Tag Archives: HOA Embezzlement

Interesting Sentence for ‘Depressed’ Embezzler

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Question: If you knew you could steal $40,000 and only get a 60 day jail sentence, would you do it? $20,000 tax free dollars a month is pretty tempting, isn’t it?

Well, that’s the sentence given a 72 year old Idaho woman when she embezzled that amount from her seniors-only community, the Florida Estates HOA. She said she stole the money because she was depressed.

The sentence gets even more interesting. After her two month jail sentence she’s required to make $40,000 restitution at the rate of $200 a month. I’m not very good at math but it looks like that’s about 17 years. And she’ll be 89 when she’s finished paying. I suspect most of the neighbors she ripped off will be dead or institutionalized by that time.

Crime really does pay.

And the crooks know it.

(link to Idaho Press story about woman sentenced for grand theft)

 

How to Get Away With Being a Crook in Nevada

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How bad does a lawyer have to be to get five or six years in prison? If he’s stolen millions of dollars, if he’s got more bar complaints against him than any other lawyer, if he’s defrauded Homeowners Associations and other clients, if he’s cheated the IRS you’d think he’d at least get a few decades behind bars.

But lawyer Barry Levinson, who knows the legal system inside and out, put on an amazing performance for U.S. District Judge James Mahan, who’s overseeing that massive organized crime HOA scandal in Las Vegas. Levinson knows the ropes. He cried. He sobbed. He apologized. He said, “I stole from clients. I embarrassed Las Vegas. I let everybody down. I accept responsibility. I’m paying for it.”

Well, no, he’s not paying for it. This guy took part in a scam that will ultimately amount to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to homeowners. He and his organized crime partners funneled millions of dollars away from Homeowners Associations in the Valley. But this scam has legs. Thousands of Nevada residents lost their homes which are still sitting unsold. Taxes aren’t being paid. Part of that was the housing bubble, but who in his right mind would want to buy a house in Las Vegas right now? Stupid people will, of course. But with the Nevada Supreme Court ruling that an idiotic one-dollar HOA lien against a house can extinguish a half million dollar mortgage, what sane mortgage company would lend money in Nevada? The ripples go on, and on, and on.

Barry Levinson cries a few tears. And the judge gives him six years in prison. He’ll probably get two or three of those years off for good behavior. Unless some angry imprisoned homeowner beats him to death.

(link to latest stupid prison sentence in Las Vegas HOA scandal)

 

Memorial Day

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On this Memorial Day I was going to post a very personal video I did back in my TV news reporting days. However, this email came in from Col. Robert Frank of Nevada. I think it’s more powerful than anything I could have written.

Dear Nevada Legislative & Constitutional Officers:

Memorial Day 2015.  It is the time for all to honor the 2,893,818 American military members who were combat killed, wounded or still missing in action since this unique Republic and Battleborn State was formed.

Time to reflect on what we really mean when we tell living veterans “Thank you for your service”.  Time to think about what we living American citizens and citizens of the free nations of the world owe to those war veterans who wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of up to and including their life.

Time to remember that we veterans and elected officials share the solemn burden of having signed the same oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, “so help me God”.

In honor of all those war veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifices so we could be free, it would be most honorable if you would kindly take just a few minutes out of your very busy schedules to read and meditate upon the essence of an untold veteran story included with this email.

Even if you might have seen it or something like it before, I believe it will mean much more to you on this weekend, in this year, when so much of our freedoms and Constitutional Rights seem to be fading away.

Many thousands of citizens are praying daily for each of you to put aside your personal interests and receive God’s Grace and Wisdom as you complete your legislative session on behalf of Nevada citizens.  We are counting on you to support what is right for all citizens during the waning days of the 2015 session.

As you complete your work on so many vital policy matters, please remember to be faithful to the Judeo-Christian foundations of this Republic.  Never forget the almost 3 million who have selflessly died, were wounded, or went missing in action so that billions of unknown humans in the free world could have a chance to live as they choose.  And, please, always be mindful of the millions more who will inherit what survives from the fateful decisions made in this 2015 session.

May each you have a blessed and safe American Memorial Day, and be ever faithful to your public duty and the historic purposes of this solemn occasion!

Your friend,

    Robert Frank, Colonel, USAF (Ret.)


			

		
		
		
	


	

		
		

						

				Whew! HOA Fraud in Canada? “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
			

						
			
            

				

                	                  	    					   1 Comment on Whew! HOA Fraud in Canada? “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”               

                
            

		

		
		
				
					
			

								
Dang! I have friends in Canada and I think of Canadians being so much more gentile and honest than Americans. But then, I seem to be selling a lot of books in Ontario so maybe I’m wrong.


But one of the biggest thefts I’ve read about is a 4.1 million dollar embezzlement from a condo association in that Province. A man who managed 13 condominium operations in Hamilton and Burlington just swiped a little at a time from each one of them over five years. That’s almost a million bucks a year. Not bad work if you can get it.


A founder of the Condo Owners Association used a couple of interesting phrases: “downright ridiculous” and “a disaster zone.” When asked if HOA fraud was rare, her response was, “No, no, no, no, no, no!” And she says laws in the Province to protect condo owners is non-existent.


Heck, she ought to take a look at the U.S.


It’s worse.


(link to man who stole 4.1 million Canadian dollars)


 

			

		
		
		
	


	

		
		

						

				“Frickin’ Faggots!”
			

						
			
            

				

                	                  	    					   2 Comments on “Frickin’ Faggots!”               

                
            

		

		
		
				
					
			

								
Dang, I hate using that word. But like the so-called ‘n-word’ it’s bandied about freely in Homeowners Associations. Most HOAs have long-existing deed restrictions which prohibit sales of homes to minorities. Those restrictions, of course, have long been outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court, but does that stop discrimination? If you think so, you’ve gotta be kidding yourself.


A gay couple in the Monte Sereno Homeowners Association in Palm Springs is being targeted for ‘special’ treatment. One of them, Ken Seeley, is a star on the A&E show, ‘Intervention.’ Once or twice a month he has friends and co-workers over to watch the show. The HOA now says those gatherings are ‘business related’ and home businesses are outlawed by this HOA.


Now, the Monte Sereno board has deactivated Seeley’s transponder to the community gate so he can’t let his friends in.


The arrogance never stops, does it?


(link to story about A&E star)