The lawsuit claimed they failed to get appraisals on two high-end New York City properties being divided among family. They were not of equal value and as a result, Julian Bivins ended up with one that was worth millions less than other.
  
  The jury’s decision to award $16.4 million makes up the difference.
  
  But the fight over the property is far less important to reform advocates than the fact that attorneys who carry out the wishes of professional guardians and are paid with the ward’s money were held accountable.
  
  “This case in one of the longtime hotbeds of guardianship abuse is a tipping point,” said Sam Sugar, director of Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship.
  
  “This first salvo sends a serious message not only to the predatory guardians and lawyers who have been exploiting families all over Florida for decades but especially to the probate judges without whose complicity these cases could never happen.”
  
  Oliver Bivins died at age 97 in March 2015. He ended up in the court-ordered guardianship when he visited his condominium in Palm Beach in 2011 and a social worker became concerned with his well-being, according to court documents.
  
  Oliver Bivins appeared to be coming to Florida for a weekend vacation, leaving his refrigerator in Texas fully stocked, plaintiff attorneys told the jury. His son said he often didn’t visit his Palm Beach condominium for years at a time.
  
  The verdict takes a further step toward re-establishing that attorneys are supposed to represent the incapacitated ward, not the court-appointed professional guardian — a position many lawyers have argued in court to thwart families trying to rein in a fee frenzy.
  
  “If it wasn’t for me, they would have completely depleted my dad’s estate,” said Julian Bivins, who now lives in Palm Beach. “I’ve been fighting them from the beginning to just get him back to Texas. Finally, I got him back there 35 days before he passed away.”
  
  As with many family members who challenge the status quo in guardianship in Palm Beach County, Julian said he found himself relentlessly attacked in court. He was even sued by one of the guardians in the case, Curtis Rogers.
  
  The biggest toll, he said, though, was his relationship with his father as Rogers told the elder Bivins that his son only wanted his money. “He turned my dad against me,” Julian Bivins said. “I could never explain to my father how he was being held for ransom, how they wouldn’t let him go.”
  
  [...]

For more, see Jury hits lawyers with $16.4M for doing senior wrong in guardianship.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching ripoff reimbursement

Bklyn Judiciary, Guardianship System Strike Again; Hijack Supervision Over Elderly Widow, Control Over Her Assets; Victim "I Was Sold Like A Slave..."

In Brooklyn, New York, the The Washington Examiner reports:

• Ella Card had it made in America. After emigrating to the United States from her native Belize, she earned a masters degree and taught third grade in the New York City Public School system for three decades.



• She and her late husband Raymond, who died as a result of taking the recalled painkiller Vioxx, had saved and invested their money wisely, so Card was looking forward to a comfortable retirement.



• But her well-laid plans took a terrible detour when she suffered temporary dementia after being struck by a car in 2010. Her two sons, whom she says lost their jobs as corrections officers due to drug abuse, petitioned the Brooklyn Supreme Court for guardianship over her affairs.



• And after recovering from her injuries, the 73-year-old widow -- a naturalized U.S. citizen who retains dual citizenship in Belize -- finds herself in an ongoing guardianship nightmare that has now gone international.



• On March 16, Brooklyn Judge Betsy Barros held one of five ex parte hearings on Card, appointing a temporary guardian. On April 26, Barros ignored Card's durable power of attorney, irrevocable trust, and two quit claim deeds and read the still-very-much-alive woman's will in open court before declaring her "incapacitated."



• The court transcript obtained contains this Kafkaesque passage: "... the Incapacitated Person, Ella Card, vigorously contested the proceedings." "It felt like a hanging. I was the only one sticking up for my mother," Card's 43-year-old daughter Cindy told us. "Every one of them standing there and allowing it knew my mother was not incapacitated."



• Card was then placed under the near total control of a court-appointed guardian, The Vera Institute of Justice, located in the same Brooklyn courthouse. The Vera Institute of Justice's website describes it as "an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit center for justice policy and practice." According to IRS records, $16.7 million of its $24 million annual funding comes from government grants.



• Card told The Washington Examiner that The Vera Institute of Justice promptly froze all of her assets (valued at approximately $1 million), including her teachers' pension, began collecting rent on the property she owned, and forced her to live in her own home without heat, hot water or access to her own money.



• Card petitioned the court to remove the guardianship. Her petition was denied. She had to borrow money to travel to Washington where, on June 14, she was one of 40 people from 17 states to tell a congressional listening session chaired by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, about abuses of the guardianship system that strip vulnerable seniors and disabled people of their civil and constitutional rights.



• Card was the only witness deemed "incapacitated" to testify for herself: "I was sold like a slave to The Vera Institute ... which closed all of my bank accounts, took control of my money, filed a change of address to get my mail, demanded keys to my properties and contacted Belize to try to take control of my property and bank accounts in that country. ..."



• Card says her niece, who works in the American consulate, told her that the Belizean authorities confirmed she was living there, but refused to give The Vera Institute of Justice any other information.



• The Examiner has learned that Nestor Mendez, Belize's ambassador to the United States, read a November letter from Card requesting his protection and passed it on to the embassy's legal division for follow-up. Karen Goldstein, the Vera Institute of Justice's general counsel in New York, said she would look into the matter. We're still waiting for her response.



• Meanwhile, the feisty Card -- who clearly demonstrated her mental and verbal acuity in an interview with this newspaper -- continues to fight for her freedom.(1)

Source: Retired NYC school teacher fights for her freedom.

(1) For other posts on the abuse of the guardianship system and 'granny-snatching' incidents, see:

• State-Sanctioned Ripoffs Of The Elderly By Government Agencies Running Rampant On Both Sides Of The Atlantic?,
• NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
• NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
• Legalized, Court-Sanctioned Scam Allows For Vulnerable "Senior-Snatching" In Kidnapping, Ripoff Racket Of The Elderly In Arizona???,
• The BC Public Guardian's Office: A Ruthless Organization Abusing The Rights Of The Very People It Claims To Protect?,
• Estate looting 101: guarding against guardian abuse,
• Elderly Couple "Snatched" By State Of Texas Celebrate Homecoming After One Year Of Nursing Home "Captivity" - Home Went Into Foreclosure, Car Repo'd,
• No Fee For Brooklyn Attorney, Ordered To Pay Back $400K+ In Allegedly Improper Payments Taken In Guardianship Matter Of Retired Judge,
• Uniform Laws Needed to Deal With Interstate 'Granny Snatching',
• The "Granny-Snatching" Phenomenon - Filing for Guardianship,
• Granny Snatching - growing menace in North America,
• Dealing with 'Granny Snatching' (Model law aims to untangle adult guardianship),
• Utah the first state to enact anti-'granny-snatching' law. granny-snatching

Out-Of-Control Court-Appointed Guardians Strike Again; Racket Yields Big Profits For Unscrupulous Players, While Elderly Victims Fear Losing Everything, Including Homes

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:

• Some of the people who need help the most are being robbed of their money and freedom.
  
  Contact 13's investigation of Nevada's guardianship system has revealed double-billing, bank accounts drained and families torn apart. Some have lost even more.
  
  "Everything in this house is a memory," said Phyllis Moskowitz-Crowe as she looked wistfully around her modest home.
  
  Moskowitz-Crowe has traveled the world, but for the past year and a half she wasn't allowed to step through her own front door.
  
  "All of a sudden my whole life just blew up. And to this day I don't know why."
  
  Spring of 2014 was what Moskowitz-Crowe calls "the beginning of the worst experience of my life."
  
  The then 76-year-old was recovering in the hospital after a fall when the court granted private, for-profit guardian April Parks absolute power and control over her life and estate.
  
  The sign Moskowitz-Crowe put on her door says "Let Freedom Ring" but the sign Parks put in the window means quite the opposite.
  
  In fact, when Parks took over Moskowitz-Crowe's home, at some point she stopped paying the HOA dues so Moskowitz-Crowe says she nearly lost the house and everything in it.
  
  "I'm alone. I was independently wealthy. I have no bills. Except I have a small reverse mortgage on my house. That was it! Perfect target!"
  
  The homeowners' association foreclosed on Moskowitz-Crowe's home because the dues weren't being paid.
  
  But Moskowitz-Crowe had no idea that was happening because at the time, she didn't even know she was under guardianship, claiming she was kept in the dark about her own affairs.
  
  "My home being seized, my car being seized. My bank accounts being emptied. My mail. 496 days without my mail to date."
  
  "This is a huge scam!" said senior advocate Rana Goodman, who's also a member of the newly-created State Guardianship Commission.
  
  "It's morally so reprehensible to me that they literally go in and clean these people's bank accounts out -- leaving them destitute -- and then take their home away from them too," Goodman said.
  
  With help from advocates and friends, Moskowitz-Crowe paid the past due HOA fees and stopped the foreclosure.
  
  "It was a blessing when I walked through that front door. I may be destitute. But it was like walking into a castle. That's how much it means to me."
  
  Elizabeth Indig wasn't so lucky.
  
  She and her mother share the same name. And the same emotions over what happened to Indig's home.
  
  "Completely helpless. Depressed. Out of control. Violated."
  
  While recovering in the hospital from a fall in her driveway in May, 2012, Indig was deemed to be incompetent by the court, and April Parks was made guardian.
  
  "She took control over the home and everything in the home which were trust assets. And she had no right to!"
  
  Indig says the family home was essentially stolen.
  
  Just like in Moskowitz-Crowe's case, the HOA dues weren't paid after Parks took control. The foreclosure went through.
  
  County records show the house the Indigs paid $320,000 for, was sold at auction in November, 2013 for just $22,000.
  
  All the personal property in the house should have been protected by the trust.
  
  "My mom had gold silverware sets. My mom had Hering porcelain, which is hand-painted Hungarian porcelain."
  
  But that didn't stop Parks from holding an estate sale.
  
  "A two-day estate sale," Indig said. "Everything was sold. She was even selling my mom's clothes. My mom's nightgowns."
  
  That might be expected had her mother died. But she's still very much alive. Her daughter said she could do nothing to stop it.
  
  "She locked me out. She took the keys. Changed the locks. She told the guard gate not to let me in. She told me that I would be arrested for trespassing and never be able to see my mom again if I went near the home."
  
  April Parks refused to return our multiple calls for comment on this story.
  
  At the time, we did ask her about family concerns from people like Indig.
  
  "I don't threaten them to stay out of things." Parks said. "That's not a threat to me. If you say to me, I'm gonna go to court, fine! Please go to court! I need you to have your side heard of this."
  
  Indig says the court ignored her pleas until after Contact 13's investigation exposed major shortcomings in the system.
  
  Hearing Master Jon Norheim was booted off all adult guardianship cases and the judge who replaced him signed a court order stating the "court did not give April Parks permission to do anything with trust assets and Elizabeth Indig can file a criminal complaint with the District Attorney."
  
  As for Moskowitz-Crowe, she wants to know how our state leaders can allow all this suffering.
  
  "The legislators ought to be ashamed of themselves and I mean deeply ashamed."
  
  Phyllis was recently released from guardianship and allowed to return to the home she fought for, but ironically, her battle over the house is not over.
  
  Despite the fact that she was forced into an assisted living facility while under guardianship, her reverse mortgage company now wants to take her house, saying she violated their contract by not using it as her primary residence.
  
  The nonprofit National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse says these cases are not uncommon. "Unscrupulous guardians 'flipping' wards' homes or properties for profit is a constant complaint" they hear from members across the country.

Source: Families caught up in guardianship system losing their homes.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching

Warrant-Wielding Cops Raid Court-Appointed Guardian's Office Seeking Evidence Of Alleged Abuse Of Power Over Wards; One Victim Who Lost Home To Foreclosure Now 'Serving Life Sentence' In Nursing Home; Another Barely Dodges Foreclosure, But Left Destitute

In Boulder City, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:

• Breaking news in an ongoing Contact 13 investigation as search warrants are served at multiple locations.
  
  Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears has been shining a spotlight on guardianship exploitation for nearly a year. Now law enforcement is taking an unprecedented step.
  
  
  ***
  
  As of this morning, private guardian April Parks can no longer avoid accountability over allegations of double dipping, misspent money and abuse of power. Police served search warrants at Parks' home in Boulder City and also at her office on St. Rose Parkway near the 215.
  
  The law enforcement activity spearheaded by the Attorney General's office comes about five months after Contact 13 first exposed allegations against Parks for exploiting her wards.
  
  Rudy and Rennie North. Mrs. Elizabeth Indig. Phyllis Moscowitz-Crowe. They're just a few of the more than 100 people who were made wards of the court with Parks as their guardian.
  
  Now, police are looking at what Parks did with their money and assets.
  
  Investigators from the Nevada Attorney General's office, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Boulder City Police carted out boxes of documents from Parks' office and spoke to her at her home.
  
  
  ***
  
  The joint law enforcement investigation, which includes the Clark County District Attorney, is the first of its kind and, according to affected families, it's long overdue.
  
  Rick Black, whose father-in-law died under guardianship in July, said last week to the State Guardianship Commission, "When criminal activity is identified in the Family Court historically here in Clark County, that's been ignored when it pertains to the private guardians and their lawyers."
  
  But with the service of today's warrants, that could be changing.
  
  Law enforcement's focus on Parks began in June when Boulder City Police began investigating the disappearance of eight of Parks' wards.
  
  She'd moved them without notice from Lakeview Terrace in Boulder City--leaving a trail of unpaid bills behind.
  
  Contact 13 also caught Parks double dipping into the bank accounts of Rudy and Rennie North, which she spoke about in May.
  
  
  ***
  
  Just last week, we told the story of Phyllis Moscowitz-Crowe who was left destitute and almost lost her home after Parks became her guardian. "She's so evil and so vicious even the devil wouldn't have her in his zone," Moscowitz-Crowe said.
  
  Elizabeth Indig's mother did lose her home after Parks let it slip into foreclosure. It was sold for pennies on the dollar and then Parks sold most of Mrs. Indig's clothing and belongings.
  
  "My mom is now sentenced to a life in a nursing home when we had a trust and we had made plans to keep her in her own home with all of her things until she died," Elizabeth said.
  
  We've asked the court what will become of all the people April Parks has guardianship over--now that police have seized her files, paperwork and computer equipment. We're still waiting on a response and we will stay on this story as it develops.
  

For the story, see Search warrants served as police investigate guardianship exploitation.

In a related story, see Families caught up in guardianship system losing their homes.

See generally, See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of the court-sanctioned guardianship/public administrator system. granny-snatching

Woman Wins Battle To Escape Legal Grasp Of Guardianship "Kidnapping"; Now Faces Possible Loss Of Home To Satisfy $100K+ In Unpaid Guardian, Legal Fees

In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• Isabelle Jessich went to court Friday with two goals: to regain her liberty from a court-appointed guardian and to prevent him from selling her Edina home to pay $100,000 in fees for himself and seven lawyers.

• Jessich succeeded in getting control of everything but her money, but she now faces the prospect of being sent back to a nursing home while her 17-year-old daughter could be placed in foster care.

• Jessich, 57, has been battling for 20 months to take control of her life from Joseph Vogel, a professional guardian and conservator appointed by a Hennepin County judge in December 2008 to make decisions for her. Last year, Jessich made major strides to overcome the eating disorder, neurological problems and alcoholism that had made her a ward of the court. But Vogel would not let her leave a Robbinsdale nursing home and rejoin her daughter Allison, who was left to fend for herself.

• After the Star Tribune reported on Jessich's situation in August 2009,(1) state inspectors investigated and cited Robbinsdale Rehab and Care Center for failing to release Jessich. She moved back home in December. Since then, Jessich testified Friday, she has continued with physical therapy and other recovery activities. She said she is leading a "normal life."

• But her struggle with Vogel over her finances could bring chaos back into her life. Vogel said he's owed almost $25,000, and lawyers in the case -- whose fees must be paid by Jessich -- have racked up more than $80,000 in bills.(2)

***

• [Her] house was nearly lost at a foreclosure auction, but Jessich arranged for someone to pay the back mortgage payments. Jessich refused to identify her "guardian angel," and the judge warned that failing to answer the question would hurt her position.

For more, see Edina woman gets control of life, may lose home (Isabelle Jessich got rid of her court-appointed guardian, but her house could be sold to pay legal fees).
(1) See Minneapolis Star Tribune: 'I feel like I'm in jail' (A court is keeping Isabelle Jessich in a nursing home even though a doctor says she's sane, sober and fit to leave. Is this how guardianship laws should work?).
(2) For other posts and links to other media reports on state-sanctioned, court-ordered guardianship ripoff rackets, see:

• State-Sanctioned Ripoffs Of The Elderly By Government Agencies Running Rampant On Both Sides Of The Atlantic?,
• NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
• NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
• Legalized, Court-Sanctioned Scam Allows For Vulnerable "Senior-Snatching" In Kidnapping, Ripoff Racket Of The Elderly In Arizona???,
• The BC Public Guardian's Office: A Ruthless Organization Abusing The Rights Of The Very People It Claims To Protect?,
• Estate looting 101: guarding against guardian abuse,
• Elderly Couple "Snatched" By State Of Texas Celebrate Homecoming After One Year Of Nursing Home "Captivity" - Home Went Into Foreclosure, Car Repo'd,
• No Fee For Brooklyn Attorney, Ordered To Pay Back $400K+ In Allegedly Improper Payments Taken In Guardianship Matter Of Retired Judge.

These guardianship ripoff rackets have been going on for decades, as evidenced by a New York Times story that dates back to June 29, 1988. See 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts. granny-snatching

Missouri Woman Takes Three-Year Fight To Free Elderly Mom From Court-Ordered Guardianship 'Prison' To State Legislature; Victim Said To Want To Be Around Family, Not Involuntarily Confined In Nursing Home w/ Strangers

In Sikeston, Missouri, KFVS-TV Channel 12 reports:

• The daughter of a Sikeston, Missouri woman who is fighting to get her mom out of a guardianship is taking her battle to Jefferson City.
  
  Teala Mainzer testified on Wednesday, February 1 before a Senate Committee on behalf of Senate Bill 104.
  
  Sponsored by Cape Girardeau Republican and Missouri Sen. Wayne Wallingford, the measure would require the court to prove that a spouse or family member is not able to care for that loved one before placing them with a third party like a public administrator.
  
  Mainzer's been fighting to bring her mom home for nearly three years.
  
  "My desire is to bring her back home to her family, where she wants to be," Mainzer said. "She never wanted to be in a nursing home. I mean, she wouldn't want to be under the care of a stranger. She wants to be around her children. She's happy when her kids are around."
  
  Missouri Sen. Wallingford says he's encouraged the measure will be voted out of committee in the next couple of weeks.

Source: Sikeston woman fights to get mother out of a guardianship.

Go here for earlier posts on the abuse of court-ordered guardianship to hijack control of the elderly & infirm, then pillage or otherwise deplete the victims' assets (cash, real estate, etc.) through unnecessary fees, expenditures, etc.

Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on what sounds like a cesspool that may exist in the guardianship process in New York. The story involves a retired judge with a once-sizable estate who was declared incapacitated by a state court and whose estate was placed under the supervision of a court-appointed guardian. Since that time, the retired judge's bones sound like they were picked clean. By the time a Brooklyn, New York District Attorney's criminal investigation found that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the story reports that "the once-proud judge was left homeless, without the ability to pay his own utility bills."

For more, see Were Funds Pilfered from a Retired Judge’s Estate? (Supporters Say Accounting Should Reopen Criminal Probe).

For story update, see Watchdog Group Looks at Brooklyn Court’s Handling of Retired Judge’s Estate (Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 9-14-07) - which reports:

• A respected judicial watchdog group that maintains a Web site and a paid subscription service has taken on one of the more intransigent cases to have appeared on a court docket in recent years — the guardianship case of retired Civil Court Judge John Phillips, whose supporters have cried foul over the way his once vast estate has been mishandled by a series of court-appointed attorneys, experts and judges over the years. Go here for more.

For additional reporting on the story of the alleged ripoff of the judge's assets by court-appointed guardians, see Fallen Guardian Angels - by Leah Nelson (reported in Judicial Reports).

Go here for other posts on this story.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of the public administrator's offices in New York City. daily eagle retired judge granny-snatching racket

State Client Protection Fund Steps In After Thieving Lawyer's Suicide To Cough Up Over $200K Collectively To 35 Theft Victims Over Whom He Was Court-Appointed Legal Guardian

In Columbus, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:

• Financial relief is finally coming for some of the victims of a former Columbus attorney who stole money from his court-appointed wards.
  
  More than $200,000 is being awarded collectively to 35 former wards of Paul S. Kormanik, who was the subject of a five-part Dispatch investigative series that prompted changes in the state’s guardianship system. If dispersed evenly, each former ward would receive a touch over $5,700.
  
  The money will be paid out of the Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection, which was established in 1985 to protect clients from potentially exploitative practices of attorneys.(1) All active attorneys pay into the fund through various fees associated with the profession. Previously, two claims brought forward by Kormanik wards were reimbursed a total of $28,057.11 by the board.
  
  “These situations can chip away at the public’s faith in the fiduciary responsibilities that wards entrust to their guardians, some of whom are attorneys,” said Janet Green Marbley, administrator of the fund. “It’s important for the public to understand that the fund can help rebuild that trust by reimbursing wards affected by the dishonest conduct of an attorney.”
  
  The Columbus Bar Association brought 15 charges of misconduct against Kormanik, who forfeited his law license. Over the years he amassed about 400 probate court-appointed wards.
  
  In court proceedings, Kormanik pleaded guilty to four counts of theft from an elderly or disabled person, one count of theft and five counts of tampering with records.
  
  Kormanik was found dead in 2015 of apparent suicide. He was set to appear in court later that day to face contempt of court charges after failing to pay back one of his wards.
  
  The Dispatch series invoked sweeping changes in the state’s guardianship system. The “Unguarded” series caused probate judges who award guardianship, state legislators and the Ohio Supreme Court to enact reforms.
  
  Additionally, Attorney General Mike DeWine issued guidelines in a handbook that is required to be available to every guardian in Ohio.
  
  A guardian is appointed by a probate court to manage care for the affairs of a minor or incompetent adult. Being designated a guardian or ward is “one of the most restrictive protective services available under Ohio law,” according to DeWine’s handbook.

Source: Former wards, victims of attorney, awarded total of $200,000.

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

(1) For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that sometimes help cover the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (February 2017) (includes Canadian recovery 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.

State-Sanctioned Ripoffs Of The Elderly By Government Agencies Running Rampant On Both Sides Of The Atlantic?

In Great Britain, the Daily Mail reports:

• A secret court that seizes the nest eggs of the elderly and vulnerable has triggered 3,000 complaints in the 18 months since it was set up, it was revealed [last month]. The obscure Court of Protection [of the Office of the Public Guardian] has taken control of £3.2billion in assets from those deemed unable to look after their own financial affairs because they are suffering from dementia or another mental incapacity. It adjudicates on contentious cases handled by the Office of the Public Guardian, a Ministry of Justice department which appoints 'deputies' to act for the mentally impaired when they have not written a living will.

***

• The OPG often appoints relatives as deputies, but it also gives the role to solicitors or local authority officials if family members are deemed unsuitable. Families of those suffering from dementia complain that they have been treated like criminals and sent bullying letters from the court. The OPG has also charged £23million in fees from the bank accounts of those suffering from dementia to supervise the activities of deputies. The court, which is held in private, also pays just 0.5 per cent interest on savings it has seized, far lower than can be found at many high street banks.(1)

For more, see Anger as court seizes £3.2bn from elderly.
See also:

• The secret court of living hell (Straw promises to review Court of Protection after MoS exposes shocking catalogue of flaws),
• U.K. guardianship controversies mirror U.S. concerns.

(1) For similar stories of alleged state-sanctioned ripoffs of the elderly, infirm and others deemed unable to take care of themselves by government agencies from the North American side of the Atlantic, see:

• Brooklyn, New York: Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
• Brooklyn, New York: NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
• Bronx, New York: NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
• Los Angeles, California: Guardians For Profit: When a Family Matter Turns Into a Business (Conservators are supposed to protect the elderly and infirm. But some neglect their clients, isolate them -- even plunder their assets),
• Vancouver, British Columbia: The BC Public Guardian's Office: A Ruthless Organization Abusing The Rights Of The Very People It Claims To Protect?,
• Bell County, Texas: Estate looting 101: guarding against guardian abuse,
• Richardson, Texas: Elderly Couple "Snatched" By State Of Texas Celebrate Homecoming After One Year Of Nursing Home "Captivity" - Home Went Into Foreclosure, Car Repo'd,
• Guilford County, North Carolina: Orphan Forced To The Brink Of Foreclosure On Inherited Home Fights Back As Child Protective Agency Pockets Juvenile's Monthly Death Benefit. granny-snatching racket

Legalized, Court-Sanctioned Scam Allows For Vulnerable "Senior-Snatching" In Kidnapping, Ripoff Racket Of The Elderly In Arizona???

In Phoenix, Arizona, KNXV-TV Channel 15 reports:

• Many people move to Arizona for the weather and recreation because it's considered a haven for retirees who want to live out their golden years. But something else is happening here - something haunting. For Clair's mom, Gloria Horrigan, it was a nightmare. Clair said her mother was taken to a nursing home against her will and not allowed visitors, not even family. “It's sickening...It really truly is sickening,” said Clair.

• It was a struggle for Robert Brown to bring his wife, Rosemary, home. She was also taken and within a matter of weeks, the family wasn't allowed to see her either. What happened in both cases started in a Maricopa County Courtroom - right in front of a judge.

***

• Both Rosemary and Gloria had health issues that made it hard on their families. Families can't force a loved one to get help, but a guardian can. That's why their cases ended up in probate court, which hears issues on care for vulnerable adults. The court approved a guardian in both cases. And both times, the guardian was Sun Valley Group of Tempe.(1)(2)

For more, see Guardianship in Arizona: Elder care or elder abuse?

(1) In total, Rosemary's family allegedly spent over a $100,000 for just four months of Sun Valley Group's care, the story states. It ended when the nursing home thought Rosemary was dying. They finally allowed the family to see her. As for Gloria, her daughter said the company seemed much more interested in her mom's money than her health. The final bill being just under $500,000 and included charges for an employee to open her mail at $75 an hour, the story states. The company also allegedly failed to make Gloria's house payments, allowing it to go into foreclosure, according to the story.
According to the story, the ABC15 Investigators have found more issues plaguing Sun Valley Group. Owner Peter Frenette's wife, Heather, is co-owner, but she is being investigated by the Arizona nursing board. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Organized Crime Unit is also reportedly investigating Sun Valley Group. By state law, both investigations are secret, the story states.
The ABC15 Investigators also reportedly discovered three multi-million dollar lawsuits filed this year against the company for fraud and racketeering. Grant Goodman is the attorney for three former Sun Valley Group clients:

• “It's more of a criminal enterprise,” said Goodman, “They need to be prosecuted.” He claimed to find a pattern with these cases. “They effectively medicate them to such an extent that they really are non-functional,” said Goodman, “And they do that while they're liquidating their assets.” The three lawsuits also blame probate court. “The mob isn't this efficient, nor does the mob have the luxury of having a court rubberstamp these proceedings,” said Goodman.

Reportedly, the Arizona Supreme Court last month issued an Administrative Order to investigate probate court. One of the issues is regulating fees.
(2) The fleecing of the estates of the vulnerable and the dead in probate / surrogate's court proceedings apparently is not all that unheard of. See, for example:

• NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process.

For one New York Times story in this regard dating back over 20 years, see 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:

• Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested [] and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will. granny-snatching

Tennessee Woman Victimized By State Guardianship System That Resulted In Her Losing Her Home, Car, Other Belongings Passes Away

In Hendersonville, Tennessee, The Tennessean reports:

• A Hendersonville woman who lost her home, car and all her belongings in a highly contested conservatorship case has died.
  
  Ginger Franklin, 58, died Monday [July 3]. Her controversial conservatorship case was one of a handful that sparked a reform effort leading to a 2012 change in Tennessee law.
  
  Franklin also successfully sued the owner of a group home where she was placed against her will and put to work cleaning and cooking for other residents even as her bank account was being tapped for a monthly fee.
  
  Franklin's case came to the attention of a national organization established to halt abuse by guardians and conservators.
  
  "The system didn't just let Ginger down; it used Ginger and exploited her for its own benefit — at her expense and to her detriment, all under the deception of protection and on Judge David 'Randy' Kennedy's watch," said Elaine Renoire, head of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, referring to the Davidson County probate judge who presided over Franklin's case.
  
  Franklin ended up in a conservatorship without her knowledge in 2008 after she fell in her condo and suffered a brain injury. She was shipped to a rehab facility in another state, and when she returned to Tennessee she was told by her court-appointed conservator that her condo was empty and being sold.
  
  She was placed in a group home and put to work.
  
  A judge would later rule that Franklin was the victim of "egregious and intentional abuse."
  
  Salim Homes was ordered to pay Franklin $23,050.
  
  Franklin's conservator was Jeanan Stuart, then the public guardian for Davidson County. Stuart was eventually forced to resign from her job after a series of articles in The Tennessean raised questions about her billing practices.
  
  In Franklin's case, records showed that Stuart seized and then abandoned a car Franklin owned. It was subsequently seized by the garage owners and auctioned off.
  
  Franklin made several attempts to have the conservatorship lifted but was rebuffed by Stuart and Kennedy.
  
  She wasn't finally released from the conservatorship until 2010.

Source: Hendersonville woman who lost home, car in conservatorship case dies at 58.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching

Stench From Activities Involving NYC Public Administrators Remains Unrelenting As Allegations Of More Ripoffs Of Dead People Without Wills Continue

In The Bronx, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman let cronies loot the estates of Bronx residents who died without wills, the court's watchdog agency charged Monday. Holzman repeatedly approved dubious fees for a lawyer pal who was his chief campaign fund-raiser and allowed estate cases to languish for up to 10 years, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct charged.



• Commission probers recommended the agency's board take disciplinary action against Holzman. The penalty could range from reprimand to removal.



• The charges come two years after the Daily News exposed Holzman's lax oversight of estates in the Bronx, revealing fees the judge approved for his top fund-raiser, lawyer Michael Lippman. Lippman, who raised $125,000 for Holzman's 2001 campaign, was for years counsel to the Bronx public administrator, whose office oversees estates.(1)



• In a complaint Monday, the commission said that between 1995 and mid-2009, Holzman repeatedly approved Lippman's fees without documentation that Lippman had done anything to earn them. Over several years, Lippman collected "advances" on these fees at a time when he faced daunting debts, including foreclosure on a $400,000 mortgage and $1 million in gambling losses.



• Last year, Lippman was arrested on charges of billing for $300,000 in work he hadn't performed. He's denied wrongdoing and awaits trial.

For more, see Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman let lawyer pal loot estates, panel finds.

(1) The stench is not limited to The Bronx. See NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office.

For one New York Times story in this regard dating back over 20 years involving the alleged illegal clipping of dead people, see 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:

• Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested [] and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will.

For similar stories of alleged state-sanctioned ripoffs of the dead, as well as the elderly, infirm and others deemed by government bureaucrats to be unable to take care of themselves, see:

• Brooklyn, New York: Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
• Bronx, New York: NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
• Phoenix, Arizona: Legalized, Court-Sanctioned Scam Allows For Vulnerable Arizona Senior-Snatching In Kidnapping, Ripoff Racket???,
• Los Angeles, California: Guardians For Profit: When a Family Matter Turns Into a Business (Conservators are supposed to protect the elderly and infirm. But some neglect their clients, isolate them -- even plunder their assets),
• Vancouver, British Columbia: The BC Public Guardian's Office: A Ruthless Organization Abusing The Rights Of The Very People It Claims To Protect?,
• Bell County, Texas: Estate looting 101: guarding against guardian abuse,
• Richardson, Texas: Elderly Couple "Snatched" By State Of Texas Celebrate Homecoming After One Year Of Nursing Home "Captivity" - Home Went Into Foreclosure, Car Repo'd,
• Guilford County, North Carolina: Orphan Forced To The Brink Of Foreclosure On Inherited Home Fights Back As Child Protective Agency Pockets Juvenile's Monthly Death Benefit,
• Great Britain: State-Sanctioned Ripoffs Of The Elderly By Government Agencies Running Rampant On Both Sides Of The Atlantic?

Westchester DA Pinches Now-Disbarred Attorney For Allegedly Stealing $1.4M From Clients; Charges Come On Heels Of Suspect Buying His Way Out Of 2 To 6 Year Prison Sentence In Earlier Unrelated Case By Giving Back $150K He Fleeced From Dead People Without Wills While Working In Bronx Public Administrator's Office

In White Plains, New York, the ABA Journal reports:

• Michael Lippman, a suburban New York City lawyer, was recently charged with stealing more than $1.4 million from clients. The accusation comes a year after he settled felony grand larceny charges, stemming from allegations that as an attorney in the Bronx Public Administrator’s Office he stole more than $1.5 million from estates he settled.
  
  Regarding the more recent charges, Lohud.com reports that Lippman allegedly took the money from 13 clients, between 2010 and 2015.
  
  For the Bronx matter, Lippman in September 2014 pleaded guilty to two counts of grand larceny, and avoided jail time by paying approximately $150,000 in restitution, according to a 2014 press release from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. He was disbarred the same month that the plea agreement was announced.
  
  Murray Richman, Lippman’s lawyer, told the newspaper that his 70-year-old client has a gambling problem, and it’s unlikely he can repay the recently alleged thefts. According to Richman, Lippman has been living in his law office, located in Westchester County’s Hastings-on-Hudson.
  
  “It’s all a result of his addiction,” Richman said. “It’s ruined his life.”
  
  Lippman, charged with grand larceny, criminal tax fraud and scheme to defraud, was released on $50,000 bail.
  
  According to the Scarsdale Patch, in one instance, Lippman reportedly took approximately $159,000 from a foreclosure client who thought the money would be used to pay off a mortgage and stave off a foreclosure, and in another took $431,000 from someone planning to complete a property purchase.

Source: Lawyer who avoided jail time by paying restitution reportedly steals more money a year later.

See also:

• Hastings lawyer charged with stealing $1.4 million from clients (Michael Lippman has a severe gambling problem, said his lawyer, Murray Richman. "It's all a result of his addiction," Richman said. "It's ruined his life."),
• 70-Year-Old Scarsdale Attorney Accused of Stealing $1.5 Million from Clients: District Attorney (Michael Lippman is alleged to have swindled more than a dozen of his clients),
• Where There's No Will, There Was A Payday (Former Surrogate’s Court Official Pleads Guilty to Grand Larceny, to Repay $146K). guardianship

The 'Sewage' Continues To Ooze Out Of Big Apple's Surrogate Courts

In New York City, the latest media report on the stench emanating from the sewage that is the Big Apple's Surrogate Courts (the part of the local court system that deals with the estates of those dying without a will and that handles the appointment of guardians for those who are mentally incapacitated) recently appeared in the New York Post.

Like previous stories, the report describes recent horror stories of the decades-old ripoffs in which court insiders essentially take control of the estates and loot and otherwise pick the bones clean and seemingly get away with it.

For the story, see How insiders snatch millions from estates in the scandal-scarred Surrogate Courts.

For links to earlier media reports, see:

• NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
  
  
• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
  
  
• NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate,
  
  
• NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
  
  
• Stench From Activities Involving NYC Public Administrators Remains Unrelenting As Allegations Of More Ripoffs Of Dead People Without Wills Continue.

Politically-Influenced Receivership Appointments That Suck Cash Out Of Buildings In F'closure Origin Of Latest Stench Emanating From NY Court System

In New York City, The New York Times reports:

• In 2009, a judge in Manhattan had a lucrative appointment to hand out: oversight of a diamond district building that was drifting into foreclosure. Nearly 600 people in Manhattan had been approved for such work. But the job went to a lawyer named Mark D. Lebow, who is the husband of Patricia E. Harris, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s most trusted aide. Since then, Mr. Lebow has earned $352,000 in fees, more than $5,000 a week, according to court records.



• The foreclosure crisis has caused a surge in the number of court-appointed receivers for distressed properties in New York, and politically connected lawyers are benefiting. Yet even as the fees mount, totaling millions of dollars, it remains unclear why judges are selecting some of these lawyers, and whether the fees are being well spent.



• The court system in New York State has long been criticized for fostering a system of patronage appointments that enriches lawyers and others with ties to influential politicians. Court officials defend the process of selecting receivers for distressed properties, saying judges are looking for people who they know have done good work.

***

• When a building goes into foreclosure, a judge appoints a lawyer as a receiver who acts a property’s temporary landlord during the process. Receivers are entitled to fees that typically amount to 5 percent of a property’s revenues. Judges can award less than 5 percent, but usually do not.



• The court-appointed lawyers in turn usually hire property managers and other lawyers to assist in overseeing the properties. The receivers do not pay out of their own pockets for the costs of the property managers and other lawyers. That money comes from the properties’ revenues.



• “This is why mortgagees hate foreclosures,” said Harold Shultz, a senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a nonprofit research group. “During this process all these people are sucking money out of the building.”

***

• Perhaps the most profitable recent receivership went in 2009 to a retired judge, Seymour Boyers, 84. He was paid $760,000, or roughly $7,800 a week, to oversee the case of the sprawling Riverton apartments in Harlem. Mr. Boyers has specialized in medical malpractice and product liability while in private practice. Members of his law firm donated $1,000 to the campaign of the judge, Richard F. Braun, who appointed him as a receiver.



• A court spokesman, David Bookstaver, said Justice Braun was not aware of the campaign contributions. Mr. Boyers “is a highly respected former jurist with outstanding credentials," Mr. Bookstaver said. At Riverton, the state’s housing division ordered rent reductions during Mr. Boyers’s tenure because repairs were not completed. Mr. Boyers said he was not aware of the request for repairs, which he said were sent to the property manager, until months after they were issued.(1)

For the story, see Politically Tied Lawyers Win Jobs Handling Foreclosures in the City.

(1) For other ripoffs having some connection to the NYC court system, see:

• NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office,
• NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property,
• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process.