Finally, I’ve found something written by reporter Jeff German to be dead wrong. You’ll think it’s a minor point, but I think it’s huge. However, I still think it would be a sin not to award this journalist the Pulitzer for his stories on the massive organized crime network that stole more than 60 million dollars from Las Vegas Homeowners.
German will think his error is small, but he might even end up agreeing with me. The misstatement is contained in the fourth paragraph linked below. The story is about the last criminal in the HOA swindle being sentenced to three years in prison after the prosecutor asked for 21 years in prison. More horrible sentencing by a Federal Judge.
OK folks! I’ve been an investigative reporter for forty years. And during that time thousands upon thousands of documents have been released to me. Oh, there’ve been two or three that were held back, but always because of some extraneous circumstance usually relating to a name a prosecutor or a judge wanted held back for personal or political reasons. And we usually found a higher judge who ordered the documents released.
You’ve just got to be suspicious when a bunch of lawyers start urging lawmakers to protect their ability to sue builders.
There’s no question that builders need to take responsibility for defective construction. But remember that lawyers automatically take at least third of any money they get from successfully suing contractors. Heck, Las Vegas lawyers were reaping almost 100% of all money collected from builders. That’s why the FBI raided 100 Homeowner Associations and has filed corruption and organized crime charges against 24 people, including a number of lawyers. The Las Vegas scandal is so huge that many more lawyers, judges, and public officials will be charged in future months.
