Tag Archives: Las Vegas

HOA Figures Involved In International Drug Trafficking?

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That headline might seem like a bit of sensational hyperbole, except that the story comes from one of the nation’s most respected journalists, John L. Smith, columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal. I’ve talked about him before, but I don’t remember sending you to his column earlier this year on some bizarre links in the Las Vegas HOA scandal.

As you may recall, the feds have indicted or gotten guilty pleas from nearly forty HOA figures in Nevada, including famed attorneys, a famous attorney/TV talk show host, Nancy Quon, well know politicians and police officials. These are well known public figures, folks! Public figures in the Homeowners Association business. And already federal investigators have talked about organized crime, rigged HOA board elections, racketeering, attempted murder, suspicious suicides, armed robbery, hostage-taking, extortion, bribery, embezzlement from homeowners, insurance fraud. The list goes on and on.

But Smith’s column from May 19th would be freakin’ unbelievable, even as a plot for a Hollywood action flick. Except that it’s real.

This federal investigation of Homeowners Associations is the first of its kind in the country. Yet the feds know of hundreds, possible thousands of cases of HOA embezzlement across the land. It’s long been my contention that if this FBI/US Attorney’s team was planted in any major city in America, they’d find the same kind of corruption. That’s because the very model of HOA management is designed to perpetuate, excuse and even encourage corruption. This is the type of neighborhood management that’s supposed to protect your property values! But millions of homeowners have suddenly discovered that they weren’t protected. They never were.

The players mentioned in Smith’s column are almost impossible to graph out on a chart. But you’d better believe the U.S. Attorney plans to do exactly that in front of a federal jury next year.

As you read Smith’s column linked below, just ask yourself, “What if this is going on in my town?” What if?

http://tinyurl.com/mwwn3l3

 

Don’t Be Too Quick To Praise Colorado HOA Law

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Colorado legislators are very much like those in other states: “Pass a law to make the voters shut up and go away.”

And the new Homeowners Association laws in Colorado just aggravate the problem. All HOA officers and managers must now be state licensed. Hmmm, who provides the testing and licensing? Well, the largest organized crime syndicate in the country, of course!  I don’t need to provide you with their three initials.

No more HOA mandates for Kentucky bluegrass. That’s not a bad change, although most Colorado homeowners don’t use it anyway.

The new law requires all HOAs to pay a small registration fee to the State HOA office. This one is more than laughable. Over the past three years only about half of Colorado HOAs have even bothered to register. They just mock this idiot who was appointed to the office. Oh, and there’s no penalty for not registering. Legislators are idiots, too.

The head of the new HOA office is supposed to recommend to Legislators how much power over HOAs his office should have.  This is more than pathetic. I met this guy once. A man without a clue. A body in search of a brain. Mark my words, he’s married to the HOA industry and will never propose anything, aside from going outside for a smoke.

Anyone who knows anything about the Colorado HOA Ombudsman’s office just mocks it. An e-coli bacterium has more influence and power.

At least the e-coli bacterium can interrupt functions of the colon.

Colorado’s HOA Ombudsman doesn’t have a colon.

Just a salary.

http://tinyurl.com/nebdnaz

 

 

 

 

Darcy Spears, Bless Your Heart!

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It’s another HOA Hall of Shame report from our fearless TV reporter in Las Vegas. This time it’s a relatively peaceful HOA that’s being shamed.

Well, I might have spoken too freely. This HOA isn’t really peaceful. It’s full of accusations of board mismanagement, misspent money, and board meetings being held secretly when a pro-homeowner member of the board couldn’t possibly attend because of her work schedule.

Ah yes, and it’s about writing a blank check to lawyers, even lawyers of former bad board members and managers. And illegal transfers of money, such a nasty business, this handling of OPM (other people’s money).

Yes, it seems like another Las Vegas Homeowners Association ought to be avoided like the plague. If you buy a home in the Pueblo at Santa Fe HOA, you’re likely to be screwed.

Blue.

Sad, huh?

http://tinyurl.com/l5cwzvp

 

Massive HOA Document Dump In Las Vegas Investigation

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More than three million pages of investigative information have been given under discovery to defense attorneys of Leon Benzer, the Las Vegas club owner and businessman accused of masterminding one of the largest HOA scams in history. The long running FBI and U.S. Attorney investigation uncovered dozens of lawyers, police officials, business owners and HOA management companies also involved in the scam.

Federal investigators say the suspects rigged elections in Homeowners Associations, putting their own associates in control of the HOA boards. Some of those faux board members were not even residents of the communities where they were ‘elected’. Those rigged boards then diverted tens of millions of dollars of insurance reimbursements into the pockets of Benzer and the other defendants.

One of the victims of the takeover scheme was the Vistana Homeowners Association. In a separate filing, attorneys for Vistana are asking a federal judge to allow it access to the Benzer documents.

At one point in the federal investigation, more than a hundred Nevada Homeowners Associations, primarily in Las Vegas were targeted by the feds. 

original source:    http://tinyurl.com/lbs4yye 

Definition of an Arrogant Jackass?

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I always love to blog about, and link to, Darcy Spears and the HOA Hall of Shame feature she does for KTNV television in Las Vegas. She was one of the first television reporters in the nation to regularly investigate and expose the wrongdoings of Homeowners Associations. Of course, the criminal empire in Las Vegas generously provides her with lots of material. Nevada has some of the most notoriously felonious HOAs in the country, as evidenced by the dozens of indictments in the ongoing FBI/U.S. Attorney investigation.

In Darcy’s current expose’, she notes how federal FCC law gives homeowners the right to set up satellite dishes, and no HOA in the country has the power to supersede that federal law.

But then, we’re talking about the Pallatine Hill Homeowners Association in Henderson, Nevada. And its president, Barry Tedesco, is mind-numbingly idiotic about federal law. He’s sent out a flood of letters saying homeowners would be fined if they didn’t remove their satellite dishes. Even an appearance in front of the Pallatine Hill HOA board showed homeowners that Tedesco is in serious need of either a brain transplant, or a recall election. He apparently feels he’s above federal law. And he’s willing to risk ever last cent of this HOA’s budget to sue, lien and foreclose on all those homeowners using satellite TV. I honestly hope someone will walk my blog post door-to-door in this HOA.

Darcy Spears is too mannerly to call Tedesco a complete jackass.

mule1[1]But I’m not.

The president of the Pallatine Hill Homeowners association, Barry Tedesco, is a jackass.

(Note to KTNV General Manager: Darcy Spears deserves a raise. She’s getting you national publicity!)

http://tinyurl.com/kxqs5r6