Friday, March 11, 2011

The Miami Herald's less than stellar job of reporting on the Michelle Spence-Jones case, interesting Google searches and mortgage fraud in the news again...

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We'll get back to discussing the City of Miami CFO Larry M. Spring Jr's mortgage maladies on Monday, today I'd like to say a few words about my displeasure with the Miami Herald and it's coverage of the Michelle Spence-Jones bribery trial.  Several of our readers have pointed out the inadequacies of the Herald's coverage of the trial and worse yet reporter David Ovalle's obvious bias against suspended City of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.  I'm not exactly sure what Mr. Ovalle's motives are in writing pro state articles against a defendant that is presumed innocent until proven guilty, regardless though, I've been following what little coverage the Herald has provided and posted a comment here and there in the articles comment sections.  Yesterday, Mr. Ovalle wrote about the trails postponement till Monday because of a medical condition the prosecutor came down with during trial, once I read the article, I went ahead and tried to post a comment, this is what appeared on the screen...


In case you missed it, here it is blown up...


You have to wonder, why the hell is the Miami Herald censoring comments made in the Spence-Jones story?  I posted comments elsewhere and it seems to me the only article with "comment moderation" was the one regarding the Spence-Jones trial.  What gives?


On another note, I noticed yesterday that someone found our blog through a search for "Matt Gulla rat".  At first I found this slightly offensive, then I remembered all of the comments we've been getting regarding ex mortgage broker turned governments witness Matt Gulla, one of the mortgage brokers at the heart of the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud case.  Among other things, Mr. Gulla is accused of fabricating and forging an extensive number of documents that are an integral part of the governments case against the plantation cops, to get some idea of just how many documents Mr. Gulla forged, take a look at the governments exhibit list and take note of how many documents are labeled as "false" or "forged".  

plantation cops mortgage fraud case government exhibit list                                                                                                   

Interesting to say the least.


On another note, while flipping through the channels last night I accidentally came upon a CBS4 I-Team investigation regarding mortgage fraud, take a look...



Great story.  I love the part about attorney Jonathan A. Heller who's helping defend the destitute family in their foreclosure case free of charge.  Although the story and it's contention of "ongoing mortgage fraud" seems a little late in the game, I have to commend CBS4 for covering a subject that has all but disappeared from the media.  

The question that I'd love to ask the reporter and U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer who appears in the story is despite all the great mortgage fraud arrests and subsequent prosecutions that his team of federal prosecutors have brought down, why hasn't anything been done about all the mortgage fraud cases that we've discussed on this blog?  How about the millions of dollars worth of fraud that we found and outlined nearly two years ago in Coconut Grove?  What about the massive fraud by John Romney and company involving the house at 911 Columbus Blvd?  Or how about the Larry M. Spring mess?   Take a look at these cases, it's all laid out in our blog posts.

We'll conclude our analysis of the Larry Spring foreclosure on Monday, till then...

4 comments:

  1. disgusted with the HeraldMarch 13, 2011 at 11:28 AM

    Ovalle clearly is not acting as a journalist but rather a tool for the prosecution. It is as if he just want to see her go to jail without any regard for the truth. I wonder if is it possible for her to sue the Herald/Ovalle when she is found not guilty based on their poor performance as a journalist. Probably not, but he should be ashamed of himself. Why doesn't he just work for the PR department of Rundle's office.

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  2. Sorry 11:28, the Herald is Rundle's PR office. I've emailed Ovalle several times requesting that he follow up some of his stories where the people that he tried, convicted and executed in his article were later found innocent or had the charges dropped against them dropped. Years later, still no answer from Mr. Ovalle.

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  3. disgusted with the HeraldMarch 13, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    I too have emailed him and his boss and no response. Wait until a major news agency picks this up and embarrasses them.

    Thank you for what you do.

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  4. From CBSnews today reporting on the trial of Spence Jones: "During Monday’s proceeding, Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Rosa Rodriguez appeared somewhat skeptical of the prosecution’s case when Spence-Jones attorney issued a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal, according to CBS4 reporter Gary Nelson who was in the courtroom.

    “I’m finding it difficult to understand the state’s theory, what was the corrupt intent, I want to know that” said Judge Rodriguez.

    Spence-Jones is accused soliciting bribes in the form of charity donations from two developers who had business pending before the commission.

    “Ultimately, the money did not go to her personally,” Rodriguez noted."

    Scruggs should be investigated. Oh and by the way the Herald reported nothing....

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