That's right! You sold your soul for a few bucks then had your co conspirators screw you out of money so now you want free legal representation? WTF?! Could that be right? Take a look at this excerpt from one of the Miami Dade Mortgage Fraud Task Force meetings...
Can you believe the audacity of these fcuks? Straw buyers looking for free legal help? What happened poor straw man? Did your buddies screw you out of your share of the profits? Boo hoo! The straw buyer is at the center of the fraud, it couldn't happen without them! They didn't know what they were getting in to? WTF?!
Like we said...
The fraudulent deals couldn't happen without them. DUH! It get's better...
Exactly! A prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, so why the hell do they have so much trouble with nailing the bad guys on mortgage fraud cases? It's EASY! Chairman Theobald straightens things out...
So what's the moral of the story? If you're a straw buyer and got screwed out of your cut of the ill gotten gains, don't call the cops and tell them so! Pretend that he had no knowledge of what was going on, or even better, hopefully you changed your signature at closing and you can claim that someone impersonated you at closing! Tell them your identity got stolen and you're good to go!
Huh? What the hell does Dick Cheney and his "ilk" have to do with our mortgage fraud stories? Everyone's familiar with the way Dick Cheney and the Bush administration got us into the Iraq war through a series of deceptions, lies and misrepresentations of the truth regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction as well as their supposed links to Al Qaeda. We all remember Colin Powell testifying before the U.N. that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow cake uranium powder from Niger in an effort to build weapons of mass destruction and how there was proof that there was already weapons of mass destruction hidden all over Iraq ready to be used against the United States and it's allies. By using that campaign of misinformation Dick Cheney and his gang led the United States into a war against a country that hadn't even attacked us. Like we said before, by using lies and deceit, Cheney and the Bush administration committed the ultimate act of treason against their country and although they should be tried for their acts of treason it's never going to happen with them hiding behind the shield of "executive privilege".
"Mr. Cheney is not only a hypocrite, but a coward. He was afraid of military service and “hid” from it, just like he hides in some undisclosed bunker at the first sign of trouble, just like Hitler and his ilk. He will be tried just like the Nazis when reason prevails. Thank you."
Think about that for a moment and reflect on the recent developments that we've discussed on our blog, people making up evidence, coercing witnesses, fabricating witness statements, ignoring pertinent exculpatory facts, etc... Doesn't that sound like some of the monkey business that Cheney and his "ilk" were engaged in during the build up to the Iraq war? Now folks, consider that that quote was from none other than a guy named William Kostrzewski in response to Dick Cheney speaking at some veterans event. Could you imagine if that was our Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski? Talk about hypocritical?! YIKES! Let's break that quote down:
"Mr. Cheney is not only a hypocrite, but a coward", that's about right isn't it? If indeed this is our Mr. Kostrzewski that made that quote, isn't it hypocritical for you to handle yourself the way you have throughout the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case considering that you swore an oath to uphold the constitution and laws of our country and state as an assistant state attorney?
"He was afraid of military service", now we don't know anything about Mr. Kostrzewski's past and possible military service other than the fact that he was a border patrol agent, so we can't comment.
"...just like he hides in some undisclosed bunker at the first sign of trouble, just like Hitler and his ilk." Yikes! That's some pretty strong $hit Mr. Kostrzewski! Just like you hiding from the press in the SAO and having Ed Griffith deal with them for you, huh?
"He will be tried just like the Nazis when reason prevails." That's right Mr. Kostrzewski, you will be too, take that $hit to the bank buddy.
Ironic how things work out huh? Some guy named William Kostrzewski ranting like a madman about Dick Cheney and his "ilk" while there's another guy named William Kostrzewski that's guilty of behaving just as badly as Mr. Cheney, albeit on a much smaller scale. Even worse though than the pile of $hit that Mr. Kostrzewski and his "ilk" call a case is Mr. Kostrzewski's appearances in court, what could be more egregious than a veteran prosecutor putting together a criminal case based on lies and half truths? What could be more offensive than a prosecutor withholding evidence from defense attorneys trying to prepare for a trial? Could there be anything worse than a seasoned prosecutor sitting through depositions instructing witnesses not to answer questions? How about the prosecutor going before the judge and lying about the facts of the case? Bad huh? How about said prosecutor standing before the judge and misrepresenting the facts of the case going so far as to completely contradict the arrest affidavit that he created? That's bad isn't it?
What's that saying that you're so fond of Bill? How does that go?
"You don't know what I know"
That's right buddy, you don't know what we know. Keep reading, you'll find out what we know soon enough...
Don't get carried away, there isn't enough room on this blog to round up all the dirty attorneys out there, what we're going to do today is just summarize all the dirty attorneys that we've talked about since the inception of our blog. Here we go...
Roger Besu- charged with stealing over two million dollars of his clients funds from his trust account.
Sally Sawh- oddly enough she's also been charged with stealing over two million dollars of her clients funds from her trust account.
David Rodriguez- charged several counts for setting up an illegal home purchase where the buyer was getting tens of thousands of dollars from the closing without the lenders knowledge as well as paying off the sellers mortgage weeks before the closing actually occurred according to the state. He was the attorney that put the deal together with an undercover cop acting as the sellers accountant.
Alfredo Xiques- he's the guy who notarized forged signatures on a mortgage for his cousin allowing the cousin to make off with tens of thousands of dollars, oddly enough he was never charged.
Scott Rothstein- the high profile attorney that ran a $1.2 billion dollar ponzi scheme through his law firm.
Maria Teresa Lopez- where do we start? This was the suspended attorney who according to the states charging documents kept doing closings through another attorney who didn't pay off mortgages and ultimately made off with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars of lenders monies.
Guillermo Napoleon Lopez- this would be Maria Teresa Lopez' brother who according to the state helped her launder the proceeds of the crooked mortgages. Again, oddly enough he was never charged.
Darlene Fernandez Carus- this is the attorney that Maria Teresa Lopez used to do her fraudulent deals through, the proceeds of these closings according to the state came through this attorneys trust account and again according to the state it was this attorneys office that was responsible for paying off the mortgages on the transactions that the Lopez group profited from. Once again, despite the apparent involvement in these frauds, this attorney wasn't charged.
Last but not least, we have attorney Delaila Estefano who according the arrest affidavit prepared by Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski was charged with the following:
Furthermore, the State conceded that both Co-DefendantRomney and Martinez did not directly implicate Ms. Estefano has having knowledge aboutthe underlying fraud in the case.
WTF? Nearly two years into the Bernardo Barrera Mortgage Fraud case and the codefendants haven't been able to implicate the attorney?! You have to wonder then, what did Attorney Estefano do that prompted Detective Baluja to arrest her? Let's here it in his own words...
So there you have it folks, the state alleges that not following closing instructions is what got the attorney arrested. Not stealing millions of dollars from trust accounts, not for failing to pay off peoples mortgages, not for fraudulently notarizing peoples signatures or for doing fraudulent deals with undercover cops but for allegedely failing to follow closing instructions. Brilliant Jorge.
Good question right? Why is Assistant State Attorney getting all hot under the collar during the depositions for the Bernardo Barrera Mortgage fraud case? We've seen him flip his lid during not just Detective Baluja's depositions but also when codefendant Michael Martinez was depoed as well. So what gives? Why is the prosecutor getting all bent out of shape? Simple, it's because he was the one running the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud investigation, not Detective Baluja, the cop was simply his tool.
Any doubts about who was running the investigation? Check this bit out from the Detective's deposition...
It sure sounds like Detective Baluja is telling us that ASA Kostrzewski prepared questions for him to ask a witness. For those of you reading our blog from the State Attorneys Office, is that kosher? Somehow the prosecutor preparing questions for the detective to ask a witness sure seems like it's outside the prosecutors role as an advocate doesn't it?
Is anyone surprised that ASA Kostrzewski is basically running the investigation? That sure does explain why he gets all worked up during those depos. See, when the attorneys discover holes in the case during those depos and trip up the people getting questioned, it's indirectly prosecutor Kostrzewski that's getting tripped up. The problems being uncovered are flaws in the case that he created, a case where he was the investigator and an administrator, clearly stepping outside his role as an advocate. For the attorneys among you, do you see the problem Mr. Kostrzewski has created for himself?
Now that certainly can't be kosher now could it? The affidavit in question isn't an arrest affidavit, it's something far more sensitive folks, it's actually an affidavit from a witness that is the cornerstone of Mr. Kostrzewski's case. You have to ask yourselves though, why in the fcuk is the prosecutor typing up a witness statement that was included as part of the arrest affidavit? You better hope that statement that Mr. Kostrzewski created and subsequently based his entire case on is 100% accurate and jives with what the witness actually said. If it doesn't then one can only imagine the consequences for Mr. Kostrzewski. Tisk, tisk Bill.
We left off yesterday with Detective Jorge Baluja fumbling through another deposition, nothing new. Once again the pride and joy of the Miami Dade Mortgage Fraud Task Force demonstrates that he doesn't understand the fundamental aspects of real estate and mortgages, the very subjects that he was "trained" to investigate. For the sake of our readers who aren't that familiar with the detectives grasp of the real estate business, let's do a quick recap...
What's a warranty deed Jorge?
OK, so what's a promissory note?
Alright, let's make it easy, how about the Truth In Lending Statement?
Let's try an easy one then, what's an escrow account?
Sure, why not. Are you sure about that Jorge?
Ok, that's good enough Jorge, go back to your corner and sit down.
Now, try to imagine what it must have been like during that deposition, three attorneys on the defense side hammering away at poor Jorge, Bill Kostrzewski sitting there watching Jorge squirm and make an idiot of himself, one could only imagine the tension in the room. So what was ASA Kostrzewski doing during this slaughter of his Detective? Well if his track record is any indication, you can only imagine, you all remember how ASA Kostrzewski behaves during depositions don't you? From codefendant Michael Martinez' deposition...
Sound familiar? Remember this?
Now we all remember what ASA Kostrzewski has done when Detective Baluja can't answer a question right? He whispers the answers in his ear!
So it only stands to reason that as Jorge is fumbling through this deposition that his puppet master comes to his rescue! Take a look for yourselves...
Easy enough question right? I guess at this point Bill's had enough of watching his boy get beat down...
Once again, the prosecutor interrupts the deposition and starts answering questions for the witness! WTF! Bill, did you forget when you said...
With that said Bill, sit back, STFU and enjoy the fail!
Why the fcuk are you interrupting and answering questions for Jorge then? Nothing new for ASA Kostrzewski, throughout the deposition, Bill would whisper answers in Jorge's ear, make hand signals etc and that's what was going on in plain sight, god only knows what was going on under the table! So why is prosecutor Kostrzewski freaking out during these depositions? We'll discuss tomorrow...
Honestly, as hard as we try neither Detective Baluja or ASA Kostrzewski allow us to put together a meaningful blog post. We had the same problem last week when we tried to go through one of Detective Baluja's deposition transcripts only to be stopped at the first page with just another example of the Detective's incompetence and assistant state attorney Kostrzewski sad attempt at trying to cover it up. So with that behind us, here we are again today, ready to go through one of Detective Baluja's deposition transcripts in an effort to research how he conducted his investigation of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case for our blog and once again, we're stopped cold in our tracks!
Easy enough right? What's an "escrow deposit"? The good Detective indicates that he knows what it is, so let's see his response...
WHAT'S THAT?! WTF IS DOWN PAVEMENT? HUH?
Ok, maybe he got nervous and said pavement instead of payment. Good enough, so he knows what an escrow deposit is! Let's move on...
WHAT? What the hell does that mean? The escrow accounts for the title agency? What kind of cryptic $hit is that? Does that make sense to ANYONE? Ok, next!
Ok, now that's a bad sign. This must have been the moment when the attorney conducting the deposition realized that Detective Baluja was totally lost, one can only imagine the deer in the headlights look that the Detective must have had on his face.
LOOK OUT JORGE, THERE'S A MACK TRUCK HEADED YOUR WAY!
Today readers, we get a rare insight into the inner workings of the Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, after a long arduous battle, we've finally obtained the minutes of some of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force meetings. Take a look for yourselves, here are the minutes from the November 7, 2007 meeting... Miami Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force Minutes November 7 2007
Did you guys notice a common theme throughout that meeting? It seemed like everyone was busy constantly congratulating each other and slapping each other on the back! Take a look...
Chairman Theobaldexpressed his appreciation to the Task Force members and the Committee Chairs for theirefforts, and noted the Task Force had received positive responses from the media andpublic.
Ok, fair enough.
Mr. Ruvin expressed appreciation to the Mayor for his leadership and initiative in effortsto combat mortgage fraud.
Alright Harvey.
Mr. Dixon commended Mr. Ruvin for the work done by the Clerk of the Courts to automate real estate records.
Chairman Theobald expressed appreciation to the Committee for working diligently to prepare this proposed Code of Conduct.
Starting to get old...
Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) Sergeant Davis commended Mr. Cohen for his ideas regarding law enforcement;
Enough already...
Chairman Theobald commended Mr. Lipsitt for his contributions.
We get it...
Mr. Stephen Lewis, Legal Services of Greater Miami Representative, expressedappreciation to Judge Korvick...
JESUS!
He commended Mr. Ruvin for the Clerk’sOffice’s online records system...
Didn't someone do that already...
Ms. Blake expressed appreciation to the Education Committee for providing the Mortgage Fraud Complaint Form
Appreciating a FORM?
She expressed appreciationfor the complaint form.
Must be one hell of a form huh?
Now, aside from all those back slaps and high fives, did anyone take notice of what these guys were talking about? The Chairman seemed to focus a great deal of attention on the falsification of Quit Claim Deeds. HUH?! The fraudsters are running around ripping banks off through fraudulent mortgages and the chairman of the mortgage fraud task force spends the majority of this meeting talking about Quit Claim Deeds? WTF?!
With all these folks commending each other, do you think anyone was paying attention to this comment...
Ms. Hogan noted the Committee felt the police needed to implement a routing system to avoid frustrating the community by telling them that the police had no resources to investigate reported mortgage fraud cases.
That sounds like one hell of a problem, the police telling citizens that they didn't have the resources to investigate mortgage fraud cases! This Hogan woman seems to have halted this orgy of appreciation and congratulations with that comment. What's worse is that the Chairman responds to her with the creation of some online forms and an 800 number! BRILLIANT!
In the spirit of the Mortgage Fraud Task Forces second meeting, we'd like to express our appreciation and commend our readers for having to sit through and read those 9 pages of bull$hit! More tomorrow...
I read a story in the Miami Herald on October 7, 2008 regarding a mortgage fraud case that didn't make any sense to me, I did a little digging and what I found left me stunned. A tale of a task force head whose political ambitions have run amuck, a detective without a modicum of common sense, a reporter that prints anything that's put in front of him, the railroading of an attorney by this machine to further the ambitions of its head and the lengths that those involved will go to in order to salvage a case that should have never been. Please take the time to start from the oldest post first and enjoy...
