The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that 14 more people have taken plea bargains in the FBI’s HOA corruption investigation. That brings the total to 24. This four year investigation has taken way too long, far longer than most. But after its bumpy start, federal agents really started homing in on the fraudsters who’ve cheated so many Las Vegas homeowners and stolen their home equity, costing them their life savings and their homes.
The real tragedy of winding this investigation up early is that hundreds of homeowners who lost their homes will sit and wonder, “what to do?” They’ve been cheated of their entire life savings. But they don’t know who to contact to try to get it back.
Four of the suspects have actually met justice of some sort, committing suicide before they could actually face the music in court. That continues to be a very weird part of this investigation, how four prominent public figures could suddenly “off” themselves. One of them, attorney David Amesbury, was beaten, both of his knees crushed before he “decided” to commit suicide in his brother’s barn. Another was Nancy Quon, who funneled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of construction defect litigation to just two Nevada legal firms. Nancy Quon also showed up dead…in her bathtub. Again….real suspicious.
At any rate, the Review-Journal reports on the 14 new indictments of people who arranged to seat phony boards in Las Vegas Homeowner Associations and then take part in a series of fraudulent actions against homeowners.
Again, most of the latest round of criminal charges seem minor. For participating in this 100 million dollar scam, most of these folks will get probation, or at most a few months in jail. Just think of that: for murdering the financial future of thousands of homeowners, they get just a few months in jail at the most.
The fourteen new indictments are interesting.They include at least one attorney. At least the federal suit possibly opens a way for abused homeowners to file their own lawsuits against the bad guys. For homeowners who’ve lost every dime they have, though, it’s cost prohibitive to file such a lawsuit. Lawyers on both sides realize that they’ll be the only ones to profit, if anyone. There’s an arrogance among criminal and defense lawyers who are already talking about how to lower or eliminate potential prison time for these slime bags.
But where are the Judges, the politicians, the major Las Vegas figures who the feds promised to indict? I just hope they’re not ending this investigation too soon.
Mr. Big still hasn’t been indicted. He’s pretty slick with lots of high powered legal help. We’ll see, we’ll see.
(NOTE TO THE FEDS: Absolutely every city in the country has a nearly identical scandal going on. We love what you’re doing in Las Vegas, but if you quit there, many homeowners will pray that you’ll rot in your graves.)
Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association
