Key robo-signing case gets settled out of court and veteran attorney David Donet Sr. federally indicted for all sorts of bad stuff!

Simply amazing.  As we discussed a while back we were expecting a key robo-signing case to be litigated before the Florida Supreme Court which would have determined whether or not banks could simply absolves themselves from liability in instances where they were caught using forged documents during foreclosure proceedings.  We learned this morning that the case was settled out of court, from the Daily Business Review article...

The first robo-signing case scheduled to get to the Florida Supreme Court for oral arguments has been settled out of court by Bank of New York Mellon and the homeowner.
The settlement comes as a disappointment to homeowners in foreclosure who have been trying to challenge the use of fraudulent documents used by banks to expedite foreclosure orders for Florida circuit courts.
Enrique Nieves III of Ice Legal in Royal Palm Beach had been preparing for oral arguments in Roman Pino v. BNY Mellon after the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the bank's right to voluntarily dismiss the case.

With the settlement, the 4th DCA ruling remains the law in every court in Florida. In Pino v. BNY Mellon, the homeowner requested an evidentiary hearing when the bank tried to re-initiate a foreclosure that had been stalled because of a questionable assignment of mortgage document.
The bank was trying to go forward with a cured document and Nieves was arguing they couldn't proceed until the original fraud allegation was aired on its merits.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser noted the bank had voluntarily dismissed the original foreclosure petition and that case could not be reopened. She treated the second foreclosure petition as an entirely separate matter, and Nieves appealed.
The 4th DCA sided with Sasser in an en banc decision. But there was a dissent mainly on grounds that an attempt to perpetrate a fraud on the court was still actionable. The majority panel acknowledged the issue was of great public importance due to the rampant use of questionable documents; that certification helped Nieves put the case before the Supreme Court.

Incredible how banks can perpetrate a fraud on the court yet if the average guy would have done the same thing, his ass would have landed in jail.  This is just another instance of our government not holding banks accountable for the mess they've helped create.  What's worse about this whole ordeal is that the robo-signing epidemic is still running rampant, we've been given several examples of robo-signing that's occurring right now, even after all the national media exposure.


Moving on, yesterday veteran attorney David Donet Sr. of Miami was federally indicted for a wide range of nefarious schemes, take a look at the indictment...

David Donet Sr Indictment

Besides ripping off his clients monies that were deposited in his trust account, Mr. Donet offered his victims a unique investment opportunity, from the federal indictment...

After the defendant received funds in his attorney trust account on behalf of certain clients from the representation of those clients, the defendant encouraged those clients to leave their funds in his trust account, falsely stating that the funds would be invested, when in truth and in fact, and as the defendant then and there well knew, no investment of client funds would occur.

If alarm bells didn't go off when the clients were offered this investment scheme, then perhaps they deserved to get ripped off.  Again, from the indictment...

The defendant falsely represented to certain clients that by keeping their funds in his attorney trust account: a) the funds would be insured and secure while the defendant invested the funds; b) the funds would provide 10% annual interest, to be paid in monthly installments; and c) clients could withdraw their principal at any time.

Sounds like a good ole fashion Ponzi scheme to me!  Mr. Donet was eventually responsible for the theft of over a million dollars of his clients funds, it's a damn shame as those clients who entrusted their money with Mr. Donet will never get their money back.  Oh well!

Why is it a crime for the average citizen to commit fraud when it's ok for banks to do so? Also, why is property in the City of Miami worth less than property in Coral Gables?

Great question right?  Say you or I submitted all kinds of forged and bogus paperwork for a mortgage or worse, what if we submitted said paperwork to a court?  Undoubtedly, our asses would be headed for jail.   

Over the course of our blog we've written about several instances where people simply misstated their incomes who were subsequently arrested and convicted of various frauds, so why should it be any different for banks?  Considering the robo signing epidemic that's plagued the courts recently where foreclosure attorneys representing banks have been fabricating and forging documents to help their foreclosure cases along, shouldn't these attorneys and the banks who they represent have their feet held to the fire for perpetrating these frauds on the court?  Up till now the attorneys and their clients have been able to avoid any repercussions from these frauds by simply dropping the foreclosure cases, isn't that nice?  

Imagine committing a crime then simply backing off midway and having the government not prosecuting you?  I've always been told that even if you didn't go through with the crime, it's simply the intent that's enough to get you prosecuted, so why are these attorneys and their clients being let off the hook for committing the very same type of frauds that many of the people who've been prosecuted for mortgage fraud have committed?  Doesn't seem fair does it?

Now comes a foreclosure defense attorney who isn't satisfied with the status quo, attorney Enrique Nieves III has filed an appeal with the Florida supreme court which will decide if the banks can simply walk away from these nefarious fake robo signed documents without having to deal with the consequences.  From the Daily Business Review article...

At 31, Nieves is assigned to argue a case that may decide the fate of thousands of mortgage foreclosures similar to his case, Roman Pino v. Bank of New York Mellon.
The question before the court seems straightforward: Can banks escape fraud claims in foreclosures by simply dropping their case?
But the ramifications are potentially severe, and with its decision the state's high court will likely decide what consequences lenders will face for the robo-signing scandal and allegedly fraudulent assignment-of-mortgage documents that has affected thousands of cases.
In Nieves' case, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Feb. 3 that BNY Mellon legally avoided a claim that it committed a fraud on the court by voluntarily dismissing a foreclosure action against Pino, a Lake Worth resident. The claim was dismissed after Pino's counsel scheduled depositions and asked for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether BNY Mellon used a fraudulent mortgage assignment.
On appeal is an 8-1 en banc decision saying courts have no authority to rescind voluntary dismissals and that no harm was done. Judge Mark Polen disagreed, saying the allegation of a systemic fraud was the very thing the Supreme Court addressed in its 2010 rule change giving courts greater latitude in sanctioning plaintiffs who make false allegations.
If the Supreme Court agrees with Polen, a host of homeowners may get a chance to seek sanctions from their lenders. Those are the stakes for Nieves.
On July 1, the Supreme Court granted BNY Mellon's motion for extension of time. It has until Aug. 4 to answer Nieves' brief. No date has been set for oral arguments.

Best of luck to Mr. Nieves, we'll have to wait till August to see how this pans out, the outcome of this case could have huge repercussions for homeowners embroiled in this mess.  

The bigger question that's left unanswered is why haven't any of the attorneys and banks that have committed these frauds been prosecuted or at the very least been disciplined by the Bar?  Why haven't any prosecutors summoned up the balls to go ahead and make a case against these guys?  Seems like a slam dunk, open and shut case to me.  Maybe when they're through prosecuting people who misstated their incomes on mortgage applications or lied about where they worked, they'll get around to going after these guys.  

Here's another question to ponder, perhaps a question that can be answered by simply looking at two photos.  Why is property in the City of Miami worth significantly less than property in Coral Gables?  Let's try to answer that question by looking at two photos taken as you go down 37th Avenue which is the border between the two cities, the first photo is on the east side of 37th which is the Gables side...

Here you have nicely manicured landscaping, some palm trees, clean sidewalks, etc.  Now, from the very same position, look across the street to the City of Miami side and you'll find this...

Isn't that sweet?  Check out the three huge billboards on a tiny 8,000 sqft lot.  Funny how eyesores like this have a detrimental effect of property values, isn't it?  Doesn't this look like the visual pollution people from the north east want get away from when they come to sunny Florida for vacation?

The worst part of all this is that if the people running our beloved city have their way, the entire city is going to look like this mess and considering how the city commission is in the billboard industry's pocket, I guess we're fcuked!