The Home Equity Theft Reporter: Real Estate & Property Law

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Real Estate & Property Law

The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

System Overrun With People Peddling False Promises & Dispensing Horrible Advice Claims Another Victim

Posted on September 07, 2009
In Arverne, Queens, New York Magazine recounts the saga Jacqueline Tamaklo, a local resident who was born in Lberia and immigrated from Ghana, and the two-family house she bought in 2006 and is fighting to keep from losing to foreclosure. Her saga starts when she misplaced her trust in her preacher, a bishop and leader of a local church who also happened to moonlight in the real estate business,

SW Fla. Alleged Rent-To-Own Straw Buyer Scam Leaves Would-Be Buyers Booted From Homes, Investors w/ Ruined Credit, Foreclosing Lenders Holding The Bag

Posted on September 06, 2009
In Fort Myers, Florida, The News Press reports:A Fort Myers real estate sales associate was arrested Thursday and charged with 61 counts related to a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme in Southwest Florida. Mark Wallen, 38, [...] was booked into the Lee County Jail [...

South Florida Non-Profit Legal Services Offices Score $700K In Countrywide Lawsuit Settlement Cash To Fund Foreclosure Defense Efforts

Posted on September 06, 2009
From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:Attorney General Bill McCollum and The Florida Bar Foundation [...] awarded approximately $700,000 in grants to several South Florida non-profit organizations to fund free foreclosure legal defense work...

Justice Department Continues Effort In Targeting Housing Discrimination Against Individuals With Disabilities

Posted on September 06, 2009
From the U.S. Department of Justice:The Justice Department [...] filed a lawsuit against the developer of the Riverwalk Condominiums, a condominium apartment complex in Post Falls, Idaho, for violating the Fair Housing Act by constructing apartments that do not have required accessibility for individuals with disabilities...

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Cross Burning Incident Results In Federal Felony Charge Against Indiana Man For Interfering With The Housing Rights Of Another

Posted on September 06, 2009
From the U.S. Department of Justice:The Justice Department announced that Bruce Mikulyuk, of Mishawaka, Ind., has been indicted by a federal grand jury for charges stemming from a cross burning in September 2007. Mikulyuk made his first court appearance [...

Mass AG Files Suits, Obtains Civil Rights Injunctions Involving Discrimination, Harassment Allegations Affecting Victims' Housing Rights

Posted on September 06, 2009
From the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General:Attorney General Martha Coakley?s Office has obtained a civil rights injunction against a Norwood woman, Deborah May, based on allegations of her repeated and severe harassment and intimidation of a gay neighbor...

Home Interior Ruined After Roofers Begin, Stop Repairs On Wrong House, Leaving Premises Open To Elements, Says Suit

Posted on September 05, 2009
In Galveston, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:A Tiki Island man claims workers started roof repairs on his house by mistake while he was out of town, and then left his home exposed to the elements when they learned of their error. Paul Rice is suing Kevin Mitchell of Montgomery, doing business as South Texas RES-COM, and Galveston Flooring Co...

Arizona AG Files Suit Against California-Based Alleged "Property Tax Reduction" Racket

Posted on September 05, 2009
From the Office of the Arizona Attorney General:Attorney General Terry Goddard [...] announced that he has filed a lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the perpetrators of an alleged fraud that claimed a homeowner?s property qualified for a "property tax reduction review...

Florida Woman Sick Over Living In "Chinese Drywall Prison;" Sunk Life Savings Into Now-Worthless House; Safer To Live In Car, Says Doc

Posted on September 05, 2009
In Port St. Lucie, Florida, WPTV-TV Channel 5 reports:Gloria Berson loved her house. She had the kitchen she always wanted and big plans to turn it into her private paradise. "It was our dream home," she says. Then things started getting weird. The AC blew and the pipes turned black...

Man Faces Charges Of Ripping Off Senior After Promising To Help Him Get Out Of Reverse Mortgage

Posted on September 05, 2009
In Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Star reports:Police have arrested a man accused of cheating a senior citizen out of $4,000. Anthony C. Washington faces charges of forgery, theft and financial exploitation of the elderly. Washington allegedly promised to help a 78-year-old man out of a reverse mortgage but instead stole his checks and cash...

Bad Timing Leaves Central Florida Residents Without Financing On Newly Constructed Homes As Lower Values Lead Lenders To Back Out Of Loan Commitments

Posted on September 05, 2009
In Central Florida, The Tampa Tribune reports:Every day, Mary McCarthy must drive past the finished dream home in her front yard to the mobile home where she has lived for 20 years. The new home was finished in February, but she can't move in. The home is not legally hers, though it sits on her property...

Home To HUD Regional Office Falls To Foreclosure; Can Eviction Be Next?

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Atlanta, Georgia, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:In another troubling sign for commercial real estate, a downtown office tower housing the Atlanta HUD office was sold at a foreclosure auction this week for $7 million. [...] The Atlanta regional office of the U...

Ex-Cowboy "Hitting Machine" Hit With Indictment With Eight Others In Alleged Straw Buyer Mortgage Scam Involving $20M+ In Fraudulently Obtained Loans

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reports:Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene Lockhart Jr., known in his playing days as Mean Gene the Hitting Machine, was arrested Thursday after being indicted on charges related to an alleged mortgage fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said...

Ex-Met, Philly "Nailed" With Accusation By Creditor Of "Foreclosure Stripping" Home

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Los Angeles, California, Bloomberg News reports:Lenny Dykstra, who helped the New York Mets win the World Series in 1986, was accused of taking goods from his home including a $40,000 French stove two weeks before a bankruptcy judge appointed a trustee to oversee his finances...

Sarasota House Flipper Faces Grand Theft Charge In Alleged "Foreclosure Stripping" Incident

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Sarasota, Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:Mark P. Riley, one of the Sarasota area's most successful property flippers, was arrested Friday, accused of gutting a home that he could no longer afford. Riley, 48, and his domestic partner, Richard Waid, 49, were arrested on charges of grand theft related to the disappearance of appliances from their former Lakewood Ranch home...

Phoenix-Area Authorities Get Serious About "Foreclosure Stripping" As Probes, Prosecutions Begin To Pile Up

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Phoenix, Arizona, KNXV-TV Channel 15 reports:Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced Tuesday that there has been a significant increase in the number of people charged with gutting vacant or foreclosed homes in Maricopa County. The act, known as ?home stripping,? has been on the rise in neighborhoods and dramatically reduces property values, according to Thomas...

South Carolina Woman Faces Charges Of Using Relative's Social Security Number To Obtain Credit; Victim Finds Out When Rejected For Home Loan

Posted on September 04, 2009
In Greenwood, South Carolina, The Index Journal reports:Greenwood woman is charged with stealing a relative?s identity and using her Social Security number to make several large purchases and racked up more than $29,500 in debt. Dixie Lee Nelson, 53, [...

California AG Obtains $1M Judgment Against "Fast Cash" Lender Accused Of Loan Shark Tactics

Posted on September 04, 2009
From the Office of the California Attorney General:Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. [...] forced CashCall, Inc., an Anaheim-based fast-money lender, to stop using "loan shark tactics" in collecting debt, including abusive calls at all hours of the day and night and empty threats of law enforcement action...

Posing As Cops, Threatening Arrest Or Physical Harm, Abuse & Humiliation All In A Day's Work For Debt Collection Group, Says NY AG In Lawsuit

Posted on September 03, 2009
From the Office of the New York Attorney General:Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo [...] announced that his office has filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down a Buffalo-based debt collection operation consisting of 13 debt collection companies run by Buffalo residents Omar Smith, Narvell Benning and Keith Marshall (collectively, the "Benning-Smith Group?)...

Vacant Land Affinity Fraud Fleeces 1,000+ Miami-Area Haitians Out Of $10.6M, Say Feds; Bogus Deeds, Closing Docs Used To Make Phony Sales Look Legit

Posted on September 03, 2009
In Miami, Florida, the South Florida Business Journal reports on a recent federal indictment in an alleged affinity fraud targeting members of the local Haitian community:Three South Floridians have been indicted in a land scheme that authorities say defrauded more than 1,000 mostly Haitian victims out of some $10...

Cook County Sheriff Faces Federal Suit For Slowdown In Tenant Evictions; Local Landlord Feels Squeezed By Lenient Approach To Booting Problem Renters

Posted on September 03, 2009
In Cook County, Illinois, NBC Chicago reports:What made him a star has now made him a defendant. With so many rental properties in foreclosure last year, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for a time halted evictions. It was his contention that many tenants who had been paying their rent were being unfairly removed from their homes, when it was, in fact, their landlords who had not been paying

Texas AG Seeks $4.6M From "Debt Settlement" Outfit For Allegedly Ripping Off Consumers, Violating State Registration & Bond Requirements

Posted on September 03, 2009
From the Office of the Texas Attorney General:Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott [...] took legal action to recover $4.6 million that a bankrupt ?debt settlement? company wrongly withheld from its clients in Texas and other states. In June, Debt Relief USA Inc...

Moderate Income Housing Plans For Half-Finished, Half-Empty Condo Projects Cluttering NYC Skyline Face Complications

Posted on September 02, 2009
In New York City, The New York Times reports:As a rising number of half-finished and half-empty condo projects clutter the skyline, state and city officials have begun developing programs to turn hundreds of these apartments into moderate-income housing...

Florida Judge Removes Himself From Foreclosure Case After Making Intemperate Remarks To Lender's Attorney Who Missed Several Court Hearings

Posted on September 02, 2009
In Volusia County, Florida, the Daytona Beach News Journal reports:Tensions over how some lawyers from far and wide are handling large numbers of foreclosures for banks came to a head in DeLand on Monday when a veteran judge removed himself from a case after complaints about his comments [to bank attorney Farzad Milani]...

Daughter, Son-In-Law Convicted Of Scamming Alzheimer's-Afflicted Widowed Mom Into Borrowing $350K Against Home & Using It Towards Luxury Home Purchase

Posted on September 02, 2009
In Clackamas County, Oregon, The Oregonian reports:Ask Clara Philpot how she's doing, and she'll answer with a beaming smile and a hearty "Fantastic." Ask the 87-year-old who is president or the name of the dog napping in her lap and she can't say. Philpot, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002, also can't explain how or why she borrowed almost $1 million to finance a luxury home in

Lenders, Mortgage Servicers Flout Local Health & Safety Ordinances When Dealing With Foreclosed Homes, Say Housing Advocates

Posted on September 02, 2009
The Washington Independent reports:As bank-owned foreclosed properties pile up across the country, from abandoned houses in hard-hit neighborhoods to empty big box retail stores in failed strip malls, the fight over holding someone responsible for the brick and mortar mess left behind by the mortgage crisis continues to heat up...

Relatives Charged w/ Selling Home From Out From Under Elderly Oregon Widow; Used POA To Pocket $235K Sale Proceeds, Cash Out Bank Accounts, Annuities

Posted on September 01, 2009
In Portland, Oregon, The Oregonian reports:Shortly after two women gained power of attorney from a dying 83-year-old relative, they took all of her possessions and sold her house of 56 years, police said. The pair pocketed the $235,000 from the house sale and cleaned out the elderly woman's bank accounts and savings, sharing the money among themselves and family members, police and prosecutors

Two Sentenced For Roles In Theft Of $126M In Client Funds Held In Connection With Real Estate Tax Free Exchange Transactions

Posted on September 01, 2009
From the U.S. Department of Justice:Two former employees of Edward H. Okun, who was sentenced to 100 years in prison on Aug. 4, 2009, after a three-week jury trial, were sentenced [...] for their roles in a scheme to defraud and obtain approximately $126 million in client funds held by The 1031 Tax Group LLP (1031TG)...

Nebraska Couple Loses Home After Being Duped By Nationwide Loan Modification Racket

Posted on September 01, 2009
In Lincoln, Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star reports:One night in February, [Denise and Kevin Barret] saw a television ad for the Federal Loan Modification Law Center, a very official-sounding entity that promised it could reduce homeowners' payments while saving their homes from foreclosure...

Brooklyn Foreclosure Intervention Seminar: Settlement Conferences & Advanced Foreclosure Defense Techniques

Posted on August 31, 2009
In Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle announces:Thurs. Sept. 10, CLE: Foreclosure Intervention: Settlement Conferences & Advanced Foreclosure Defense Techniques, 6-8 p.m.: Speakers: Jaime Lathrop, director, and Jennifer Sinton, deputy director, both of South Brooklyn Legal Services' Foreclosure Prevention Project...

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