An update on the Maria Teresa Lopez mortgage fraud case and attorney Darlene Fernandez Carus.

We discussed the Maria Teresa Lopez mortgage fraud case back in April which involved the use of attorney Darlene Fernandez Carus' law office and trust account yet somehow neither the police or the Florida Bar took any action against Ms. Carus.  Here's a recap of what went on...

• 9/29/08 $519,858.18 gets wired into Attorney Carus' trust account (of which she has no knowledge of according to her statement to the police), the entire proceeds are then wire transferred out of Carus' trust account (again without her knowledge) and into "Lopez's" account at City National Bank.  We can only presume that Lopez was then going to pay off the mortgage that she had forgotten to record seven months earlier?!  LOL!
• 9/30/08 Ms. Lopez then wires $148,872.65 to the "Mortgage Fraud Troll" HUH?!  What about paying off the first mortgage?!
• 10/28/08 Ms. Lopez knowing that she's going to be suspended by the Florida Bar the next day takes the remaining money out of her trust account ($353,678.97) and wires it to her brothers account who also happens to be an attorney.  From this money, Lopez hauls ass with $228,123.98 and the brother distributes $125,554.99 to other clients without ever satisfying the original mortgage from 2/08!

Despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars going back and forth through Ms. Carus' trust account and the reams of documents that this transaction must have created, Ms. Carus claimed that...

"that this and other closings were executed by "LOPEZ" in Carus' name without her knowledge or supervision..."

Ignorance, probably the worst defense of all but it seems at the very least it worked for the cops who didn't bring charges against her.  We also know that the Florida Bar disbarred attorney Maria Teresa Lopez and her brother Guillermo Napoleon Lopez for their misdeeds stemming from this transactions, yet somehow they didn't do anything to Ms Carus.  That was the case until August 10, 2010, from the Florida Bar's website...

While the bar hasn't posted any documents regarding the suspension, one can only assume that there's some connection to the Maria Teresa Lopez, Guillermo Napoleon Lopez mortgage fraud mess.  If indeed this bar action and the Lopez case are related, shouldn't there be some sort of criminal charges coming down the pike as well?

Speaking of mortgage fraud, bar actions and criminal charges, does anyone think that the cops or the state attorneys office is looking into the allegations of mortgage fraud against City of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff?  I wouldn't hold my breath...