Trying to understand the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud trial verdict.

 I was dumbfounded with the jury's verdict yesterday in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial.  John Burstein from the Sun Sentinel covers the verdict here.   I can't seem to understand how some of the defendants were found not guilty while others were found guilty since they all allegedly did the same thing.  I was of the belief that they were all going to be found not guilty or all guilty, I never imagined two of the six were going to be found guilty while the others walked.  Once again though, we find the government successfully prosecuting people that simply lied on their mortgage applications, as we've mentioned before, if that's the new standard for mortgage fraud prosecutions then the overwhelming majority of the people who purchased homes over the last decade could possibly run the risk of being convicted of mortgage fraud!


I'm still having trouble reconciling yesterdays verdict.  Could it have been simply a case of four of the six defense attorneys doing a better job then the other two?  Was the evidence against the two convicted officers that much worse than the rest?  Perhaps after nearly two months of sitting in jury box and going over thousands of pages of evidence, hundreds of hours of testimony and endless scores of expert witnesses, maybe the jury was lost?  Take a look at this question the jury sent to the judge just before they came back with the verdict and draw your own conclusions...

Question From the Plantation Cops Mortgage Fraud Trial Jury

The jury asks:

Can a defendant be not guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and/or wire fraud and yet be guilty of mail fraud & wire fraud?

Does that make any sense to any of you?  Considering the nature of the crimes in question, the question makes no sense, yet it's a perfect example of the jury's state of mind, at least in my opinion.


Regardless, moving on to a comment left by one of our esteemed readers this morning...

Anonymous said...
what fine words of wisdom do you have now jerky

Thanks for that.  I'll leave off with congratulating the fine defense attorneys who did an excellent job exonerating their clients, Deric Zacca, Roger Cabrera, Steven Potolsky, Michael Dutko, Marc Fagelson, Jayne Weintraub and Anthony Livoti.  Well done, brilliant work.  Best of luck to officers Joseph Lagrasta, Casey Mittauer, Daryl Radziwon and FBI agent Robert Depriest and their families.  I hope they're able to get their lives and careers back together and put this whole ugly ordeal behind them.  

As far as the other two defendants that were found guilty, John Velez and Joseph Derosa, in light of the crimes they were convicted of, we can only hope the court is lenient with their sentences.

Jury in the Plantation cops federal mortgage fraud trial still out. UPDATED! VERDICT IN.

As the title states, they're still out. We'll update as soon as there's news. In the mean time, what do you guys think the verdict will be?

UPDATED AT 10:50.

We're being told that the jury just came back (unconfirmed). Stay tuned.


Jury Has Reached a Verdict in the Plantation Cops Mortgage Fraud Trial



VERDICT IN. Take a look for yourselves...

Plantation Cops Mortgage Fraud Trial Verdict

Velez and Derosa found guilty while Radziwon, Depriest, Mittauer and Lagrasta acquitted.

The jury in the Plantation Cops federal mortgage fraud trial has begun deliberating...

Our sources tell us that the case was handed over to the jury yesterday at 1:40 PM, so much for our theory that the jury was going to come back with a verdict in under an hour!  We were also told that the prosecution accidentally handed over documents to the jury with post it notes with information that the jury wasn't supposed to see all over them.  


While we wait for the jury to come back, I have to wonder, what impact will this verdict have on the next trial?  For those of you who don't remember, the case was split into two trials, one for the cops and another for the lawyers, Steven Stoll, Stephan Orchard and the Guaracino brothers, Joeseph and Dennis.  If the first case comes back with an acquittal, what's going to happen with the second case?  Remember, the cops defense in the first case is that they had no idea what they were doing was wrong and had relied on the attorneys and brokers who told them everything was on the up and up.  


I know our readers are on the edge of their seats waiting for the verdict, check back often today (assuming the jury comes back today), I'll have an update as soon as there's a verdict.  In the mean time, it's gonna be a nail biter!

The Defense rests in the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud trail.

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From what we’re told the defense rested yesterday in the Plantation Cops federal mortgage fraud trial, closing arguments are expected this morning and the case is expected to get to the jury this afternoon.  It’s been nearly two months since the start of this trial, I have to wonder how much information the jury has been able to retain?  Our courtroom observers have told us that most of the jury had a hard time keeping awake during the six weeks of the prosecution’s case and that across the board they looked bored off their asses.  On the other hand, it looks like the defense took only two weeks to present their case, I’m not exactly sure why it took six weeks for the prosecution.

So what do you guys think?  At least one of the jurors has said that there’s nothing that’s going to change her mind about the defendants innocence, isn’t that one juror enough to screw up the case for the prosecution?  In my opinion there’s no way the jury is going to find any of these guys guilty.  Why?  It’s simple, these guys aren’t accused of stealing millions or defrauding the banks and leaving them with a laundry list of busted out houses that are in foreclosure.  The crux of the government’s case against these guys is that they lied on mortgage applications in order to obtain the loans that are at the center of the indictment.  The reason that they will not be found guilty is because there isn’t a single member of that jury or one of their family members that hasn’t done the same.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that some of the very jury members that now sit in judgment of these cops has been involved with some sort of real estate investment/flip scheme over the last ten years therefore making a guilty verdict the ultimate expression of hypocrisy.  We’ll know the outcome soon enough, I’ll update as soon as there’s anything new.

Why is the government trying to exclude a key defense witness from testifying?

Last week we discussed what we called the "unindicted co-conspirators" in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud case, in essence our theory is that the banks that lent the money for what the government alleges were fraudulent real estate transactions were in on the deal.  In other words, the lenders knew about the inflated incomes and the bogus supporting documents on the loan applications, as a matter of fact it seems based on the documents that we've found in the court dockets that the defense has an expert witness that is willing to testify to the lenders complicity in these transactions!  While cruising the court docket I came across this motion...

daryl radziwon motion for expert witness

From the looks of it, it appears that a defense witness named Dr. Gary E. Lacefield, an expert in the area of mortgage fraud, is prepared to testify that the banks involved in these transactions were well aware of what was going on in order to obtain these loans and in fact may have helped encouraged some of the fraudulent behavior that led up to obtaining these loans!  Considering the potential magnitude of Dr Lacefield's testimony, why would the government look to exclude him from the trial?  If indeed Dr. Lacefield could prove that there was lender complicity in all of these deals, isn't the defense entitled to use him?  Check out Dr. Lacefields background here, considering his background, can you guys see any reason why he shouldn't be allowed to testify? 

The unindicted co-conspirators in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud case...

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That term "unindicted co-conspirator" has a pretty nice ring to it doesn't it?  By definition the term refers to a person or entity that is alleged in an indictment to have engaged in conspiracy, but who is not charged in the same indictment.  So who could we be referring to?  Who are these co-conspirators that are suspiciously absent from these prosecutions?  After spending nearly a year going through the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud indictment backwards and forwards it seems that the government had indicted almost everyone that had ever had anything to do with the case including but not limited to buyers, mortgage brokers, title agents, closing agents, etc.  So who could have been left out?


Throughout the last few weeks of testimony from the Plantation cops federal mortgage fraud trail we've learned that there was another group of conspirators in the alleged fraud that knew everything that was going on, conspirators that knew about the exorbitant seller contributions, the excessive escrow amounts, earnest monies coming from third parties, borrowers closing on two "primary residences" withing the same months (in some cases the same day), borrowers whose credit reports showed multiple inquiries from mortgage brokers and lenders within days of the transaction they were about to close, etc...  So who were these "unindicted co-conspirators" involved in the Plantation cops case and just about every other case we've written about?  Here's a small listing of this usual suspects...

These lenders were at the center of each and every mortgage fraud case I've written about, none of the frauds we've discussed could have been possible without these guys.  They all knew what was going on, the paperwork proves it.  Even worse, the entire real estate bubble happened because of their lax lending standards and the fact that they looked the other way while their pockets were getting full as a result of them bundling the garbage loans that they wrote into worthless triple A rated mortgage backed securities.  

Haven't we had enough of street level mortgage fraudsters getting racked over the coals during these nonsensical mortgage fraud trials?  When is a prosecutor going to have enough balls to go after the real criminals that got us to where we are today?

Another government witness in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial admits to having lied...

"Never talk when you can nod,

and never nod when you can wink,

and never write an e-mail because it's death.

You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need."

Elliott Spitzer, interview with ABC news, circa 2006 as Attorney General of New York.

Yesterday defendant turned cooperating government witness Jacqueline Elek Trumbore took the stand in the Plantation Cops mortgage fraud trail.  From what we understand Mrs. Trumbore worked for Turn Key Title which was owned by attorney Steven Stoll, the title company that handled most if not all of the transactions which are the subject of the federal indictment.  As with the other cooperating witnesses, Mrs. Trumbore cut a deal early on with the government, here's her plea agreement as it appears in the court file...

jacqueline trumbore factual proffer

The problem is though that Mrs. Trumbore claims that she was pressured by her attorneys into taking this plea, the court learned this through a series of emails that were revealed during yesterdays hearings from Mrs. Trumbore to her friends and family.  Here's one of the emails...

Now, lets take a look at that "stipulated proffer letter" that she refers to in her email...

jacqueline trumbore stipulated factual proffer

If Mrs. Trumbore is telling the truth and was indeed innocent of the charges that she plead out to then how's this going to look to the jury?  If you accept the premise that Mrs. Trumbore did not commit the crimes that she plead out to, you have to ask yourself, what kind of criminal defense attorney would tell their client to accept a plea for crimes that they did not commit?


On another note, one of our readers who has left several comments over the last few weeks of posts repeatedly asserts at the end of each comment that every one charged in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud indictment had some level of guilt.  I don't think anyone is going to argue that considering the number of transactions that are in question (60+) and the way the transactions were conducted that everyone involved knew there was something that wasn't above board about their dealings.  My problem with this case is that it seems like the governments efforts are wasted considering there are crimes that are far more severe that go unpunished.  I also understand that the government want's to get their pound of flesh against these fraudsters to show the citizens that they're going after the people that theoretically helped bring the nations economy to its knees.  That's fine, but why not go after the people that were behind deals like the ones we discussed in Coconut Grove nearly two years ago?  Or how about hanging the guys involved in the fraud that occurred at 911 Columbus Blvd by their balls?  These frauds cost banks millions of dollars and were run by a sophisticated ring of criminals yet to this day no one has been punished.  Why not go after these guys rather than trying to persecute these cops who lied on their loan applications and ultimately either paid off the mortgages or are still living in the homes that are in question?

Trying to understand the Plantation police mortgage fraud indictment and The Straw Buyer gets a tattoo!

Did you guys take a look at the Plantation cop mortgage fraud indictment that we posted yesterday?  From what we've read in the media, the case seems to be based on the defendants "submitting and causing to be submitted materially false and fraudulent mortgage applications and settlement statements" in order to purchase homes located throughout South Florida.  That a bit of a stretch in our opinion, after all if the feds were going to go after everyone that lied on their mortgage applications, most everyone here in South Florida would be in trouble.  Regardless though, there are a few paragraphs in the indictment that warrant a closer look and may explain what went on...

Right, so they lied on mortgage applications, not really a big deal but lying on the HUD1 settlement statement, that's something altogether different.  Let's keep going...

That's the point of dabbling in real estate isn't it?  Nothing wrong with renting the properties, collecting rents, maintaining the properties and then selling them for a profit, right?  Moving along...

Those are just some of the allegations the feds make against the defendants, once we start playing with forging documents, then all bets are off.  Come on guys, fraud is fraud no matter how you cut it.  It get's worse though...

This is where things really take a turn for the worse.  If indeed the allegations are true and some of the defendants did indeed Quit claim the properties over to Guaracino then the cops charged are nothing more than straw buyers paid by Guaracino and company to fraudulently obtain mortgages for the homes in question.  If our analysis is correct, then there is no defending the people charged, in essence they sold their credit to this group and got paid off for doing so.  After all, could you think of anyone better to use as a straw buyer than law enforcement officers?  Easily verifiable income, great financials, etc and who would think to question a deal involving cops?  Great scam Mr. Guaracino. 

The part of the indictment that really bothers me is the last bit regarding the attorneys...

That's behavior unbecoming of an attorney, destroying evidence?  What really troubles me about this criminal behavior on the part of the two attorneys is that it occurred nearly three years ago, you would think that by now the Florida Bar would have taken some sort of action against these two guys, right?  Let's take a look at the Florida Bar website and see what we can find on these two.  We'll start with attorney Steven Stoll...

Ok, he's still eligible to practice and has no disciplinary history, lets move on to Stephan Orchard...

Look at that, Mr. Orchard is still eligible to practice and doesn't have a disciplinary history either.  Sweet!  That's the Florida bar for you, then again, did you expect any different?

After taking a closer look at the indictment, you have to wonder how one of the defense attorneys could have called the indictment "bogus".  Once you take into account the different aspects of the case and the fact that the cops and the FBI agent basically acted as "straw buyers" for Mr. Guaracino's enterprise, the indictment seems spot on.  With that said, our compliments to Mr. Ferrer and the other AUSA's that put together this indictment which stands in stark contrast to the steaming pile of $hit that Detective Jorge Baluja and assistant state attorney Bill Kostrzewski called a case. 


Now for something different, considering all that's gone on since the inception of our blog almost exactly one year ago, I've decided to get a tattoo to commemorate the upcoming anniversary, a tattoo especially for Detective Jorge Baluja and prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski...

I like it!

Plantation police officers $16mm mortgage fraud case, let's take a look at the indictment.

After diligently searching we've come up with a copy of the indictment the government filed against the police officers and the FBI agent that we talked about last week.  Take a look...

Plantation Police Officers mortgage fraud Indictment


If indeed the allegations in the indictment are true then, there seems to be a lot more going on than simply misstating facts on a loan application.   We'll discuss tomorrow...