We left off last week discussing certain excerpts from the grand jury transcript from the Plantation Cop's mortgage fraud case, let's take another look at those excerpts...
With respect to this particular Indictment, we’re talking about the first count, which is a conspiracy count. It’s a conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing of false statement with a Government agency, the Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Filing a false statement with a government agency, specifically the Department of Housing & Urban Development? The loans in question weren't FHA or government insured, so why in the world would anyone think that the HUD-1's for the loans in question were filed with HUD?
In case there was any confusion, the prosecutors presented the grand jury with testimony from one of the agents working the case who confirmed that indeed the HUD-1's in question were filed with the Department of Housing & Urban Development...
Q. And the department or agency to which the HUD-1 is submitted is the Department of Housing & Urban Development?
A. Yes.
Isn't that nice? The obvious problem with these statements is that their flat out WRONG! The prosecutor presenting the case to the grand jury knows so little about the intricacies of mortgage and real estate transactions that he makes this obvious misrepresentation, to add insult to injury he brings in an agent to testify who knows just as little about the subject at hand as he does. Fabulous.
Here's something else to consider, could it be possible since grand jury proceedings are secret, that the prosecutor took some liberties with the truth? Take a look at the same two excerpts from the grand jury transcripts, this time without the obvious misrepresentations...
With respect to this particular Indictment, we’re talking about the first count, which is a conspiracy count. It’s a conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing of false statement with a Government agency, the Department of Housing & Urban Development lender.
And...
Q. And the department or agency to which the HUD-1 is submitted is the Department of Housing & Urban Development lender?
A. Yes.
Doesn't that sound completely different? Somehow allegedly lying to a lender (or bank) sounds less damning than lying to a "government agency, the Department of Housing & Urban Development". The question that remains is why would the prosecutor and the case agent in question lie to the grand jury? Was the case too weak to go forward based on the truth? Did the prosecutors need this extra bit of "spice" to push the grand jury to indict or could the prosecutors and agents who worked the case actually know so little about the case that they were prosecuting that they made an innocent mistake? I doubt it. I'm more inclined to believe that this misrepresentation of the facts was designed solely to paint the subjects of the indictment in as bad of light as possible before the grand jury in order to guarantee an indictment. Simply saying the defendants lied to bank wasn't strong enough but alleging that they committed wire and mail fraud by lying to a government agency is a whole different animal.
The worst part of all this? All the grand jury proceedings are secret. More tomorrow.
Why not? If the truth isn't good enough, why not make up some bullshit to really get the job done? Say your a cop or a prosecutor who's itching to put a case together but can't close the deal, somehow you need that extra little bit of spice to push it over the edge to make your allegations more convincing. We witnessed Miami Dade Prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski do it several times, whether lying to a judge or to a witness to elicit the testimony he needed to help his case, as we said the other day, how about if you go one step further and lie to a grand jury in ordrer to get an indictment?
Take a look at these exceprts from the grand jury transcripts for the Plantation Cop's mortgage fraud case aka "Operation Copout"...
With respect to this particular Indictment, we’re talking about the first count, which is a conspiracy count. It’s a conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing of false statement with a Government agency, the Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Oh really?
Counts 2 through 12 are the mail fraud counts. Counts 13 through 25 are the wire fraud counts. Counts 26 through 33 are the 1001 counts, which is the filing of a false statement with a federal agency.
No kidding? Here's a snippet of the testimony from the agent who put together the case...
Q. And the department or agency to which the HUD-1 is submitted is the Department of Housing & Urban Development?
A. Yes.
Anyone see the problem there? Think it over and we'll discuss in detail tomorrow...
The day is finally upon us, today in Miami Dade County it's time to elect a new mayor, some new commissioners and to vote on some proposals to amend the county’s charter. In light of our being banned from City of Miami computers and the fact that we wholeheartedly support Luther Campbell for Mayor of Miami Dade County, I think this video is right on point...
Till tomorrow, take a look back on a post we wrote a while back where we busted veteran (hah) economic crimes prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski lying to a judge during a hearing. Pretty bad right? Tomorrow we're going to see how the prosecutors in the Plantation cops mortgage fraud case did the same thing but worse. Instead of lying to a judge, they lied to the GRAND JURY!
That's right, according to what our friend Al Crespo tells us, several local blogs as well as our humble blog has been banned from City of Miami Computers! From what Al tells us, the following blogs have been blocked by the City of Miami IT department...
Investigation Miami
Take Back Miami
The Straw Buyer
Miami New Times
Coconut Grove Grapevine
TruthDies
Watchdog Report
Political Cortadito
It's an honor to be included in that list of blogs. From what we're told all but a few high ranking City of Miami employees and commissioners have been blocked from viewing the blogs listed above since about two weeks ago. As Mr. Crespo states, this really isn't going to stop city employees from reading the banned blogs since most everyone does so with a smart phone these days. What I'm really surprised at though is the fact that only the upper echelon of city employees is able to read the banned blogs, that really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling as our blog gets dozens of visits on a daily basis from the following IP address...
My hands are full today preparing for tomorrows scheduled rapture. I know I'm definitely not going anywhere tomorrow but I'm worried about people who might be stuck in my house when it's time tomorrow so I've gone out and purchased a "rapture hatch" for my roof...
This way, any shitheads that may be lounging around my house when the time comes tomorrow will have no problem getting the fcuk out. With that said, we'll see most of you on Monday, stay tuned, it's going to be an exciting week for those of us that are still here...
That's right! Things are tough all over and as everyone can see the City of Miami is whoring itself out to anyone and everyone to make a buck to cover up budget shortfalls. Look at the grotesque ad murals on the side of public buildings, the red light cameras that promised millions in revenue but have failed miserably and worse, Mayor Regalado legalizing the electronic gambling machines that plague our city in search of a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue to plug holes in the city budget.
So what's the city to do in order to try to eek out every last penny from the tax payers to continue to fund their ridiculous government employee pay and benefit packages? How about sending police officers out to jack money from innocent people?! Sit back and read this...
You get that? In a nutshell the complaint alleges that two unnamed City of Miami police officers instruct homeland security to grab two people off a plane at the Miami International Airport, the cops then interrogate the two travelers in an interrogation room at the airport and take $9,100.00 in cash off of one guy and $8,900.00 off the other guy. The cops then transport the subjects to the City of Miami Police headquarters building where they are further interrogated and told that all their belongings and money are being confiscated, after approximately seven and a half hours the subjects are escorted out of the headquarters building and dumped out on the street, even worse throughout the entire ordeal the two City of Miami cops refused to identify themselves or even give the poor guys any kind of receipt for their property!
Sound far fetched? Maybe some ridiculous claims by some guys looking to score in a civil suit against the city? Could the lawyer be full of shit? Keep in mind, the alleged incident took place back September of 2010 and this lawsuit was filed only a few days ago. Why the wait? Was the police department aware of what was going on? How about Chief Exposito or maybe the Mayor himself? Was anyone aware of these allegations? This letter that was attached to the complaint should answer those questions...
HOLY SHIT! According to this letter written to Detective Ihosvany Cuervo from the victims attorneys, the city and the police department were aware of this incident since late September 2010 and it seems as if the Detective from internal affairs even met with the attorney and the victims in regards to the incident. What's most troubling about the whole ordeal is that to this day, nearly nine months since the incident occurred, the City of Miami Police Department WILL NOT REVEAL THE IDENTITIES OF THE POLICE OFFICERS INVOLVED! The letter also reveals that as of December 3, 2010 Mayor Regalado, Chief Miguel Exposito and city attorney Julie O. Bru were made aware of the situation and have done nothing about it for five months, not even the courtesy of returning a phone call to the victims attorneys which left him no choice but to file suit on behalf of his clients. What a fucking mess.
So what do we have? Let's capsulize; two City of Miami police detectives that are accused of...
Civil Theft
False Imprisonment
Conversion
Conspiracy
I would have gone one step further and included the City Attorney, the Mayor and the Police Chief as part of the conspiracy because of their inaction in dealing with the alleged charges.
If the allegations against the unnamed police officers are false, why hasn't the city revealed their identities? Why has the police department and the city attorney sat by for months on end rather than dealing with the situation? Consider for a moment if the allegations are true, the police department could have probably made the whole thing go away by simply repaying the victims and sending them on their way. Instead, they've literally ignored the victims and their attorneys and have now opened themselves up to a lawsuit that could potentially end up costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars if the victims prevail in court. Even worse, there could be grounds for a 1983 Civil Rights action which could cost the taxpayers even MORE money!
I'm at a loss. Can someone please let me know what in the fuck is going on in our city?
On another note, when our favorite MDPD cop, Detective Jorge Baluja, comes across this post, don't fret, just because I haven't written about you in a while, don't think I've forgotten about you. I got a nice surprise waiting for you next week.
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...
