Great news for Deutche Bank, it looks like the may have a chance to get some of their money bank from former City of Miami CFO Larry Spring! Also, what's in a name? Another angle on the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud case aka "Operation Copout"

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You all remember the City of Miami's former CFO and "financial guru" Larry Spring, don't you?  In case you've forgotten, the "financial guru" had purchased his mothers home, stripped all the equity out of it then let it fall into foreclosure finally ending up with a nearly $250,000 judgement against Mr. Spring in favor of Deutche Bank.  

Larry Spring 14421 Polk Street Final Judgement

No big deal right?  Just another worthless judgement that the bank will never collect?  WRONG!  Today we learned from our friends over at the Crespo-Gram report that Mr. Spring is about to come into a shitload of money...

According to the documents that Mr. Crespo has unearthed, Mr. Spring is about to receive $125,734.56 for retiring from his post as the City's CFO.  I wonder, since there's no record of a satisfaction of judgement for the outstanding debt Mr. Spring has to Deutche Bank, isn't he still on the hook for the money he owes to the bank?  If indeed he is still indebted to the bank, since both Deutche Bank and Morgan Stanley both received federal bailout money, Mr. Spring actually owes the money to the American taxpayer as well!  With that in mind, do you think Mr. Spring is going to run and hand over the proceeds of his severance package to the banks who have a six figure judgement against him?  Somehow I doubt it.  If you do feel that Mr Spring aka the City of Miami's "Financial guru" should pay back the money he rightfully owes, then you may want to contact the attorney who got the judgement against him.  From the recorded final judgement...

That would be Meaghan Dunne Esq who can be contacted at mdunne@defaultlawfl.com. I'm sure she'd love to hear about Mr. Spring's recent windfall.

Our comments section has been jumping this weekend, specifically the last post we made regarding the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud trial.  From the comments we get this gem...

I've asked this several times... Why only the cops? Why not rene or matts family members? Why was this whole case called" Operation Copout" in 2008, when the officers were never even interviewed yet??? Let's call a spade a spade...

WTF?  This is the first time I've heard the Plantation Cops case referred to as "Operation Copout".  Take another look at that comment, think for a moment if the commenter is correct and the operation was labeled "Copout", does that mean that the feds went in from the get go to bring down fellow law enforcement officers?  Could this explain why the feds have all but ignored the hundreds if not thousands of frauds the mortgage brokers Rene Rodriguez and Matt Gulla have been involved in?  We'll have to take a closer look at this angle...

The Miami Herald calls the City of Miami CFO a "Financial Guru"? WTF?!

Our friends over at Investigation Miami tell us that the Miami Herald is calling the City of Miami's recently departed CFO a Financial Guru!  You all remember Mr. Larry Spring don't you?  This would be the man who purchased his mom's home, stripped the home of all it's equity through a questionable refi where he lied about the home being his primary residence then let the home fall into foreclosure.  Does any of that sound like the work of a financial guru or does it sound like the handiwork of a financial fraudster?

Now, let's take a look at a document that should make Mr. Spring proud...


Larry Spring 14421 Polk Street Final Judgement


What's that you say?  It's the final judgement in favor of the bank that lent Mr. Spring the money for the pump and dump he pulled on his mom's old home.  According to judgement, Mr. Spring owes Deutsche Bank $223,048.29 as a result of the scam he pulled.  Does that sound like something Mr. Spring would want to have on his credit report when looking for his next job?  The subject of people with bad credit looking for employment was discussed Sunday night on CBS4, take a look...

What's this?  Employers check job seekers credit before hiring?  The rationale is that if your credit is in the toilet and lenders have deemed you not credit worthy, you're more likely to commit some sort of fraud on the job, it makes sense to me.  With that in mind, can anyone figure out how Mr. Spring was allowed to keep his job as the City of Miami's CFO considering his foray into mortgage fraud?  Even worse, now that his misdeeds concerning his personal finances are public, where's he going to go?

That brings us back to the Herald's description of Mr. Spring's being a "financial guru".  After watching him literally lead the City into bankruptcy through questionable financial moves and goofy bond refinancing schemes, not to mention the financing games and subsequent foreclosure action on his mom's old home, you have to wonder how the hell the Herald could possibly conclude Mr Spring was a "financial guru".   What was Herald columnist Michael Vasquez on when he decided to call Mr. Spring a financial guru? 

Concluding city of Miami CFO Larry Spring's mortgage misadventures...

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It's been a busy couple of weeks, let's take a moment to revisit city of Miami CFO Larry Spring's purchase and subsequent mortgaging of his mother's home that was located at 14421 Polk Street.  We previously outlined Mr. Spring's purchase of the home in question for $150,000 back in December of 2004 financed by a mortgage from Peninsula bank for $147,682.  We then discovered that just two years later Mr. Spring refinanced the house for $191,250 through a mortgage from WMC mortgage presumably netting upwards of $43,000.  It's this mortgage that went into default and caused the subsequent foreclosure that was filed just two years later.


Moving on, we then found that Mr. Spring may not have lived in the house when he purchased it and when it was later refinanced.  According to court records, Mr. Spring lived in a Brickell condo throughout the period of time he purchased the Polk street home.  

This could create a problem for Mr. Spring if he indicated that the Polk Street home was his primary residence when he financed it.  Let's take a look at the occupancy requirements for the first mortgage...

That's pretty clear, the "borrower shall occupy, establish and use the property as borrowers principal residence within sixty days after the execution of this security instrument".  Let's move on to the second loan where there's actually a spot where Mr. Spring could have indicated that the home was not his primary residence...

As an abundance of caution, let's see if there's an occupancy requirement on this loan as well...

There you have it.  In both instances Mr. Spring clearly represented that the home he was mortgaging was his primary residence in order to enjoy a lower interest rate that he would not have been able to obtain if he had identified the home as a second home or investment property. 


So what's the point?  What did Mr. Spring do that was any different than anyone one else during the real estate boom?  What's the big deal about lying on your mortgage application and the subsequent mortgage docs?  If Mr. Spring was indeed living elsewhere and misrepresented to the lender that this home was his primary residence then this is a clear cut case of mortgage fraud.  The same type of mortgage fraud that the feds used to go after the Plantation Cops and countless others over the last few post real estate boom years.  Although the residency issue may seem trivial, it's this minute detail that's allowed law enforcement to charge otherwise innocent people with mortgage fraud.  In this instance it's even worse as the person who didn't make the proper disclosures to the bank is none other than the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Miami, if he can't be honest with his own bank, then how the hell can we expect him to be honest when it comes to the financial affairs of our city?

Where did City of Miami CFO Larry Spring live since November 2004?

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Before we can really figure out the motives behind City of Miami CFO Larry Spring's purchase of the home located at 14421 Polk Street back in November of 2004 we need to try to identify where Mr. Spring lived when he purchased the home.  If we had some sort of resources here at The Straw Buyer, we would immediately get copies of his employment records from the city as well as information from his drivers license in order to ascertain where Mr. Spring claimed he lived over the last seven years.  Since we don't have those resources available to us, we're left to what we can find online via the county and state websites.  

Here's what we were able to find, first from the final judgment from the foreclosure case for the 14421 Polk Street property we're shown the address that Mr. Spring was served at...

It's clear from this final judgment that Mr. Spring was served at the Brickell Bay drive address  from the inception of the case in early 2009 all the way through to the final judgment in December of 2009.


Now, let's move on to the other online resource we have available, Sunbiz.org, The Florida Division of State's department of corporations.  A quick search in Mr. Spring's name produces records for a corporation called ACHIEVEMENT MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING, INC., we'll start by looking at the articles of incorporation which were filed on July 23, 2004...

This document clearly states Mr. Spring's address as being 1111 Brickell Bay drive, albeit at a different unit number.  Now, let's look at the records for the following year...

Once again, the document filed with the state shows Mr. Spring's residence to be at 1111 Brickell Bay drive, but again with a different unit number, this time apartment number 2810.  Let's see what the next year has in store...

Although there are no records for 2006, the 2007 filing shows more of the same, Mr. Spring apparently lived in the Yacht Club at Brickell located at 1111 Brickell Bay drive since at least July 23, 2004 according to the records on file with the state.  What's the big deal you ask?  Remember, Mr Spring purchased his mothers home in December of 2004 and refinanced it in February 2006.  The question is, did Mr. Spring claim the home at 14421 Polk Street as his primary residence on his mortgage applications and on the subsequent two mortgages for the home?  If so, Mr. Spring is in for a heap of trouble.  We'll find out tomorrow...

The Larry Spring "Pump and Dump", taking another look at the City of Miami Chief Financial Officer's foray into real estate...

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Yesterday we discussed City of Miami Chief Financial Officers unfortunate foreclosure on his home located at 13321 Polk street.  Before we continue, let's take a look at the definition of "arm's length transaction", a term commonly used in real estate, from the Realtor.com website...

An arm’s length transaction is one in which the buyers and sellers act independently and have no relationship to each other. The concept of an arm’s length transaction is to ensure that both parties in the deal are acting in their own self interest and are not subject to any pressure or duress from the other party.

Simple to understand right?  Now, let's take a look at the deed for the home Mr. Spring purchased back in 2004...

larry spring deed for 13321 Polk Street

Anyone notice who the sellers were?  According to the deed, Mr Spring purchased the home from Mamie L. Spring and her husband John Flemming.  Could there be some sort of relationship between Mamie L. Spring and Larry M. Spring Jr?  To answer that question, we'll look at a quit claim deed from 1979 for the very same property...

14421 Polk Street Deed From Larry M. Spring to Mamie I. Spring

From this document dated July 11, 1979 we see that Mamie I. Spring took ownership of the property solely in her name from someone named Larry M. Spring, presumably Larry M. Spring Sr.  Coincidentally this quit claim deed coincides with date for Larry M. Spring Sr.'s divorce from Mamie I. Spring (case 1979-904571-FC-04) back in mid 1979. 

 

Conclusion in case you haven't figured it out yet?  From the documents we've been able to unearth, it appears to me like Larry M. Spring Jr. purchased his childhood home from his mother, hardly an arms length transaction, stripped the home of all it's equity then let it fall into foreclosure.  If that is indeed the case then we have to ask another important question, did Larry M. Spring Jr. ever live in the home located at 13321 Polk street after he purchased it in 2004?  

We'll continue our discussion into this seemingly nefarious transaction tomorrow, before we do though, make sure you go back and read our comments from yesterday's post as well as the comments on Investigation Miami and Take Back Miami to get all the necessary background information.

City of Miami CFO Larry Spring's home foreclosed on...

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Could this be true? The City of Miami's Chief Financial Officers home was foreclosed on? Is it actually possible that the man that's in charge of the city's purse strings is so financially irresponsible that he let his own home slip into foreclosure? Let's take a look.


The property in question is located at 14421 Polk Street in lovely Miami-Dade county...

Mr. Spring purchased the home back in December of 2004, according to the county records the home was purchased for $150,000 with a mortgage from Peninsula Bank for $147,682. Here's the mortgage as it appears on the Miami Dade county recorders website...

14421 Polk Street first Mortgage

Now, a little over two years later, Mr. Spring goes ahead and refinances the same property for $191,250, once again here's the mortgage as it appears in the he county recorders website...

Larry Spring 14421 Polk Street Mortgage

So far so good, right? Problem is just two years later the bank that Mr. Spring has his mortgage with decides to file a foreclosure suit against him as evidenced by this lis pendens filed against the property on March 11, 2008...

Larry Spring Lis Pendens for 13321 Polk Street

In case there's any doubt that the Larry Spring who's home was foreclosed on is the same Larry Spring who's the CFO of the City of Miami, take a look at this signature that we obtained from the mortgage in question...

Now, compare that signature to the City of Miami CFO's signature as it appears on the city's 2009 annual report...

Any doubts now?

Disregard the fact that Mr. Spring refinanced the property two years after he purchased it for $41,250 more than what he had purchased it for, also disregard the fact that a man making as much money as Mr. Spring couldn't keep up the payments on a $190,000 loan while making a small fortune as the CFO of a major city. What should scare the living crap out of all of us is that a man as fiscally irresponsible as Mr. Spring has control of the City of Miami's finances! WTF! Come on Larry, if things were so rough, you should have just asked Veldora for a loan!

I'm getting the feeling that there's much more to this story than meets the eye, more coming tomorrow.