Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Missing the target...


Go back and read the comments sections of our last weeks worth of posts and you'll find long winded diatribes both for and against the defendants in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial.  Things like, Joe Guaracino is a crook, this guy drives a Corvette (the horror!), the other guy has a small penis, this one's innocent, the other guy's guilty, the jury did the right thing, the jurors are idiots, etc.  So much emotion, so much anger, yet everyone seems to be missing the point.

Let's say for the sake of argument that the defendants charged in this nearly five year long investigation that's come to be known as "operation copout", were guilty.  Say the government was right, they lied about their incomes, they fudged where the down payments for the homes in question came from, let's even assume there was some level of complicity from the attorneys charged as well, what's the net result?  Remember, all the loans in question were paid back with the exception of a few that were under Guaracino's personal name, so in a nutshell, assume these guys were guilty of all of those things but in the end the banks all got their money back plus profits.


Now, with that assumption made, look at what was learned during trial, the mortgage brokers who made all these alleged crimes possible walked with a slap on the wrist and a $500 fine.  Granted, they're going to do two or three years behind bars but anyone remember what they admitted to?  Both Matt Gulla and Rene Rodriguez admitted to committing fraud on every loan they had processed over the last decade!  While the government calculated the alleged Guaracino involved frauds to be somewhere in the +/- $16mm range, imagine the dollar figure for the frauds these mortgage brokers must have been involved with?  It's easily in the hundreds of millions if not in the billion dollar range!  We're talking a decade worth of loans, perhaps thousands of frauds.  With that in mind, does the governments strategy of going after the cops really make sense?  The brokers got immunity for all the other crimes they committed in exchange for their testimony against the cops that were charged as part of "operation copout", does that seem correct?  At least in my opinion it doesn't.  I thought that going after the mortgage brokers seemed like a more plausible scenario and therefore using the cops to testify against them, instead we got this wacky prosecution where in the end the real culprits, the real masterminds got away.  Does anyone believe for a moment that Guaracino and his group of cops were the only group that the brokers worked with?  Throughout the history of this case we've had plenty of people come forward and tell us that there were groups of teachers, firefighters and other cops that were all working with Gulla and Rodriguez on similar deals, why didn't anyone investigate those transactions?


The truth of the matter is that the guys who were the subject of the governments prosecution in this case were small potatoes.  The "big fish", "masterminds" or "ringleaders" weren't the cops or even the lawyers that were charged, they were the mortgage brokers who in retrospect got the best deal of all considering the magnitude of their crimes.  Whether the untold millions worth of fraudulent loans or destroying evidence, these guys should have gotten decades in federal prison, instead we're left with nearly 9 months of trials that seemed to never end and a two low level players whose convictions will probably be overturned on appeal.  That hardly sounds like justice to me.

10 comments:

  1. Great point. Too bad the government didn't open their eyes. Just another way to waste our tax paying dollars.

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  2. You hit the nail on the head! Dirty brokers don't make headlines though. Also, don't forget that witnesses also testified that many other brokers in the same office were also committing the same frauds. The question of the day.... Is it selective/malicious prosecution?

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  3. The target was " the cops" all along. They didn't want to see anything different. Remember.... It was called" operation copout" before the cops were even interviewed. The cops passed lie detector tests, passed the hand writing exemplars, cooperated fully, allowed investigators in their homes wihout an attorney present... Cop 101 says never say anything without an attorney present. Obviously they had nothng to hide. Just the fact that the brokers destroyed evidence, forged documents, and made a list of items that needed to be deleted which pertained to the cops in trial. This case is screaming innocence!!!! Wow!!! Banks were paid in full, mortgages paid, and repairs done with receipts to prove it... Where's the crime? Why were these cops arrested in the first place? I believe there is a grand plan we cannot see. These men and their families need peace in their lives. I wish the brokers would come forward and do the right thing. Wishful thinking I guess...

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  4. Help Strawbuyer please-the judge is turning down every motion that is put in for John V.--My question is ? IS THERE ANYONE OVER THE JUDGE-HE IS SO UNFAIR-HE SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS MUCH POWER !!!
    He has to be held accountable for his unfairness !!

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  5. The Strawberry strikes back!!!!

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  6. Ok Strawberry lets break it down before you say the banks got their money back. Your assistant in the court room must have dozed off, I dont blame him, he still a good guy. You could have found enough with public records.

    1. Joe Guaracino
    Plantation House #1-$1,050,000 in loans 2007, house went into foreclosure in 2008

    Plantation House #2-$475,000 in loans 2005, house goes into foreclosure 2009

    Fort Lauderdale Beach Condo #1-$505,000 in loans 2007, foreclosure in 2008

    Fort Lauderdale House on Intracoastal-$1,500,000 in loans 2007, foreclosure in 2008

    Sunrise Home #1-$315,000 in loans 2007, foreclosure in 2008

    Don get met started with Sara.



    2.John Velez
    Plantation House #1, judgment for foreclosure $590,000, bank will get it soon

    Fort Lauderdale Beach Condo-$700,000 in loans 2007, foreclosure in 2008, forfeited to bank in 2010

    John never put a penny down for either house. And Joe was a licensed realtor? what the hell was he thinking in 2007? He was thinking damn I used up all my boys, wife, and familys credit, now its my turn. The house on the inter-coastal is a mess, poor neighbors, looks like a crack house. Do you really think he used the second mortgage money to fix it up? No, go take a look for yourself.

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  7. ok Fransisco, where are DeRosa's defaults?

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  8. francisco franco get your facts right. you must not follow the case at all.
    victim banks in this case were paid off when the loans were sold in the secondary market. they got their money and went out of business. they sold the loans under false information. so yes the victims in this case (other then the cops) were paid in full. Mail fraud occuried when the loan was first made. So the victim banks were paid in full. as for foreclosure with a new bank well look at south florida everyones in forclosure do to crooked banks and shity brokers. Last i checked being in foreclosure and the house forclosed on our two different things. the new Bank has to get the home back first then recieve a loss when they resell it. but wait with all the fraud the BROKERS did i dont think the new bank will get those homes.thats why our goverment is now sueing the banks in court. one last thing next time either use a real name or anonymous cause i doubt your anything like a spanish general. your more like Lloyd Christmas from dumb and dumber.

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  9. 1 thing i forgot Lloyd Christmas no one put money down on houses in 2004-2007. Banks didnt require it. that was their big pitch. not one of the loans in this case that i reviewed showed a deposit being required. only earnest money to protect the sellers in case a buyer wasn't qualified. oh wait everyone was qualified with matt and rene and the banks in 2005 what was i thinking.

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  10. Francisco... Joe admitted to the five you mentioned. He only stopped paying AFTER he found out about the fraud. Let's see, 60 properties all paid back except 5? That's pretty good considering all the mortgages paid and banks paid in full. John velez put plenty of money into these houses and foreclosed after the investigation started because of FRAUD.. What idiot continues to pay on a fraudulent Loan with a loan that is equivalent to zero and not really yours??? The problem in this world are naive people like you who are government kiss asses who don't see the wool being pulled over your eyes. You are either a government worker or a jealous fuck cause you care way to much about professing nonfacts and bullshit to try and dirty up innocent people. The media and the courts are both controlled by the government and apparently so is your mind. Wise up!

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