We present former Florida assistant attorney general Frank J. Ingrassia, our new moron of the week.

Just when you think you've heard it all, of all things, a former assistant attorney general and now foreclosure defense attorney Frank J. Ingrassia forging judges signatures on bogus lawsuit settlements, from the Miami Herald article...

Lawyer accused of forging foreclosure documents

A Coral Springs lawyer is facing three felony charges relating to the alleged forgery of court documents in a foreclosure case.

BY DAVID OVALLE

A Coral Springs lawyer forged the signatures of two Miami-Dade judges while lying to a client about a bogus lawsuit settlement, authorities said Wednesday.

The lawyer, Frank J. Ingrassia, who was working with a disgraced foreclosure rescue company called Outreach Housing, was arrested last week in Broward County and charged with three felonies involving the forgery of court documents.

Ingrassia, who was disbarred last month for the misconduct, drew headlines in 2008 after he began preemptively suing banks for providing allegedly fraudulent mortgages. Aventura businessman William Klein hired Ingrassia to sue his bank after reading a Miami Herald article about the attorney's efforts.

According to an arrest affidavit released Wednesday, Ingrassia presented Klein with paperwork showing a $1 million settlement signed by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maxine Cohen Lando, and a foreclosure dismissal order signed by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ronald Dresnick.

But neither judge had signed any such legal documents, and they were never filed in court, according to an arrest affidavit by Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agent Michelle Bufalino.

Klein said Ingrassia even recounted to him detailed and ultimately bogus tales of dramatic courtroom hearings. Klein is still engaged in a legal battle to keep his Aventura condo.

Ingrassia ``performed a two-year charade,'' Klein said.

``He set me back to the point where I don't know what my future is going to be. I have to litigate all over again.''

Ingrassia, a former Florida assistant attorney general, did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

The 51-year-old lawyer was arrested after FDLE seized his computer from his Coral Springs office, where the forgeries allegedly took place.

The forgeries appear to be isolated, authorities said.

``At this time, there is no evidence he did this to anyone else,'' said Broward Assistant State Attorney David Schulson, who is prosecuting the case.

Jeeze.  Looks like Frank J. Ingrassia has unseated our former moron of the week, attorney David Alschuler, Mr Ingrassia's behavior definitely takes the cake.

Wait a minute, does anyone know what actually went on in the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud?

ANYONE?!  We know by know the police have no clue, we certainly the prosecutor who put together the case, ASA Bill Kostrzewski has no clue but we thought we had a pretty good handle on what went on.  Today we're specifically referring to the role of defendant Michael Martinez's part in the Barrera mortgage fraud.  As we mentioned before on our blog, it was our understanding (and perhaps the states as well) that Michael Martinez  was the guy who lent the "straw buyer" $125,000 as the earnest money for the closing and was then repaid the $125,000 plus $10,000 more after the closing for the Barrera fraud.  We know that Mr. Martinez plead out back in June 2009 and is now nearly done with his probation sentence.   I think that those of you following our blog since it's inception can agree that this was our understanding of Mr. Martinez's role in this fraud or so we thought!

Last night while digging through the files pertaining to the Barrera mortgage fraud, I came across the report prepared by the court appointed guardian, David Alschuler, for the foreclosure case associated with the Barrera mortgage fraud case, here it is again for your review...

David Alschuler Guardian Ad Litem Report for Bernardo Barrera Mortgage Fraud Case

Did anyone catch it?  Take a closer look...

So according to the court appointed guardian David Alschuler, it was Michael Martinez who purchased the home at the center of the Barrera mortgage fraud not John Romney.  If we're to believe Mr. Alschuler then the state and the defense attorneys had gotten it all wrong for the last two years.  Obviously Mr Alschuler wasn't paying much attention while he was cutting and pasting from the Miami Herald in preparing his report from the court, if he was paying any attention when he was preparing his highly inflammatory and blatantly false report he would have known that it Michael Martinez had nothing to do with the purchase of the home in question.  It's downright scary to think Mr. Alshuler could be so sloppy, I can only hope that he takes better care of his clients.

Nice work there Mr. Alschuler, I guess we didn't crown him "Moron of the Week" for nothing!

 

Introducing The Straw Buyers "Moron of the Week", attorney David Alschuler.

Just when I think I've gone through every single document relating to the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, I trip upon something new.  Today we've stumbled upon a report from the court appointed guardian in the foreclosure case that arose from the Barrera mortgage fraud.  From what I'm told the court appointed a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) to look into the claims of an impostor posing as Mr. Barrera at the closing and if indeed there was an impostor to determine whether the impostor had an interest in the property to effectuate service in the foreclosure case.  Simple enough to understand right?  The court appointed an attorney named David Alschuler to act as the guardian, surely in his role as a guardian Mr. Alschuler left no stone unturned in his effort to find out whether or not there was an impostor right?  Let's take a look at  his report...

David Alschuler Guardian Ad Litem Report for Bernardo Barrera Mortgage Fraud Case

Fantastic!  That's some investigation that Mr Alschuler conducted before he wrote that report, huh?  So what exactly did Mr. Alschuler do to prepare for this report?  Apparently he first read the police report and comes up with this...

Brilliant!  Mr. Barrera "did all of the right things"!  Of course he did.  How about all those letters that Citi Mortgage sent Mr. Barrera before the closing actually occurred Mr. Alschuler?  Of  course Mr. Barrera received several alerts from the credit monitoring services, yet somehow he missed all the alerts that they sent out before the closing for the fraudulent home purchase?  How about them signatures Mr. Alschuler, did you bother to look at them?  We certainly did!  Nice work there Mr. Alschuler!

So what did Mr. Alschuler do next in his quest for the truth?  He read the Miami Herald!

From the looks of it, Mr. Alschuler read the Herald article regarding the Barrera fraud and practically copied it in his report, inaccuracies and all.  Once again, nice going there.


Last but not least Mr. Alschuler summarizes a conversation with Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski...

...and concludes that he cannot locate John Doe aka the impostor who showed up at the closing posing as Bernardo Barrera.  Considering the facts that we've laid out Mr. Alschuler you may want to reconsider your findings, the impostor may have been right in front of you all along.

It's one thing for a stupid cop to over look important evidence in putting together a case, but it's something else all together different for an independent attorney that has no interest in whether or not the defendants that were charged are prosecuted to do such a piss poor job in investigating the case.  With that said, considering the effort that Mr. Alschuler put into his investigation of the Barrera mortgage fraud and his woefully inadequate GAL report, we crown him the inaugural Straw Buyer MORON OF THE WEEK!