GRAVY TRAIN FOR CROWN SOVERIEGN LAWYERS MUST BE STOPPED Hundreds of alleged Ponzi-scheme promoters — so-called "structurists" — played a key role in selling promises of astonishing returns in homes and hotel conference rooms across Canada and the U.S.
Colorado Extremist Convicted for Filing False Liens
Jiron, who headed a loosely organized group of sovereign citizen activists in the San Luis Valley in southwestern Colorado, filed bogus liens in October 2000 against four police officers, two judges, a sheriff, and a former district attorney in retaliation for being arrested by Alamosa police officers. During the trial, Jiron, who defended himself, admitted to filing the $30 million liens, but claimed that he had a right to file them.
District Attorney Peter Comar argued that Jiron was taking the law into his own hands in order to retaliate against public officials at whom Jiron was angry. In one document Jiron mailed to Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, Jiron wrote, "I would think about all of this. This is financial ruin for all of you. I will stop all of this if you drop the charges and release me at once." http://www.adl.org/learn/news/colorado_ex_convicted.asp Photo Credit: Erin Smith, Pueblo Chieftain
With the new charges, the allegations are similar but the RICO element is added by introducing the use of the U.S. post office and Federal Express.
First American was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1999 when it no longer had enough cash to pay agents their commissions or investors their requested redemption
so many people who just went out and filed bankruptcy."
IDENITITY FRAUD INSURED COMPANY INTEREST
For example, in 1998 Black, David Radler and others are accused of devising a plan to divert $14-million from a newspaper transaction. To execute the transaction, however, they had to use the mail. They “deposited or caused to be deposited documents with, and received or took documents from, the U.S. Postal Service and commercial interstate and foreign carriers, namely, board packages sent to the board via Federal Express for the Nov. 30, 1998, board meeting.” Ergo: RICO-style mobster mail fraud!
If the lesson from the Martha Stewart case is that executives should never talk to an FBI investigative team, the lesson here is to never use the mail to send board documents for annual meetings.
"Many of the assets were worthless," Davisson said. She said only about half the money Johnston raised went to buy car loans, and those were often purchased at inflated prices. First American was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1999 when it no longer had enough cash to pay agents their commissions or investors their requested redemptions. Davisson valued its assets at the time at about $22-million, including a $13.25-million loan she still is trying to collect from Courtney, the South Florida businessman, and companies he controls. Three years into the bankruptcy proceeding, investors have received only $5.25-million on the $64-million worth of claims they filed to recover their principal. Their promised interest is lost. Davisson said investors may get another 10 percent of what they are owed, at best, if she is successful in the lawsuits she has brought against Johnston, Courtney and others. "It's just a frustrating process," she said. "When I started this, I thought surely we would recover the money and that some things would be pretty swift. But we've sued so many people who just went out and filed bankruptcy."
Terence Corcoran Jun 23, 2011 – 3:41 PM ET | Last Updated: Jun 23, 2011 3:56 PM ET
Many defendants caught in a RICO system that is stacked against them are often forced to cop a plea. Facing triple damages and a law that allows prosecutors and plaintiffs to confiscate assets, defendants find it more convenient to give up rather than fight the merits of the case
TAMPERED FINAL ORDER WITH NO SEAL ON THE FACE OF THE FINAL ORDER WORD FINAL REMOVED
She said she turned over information to the U.S. Attorney's Office in April for criminal investigation and is disappointed that nothing has happened yet. A spokesman for the office said he could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. "It's frustrating that folks can get away with this," she said. "You can incorporate, accept a lot of money, allow your corporation to be dissolved and take the money and run." Davisson said one of the most difficult aspects of her work is seeing the toll it has taken on investors. Some investors who bought their notes through licensed brokers have won arbitration awards or settlements from their brokerage firms. Clearwater attorney Joel Goodman said he has recovered "tens of millions" for First American investors. But most investors have not been so fortunate, and many have died waiting for results. "We receive death certificates weekly," Davisson said. "One 40-plus year marriage ended in divorce specifically because of the loss of this investment. I have one pair of sisters in Pennsylvania who call me every month. One of them turned 100 in November, and the other is 97. Their nephew sold them the investment, $25,000 each. They really need their money back. It's worrying them to death." -- Helen Huntley can be reached at [email protected] or (727) 893-8230.
two notes in 1991 in Premier Benefit Capital Trust.
[Times photo: Carrie Pratt] David Johnston bought 10 acres on Lake Ann in Odessa and built this 4,357-square-foot house in 1999. It is on the market for $959,000.Davisson said part of the $500,000 payment Johnston got in 1998 can be traced directly to his 1999 acquisition of 10 acres in Odessa, the Pasco County community just north of the Hillsborough County line. He began construction on a lavish house on the property the same year. The house, which is currently listed for sale for $959,000, is in a gated subdivision, Keystone Park. It has an exercise room, a game room, a family room with a double-sided fireplace and an entertainment center in its 4,357 heated square feet. There's also a three-car garage and an extra-large lanai overlooking the pool, spa and dock on Lake Ann. According to the real estate listing, the house comes with $35,000 worth of electronic equipment. Davisson said that because the house was built with stolen money, it should not be protected from creditors under Florida's homestead law. Johnston acknowledges that he got the $500,000 payment, but denies that any money from First American was used to buy or improve the house.
Davisson also is attempting to reclaim gifts that she says came from the $500,000 payment, including $84,000 worth of checks written to Johnston's daughter and son-in-law and a $25,000 donation to the In the Name of Jesus World Outreach Center in Odessa. The pastor of the church, Curtis Bradford, said Johnston dropped the check in the offering plate one Sunday morning, noting on the check that it was a title on a transaction.
Jesus World Outreach Center in Odessa
Curtis Bradford said the church is seeking legal advice on whether to return the money. Since leaving First American, Johnston has been involved with at least two other enterprises. One, Associated Tax Consultants, advised people how to avoid paying income taxes.
Another, E-Comm Solutions, provides services to small businesses. * * *
In one case, in 1996, First American wired $300,000 to a company controlled by Larry Courtney, who returned $225,000 to Johnston. Davisson calls the transaction theft.
Johnston calls it a "leveraged buyout" in which Courtney bought First American from him.
Courtney said in a deposition that he never bought the company. In another case, which coincided with Johnston's 1998 departure,
First American sent $600,000 to a company controlled by Spiro Lazarou, a South Florida car dealer who had previous business deals with First American. He immediately wired $500,000 to Johnston's bank account in the Bahamas. This time, Lazarou acquired ownership of First American as part of the deal. "This deal was too good to be true, so I did not want to damage it with a due diligence," Lazarou said in a deposition filed in the case.
Lazarou, who divides his time between Pompano Beach and Athens, Greece, resigned from First American in less than a year.
Davisson is still trying to collect a judgment against him for $595,000
"Helping the Government serve the People" is the tagline of Virginia based Maximus, Inc., latest corporate citizen entangled in a Medicaid fraud scam. Unfortunately, this company needs a new tagline. The DOJ announced today that Maximus has agreed to pay $30.5 Million to settle qui tam lawsuit. The company admitted to their part in submitting fraudulent Medicaid claims for children who may not have received foster care services. Last September, at the end of their fiscal year the company reported earning $700 million in revenue and predicted a rosy forecast for 2007. Todaythe Maximus stock closed at $42.05, only down a slight 5% from earlier trading. I wonder, how they will project next year's forecast, in wake of this scandal. It is a scandal, because the good name of this organization has been tarnished due to a few "greedy" and "unscrupulous" workers.
Thanks to the brave whistleblower, Benjamin Turner, a former division manager at Maximus, the acts and deeds of the corporate wrongdoers, did not go unpunished. In recognition for his efforts, Mr. Turner will receive $4.93 million as a result of filing a qui tam or whistleblower lawsuit under the provisions of the False Claims Act. There are times when a whistleblower gets compensated for his brave actions. And there are times when the whistleblower gets nothing, even after going to the Supreme Court, as in the case of Rockwell v. United States, as mentioned here previously on the Whistleblower Law Blog. Take a look at the Whistleblower statistics reported by the US DOJ, from 1986 - 2006. There were over 5,500 whistleblower cases filed. As John Mack, blogger forPharma Blogoshere points out, that comes to about $326,341 per whistleblower if they all shared the approx. $1.79 billion equally. This is not enough to retire on, but it is not a bad start for a new life after standing up for what is right and turning in an employer for defrauding the government.
According to the US DOJ Press Release, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, Peter D. Keisler said " The Maximus settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s strong commitment to vigorously pursuing those companies that defraud the Medicaid program.
Let's hope more brave whistleblowers step forward and turn in corporations for qui tam or false claims act violations. If you are a whistleblower, with vital confidential information on your company, fraudulently billing the government, contact an attorney that handles qui tam litigation. You need to protect your rights, and your "relator's" share of what the government recovers from the qui tam claim.
The Lawyers of LaBovick & LaBovick are former Federal Prosecutors that know how to prosecute qui tam claims on behalf of the government. Call today for a confidential free consultation.
The Whistleblower Law Blog is presented as a service of the Private Law Firm,LaBovick & LaBovick, P.A., Civil Justice Prosecutors. LaBovick & LaBovick is a Plaintiff's firm that represents whistleblowers in Florida and throughout the United States in qui tam (False Claims Act) litigationhttp://whistleblower.labovick.com/2007/07/articles/whistleblower-articles/health-care-fraud/medicaid-fraud/maximus-inc-pays-305-million-to-settle-false-claims-act-case/
A former radio talk show host, Johnston sold cars and insurance, ran a trucking company and managed a Palm Harbor mobile home park before starting First American.
A former radio talk show host, Johnston sold cars and insurance, ran a trucking company and managed a Palm Harbor mobile home park before starting First American. He had a real estate sales license, which he recently allowed to lapse, and still has a Florida insurance license in good standing, although the Securities and Exchange Commission barred him from the securities industry in 1999. In that case, Johnston ran afoul of federal regulators who said he sold phony certificates of deposit in Canadian Trade Bank, which was purportedly in Grenada. In reality, the SEC found, it was a scam Michael J. Randy ran out of his house in Illinois, using money from new investors to repay old ones, a classic Ponzi scheme. The regulators said Johnston and agents working for his company, Edison Worldwide Capital, sold at least $1.7-million of the CDs in 1992. The SEC fined Johnston $50,000 and ordered him to turn over $38,045 in profits and interest. Johnston also acknowledged selling two notes in 1991 in Premier Benefit Capital Trust. That Pinellas County scam was run by Jan Weeks-Katona, who was convicted in 1994 of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to murder the federal judge who put her out of business. No charges were brought against Johnston.
Johnston's expertise at raising money didn't carry over to buying and servicing car loans, Davisson said. "It would be tough to succeed when you have nine-month, very expensive money that you are raising and using to acquire very risky long-term assets," she said. The company specialized in auto loans to people with bad credit. Davisson said some loans were purchased directly from car dealers, while others were purchased from companies controlled by Johnston or his associates, sometimes at inflated prices. "Everything that he did allowed fraud and defaults to be perpetrated," she said. "It was doomed from the start." But Davisson said First American's problems went far beyond that. In the lawsuit she filed against him, she said Johnston stole money from the company and diverted money to friends and relatives, charges he denies. One of his techniques, she said, was having First American buy bad investments from other companies that he or his friends owned. Although he told investors their money would be used for car loans, Davisson said, First American paid Johnston-controlled companies more than $100,000 to acquire stock in a cell phone company, a pay phone company and a company that provided continuing education for insurance agents. She said Johnston also used First American's money to pay business expenses for his other companies and to acquire stock for himself in companies owned by friends. Davisson said he also lent First American's money to other companies, including $3.2-million in loans to a group of automobile-related companies. First American got a judgment against the companies, but they didn't have the money to pay it. A $13.25-million loan to another group of companies also is in default. In two instances cited in the lawsuit, First American sent money to South Florida businessmen who turned around and gave most of it to Johnston.
Subject: RE: RE: Where the reallly big abuse lies Posted On: December 5, 2004, 3:09 am CST Posted By: Dr. Anthony W. Laine
Dr. Anthony W. Laine 21 Dover Street Toms River, New Jersey 08753
This book is dedicated to the countless millions of men, women and children abused by Maximus Inc. on a daily basis. Some know it and some do not, because Maximus Inc. of McLean, Virginia has been awarded all Federal/State Government contracts. For child welfare, child support, Medicaid, Medicare, student loans, probation departments, social security, etc. The average American Citizen does not know this, and in reality, Maximus Inc. is a "Shadow Government". Maximus Inc. has a division that gives seminars and courses to corporations on how to " Outsource America". They are the "Kingpin" behind the" Outsourcing of America". Maximus Inc. has set up offices in India, Egypt, etc. for this. Maximus Inc. got these contracts by Local, State, National, and International Officials taking bribes, payoff, and kickbacks from Maximus Inc. Maximus Inc. officials are paying off Officials, and this is graft and corruption.
Maximus, Inc. 11419 Sunset Hills Rd. Reston, VA 2019-5207.
Not only does Maximus Inc. steal monies from American Citizens on a daily basis, but also countless millions of good hard working American Citizens are without their jobs due to Maximus Inc. showing corporations on how to outsource the American jobs to foreign markets. Maximus Inc. overseas offices have daily briefings to foreign governments, and corporations on outsourcing of American jobs to their countries. Maximus Inc. is the "arranger" of the Outsourcing of American jobs.
Maximus Inc. a Government Contractor is making sure that all children will be left behind. Maximus Inc. is responsible for child support, child welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, social security, student loans, probation divisions, etc. The problem here is that the massive fraud, conspiracy to defraud, and other criminal activities by Maximus Inc. leave these children with nothing. Just because they are poor, does that mean that a criminal organization like Maximus Inc can exploit them? The poorest of the poor being exploited by Maximus Inc. We have fraud here that the likes of it will never happen again, and Maximus Inc. makes Alfonso Capone look like a choirboy.
Maximus Inc. employees are stealing Medicare, Medicaid, child support, child welfare monies etc. Maximus Inc employees are blackmailing the poorest of the poor so that they can get their child welfare checks? Maximus Inc. employees are sexually abusing clients so that they can get their child welfare checks?
Maximus Inc. hiring persons without background checks for caseworkers. One caseworker was a convicted forger, with an arrest record that included kidnapping, battery, and impersonating a police officer. Maximus Inc hired him while he was on parole. He blackmailed child welfare clients into giving him monies or he would cut off their benefits. Maximus Inc. hired one caseworker that pushed his clients to help him sell drugs, and another who told women they would lose their benefits unless they had sex with him and her children were present at the time. Maximus Inc. hired sexual predators as caseworkers who pressured their clients for sex. Maximus Inc. employees were extorting monies under blackmail from women on child welfare/child support, and these employees were sexually abusing these women. In addition, they wanted these women to prostitute themselves on the streets. They were also getting these women pregnant after they were blackmailed into having sex.
Maximus Inc. massive theft of monies from child welfare, child support, Medicaid, Medicare, social security, etc. Wire fraud, bank fraud, theft of States monies etc. Maximus Inc theft of client's monies and diverting the monies to other bank accounts so that clients do not get any monies. How do these women pay their rents, and other bills? Children go without food and other necessary things in life. Blatant fraud. Maximus Inc steals welfare funds, and they overlook the victims of this crime. Maximus Inc. steals monies from impoverished mothers, children and people with disabilities who sought assistance and were illegally turned away, sanctioned, and terminated.
Maximus Inc. has so many formal gender or racial discrimination lawsuits filed against it to be unbelievable. Maximus Inc has corporate malpractice, including inadequate and poor provision of services; misappropriation of funds, cronyism, and other financial irregularities; and discriminatory practices at company offices.
Maximus Inc. used welfare funds intended for the poor to pay consultants who gave campaign contribution advice and solicited new business for the firm.
Maximus Inc. spends child welfare monies lavishly on themselves, and they were illegally denying eligible families cash assistance, childcare assistance, fact-findings, exemptions from work requirements, and even food stamps. So that they can steal the monies.
Charles E. McKee, Esquire - Charlie graduated from St. Joseph's University in 1965 and from Temple University School of Law in 1973. He holds a Masters in Taxation from Temple University. His areas of practice include Estate Planning and Administration, Wills, Trusts & Probate, Taxation and Real Estate. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Pennsylvania and Delaware County Bar Associations. Charlie can be contacted at [email protected].
First American's offering seemed solid: notes backed by loans on used cars. The loans were said to be insured, and the cars always could be resold if the borrowers defaulted. But such notes have sometimes proved to be lemons, just like some of the beatup cars that back them up. And First American never bought enough loans to back all the notes it sold. These days investors' hopes for recovery and retribution are riding on bankruptcy trustee Derri Davisson's pursuit of Johnston and others in lawsuits. In the name of the First American Capital Liquidating Trust, Davisson is demanding the return of money she says Johnston stole or squandered. She's even going after a $25,000 contribution Johnston made to a Pasco County church he once attended. Many of the claims relate to a $500,000 payment sent to Johnston's Bahamian bank account in 1998. "Johnston knowingly arranged the transactions for the purpose of stealing money from FACT," Davisson's lawsuit claims. Johnston, 54, said he isn't to blame for investors' losses. Although he was with the company from its 1993 founding until November 1998, he said he turned over the reins to someone else in 1996. "I don't know what went wrong," he said. "I had no decisionmaking power from February 1996 on. I was just overseeing the agents and making sure everything was handled right with noteholders as far as paperwork." Davisson, who went to work for First American in 1995 and stayed on through the bankruptcy filing, disputes his account. She says Johnston called the shots until he left. Johnston has been handling his own defense since his lawyer withdrew from the case for reasons the lawyer won't discuss. Since then, Johnston's legal arguments have been anything but ordinary. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/07/21/Business/Lemon_of_a_deal.shtml
IN 2009 ATCO IS REGISTERED AS A GRANTEE IN ALBERTA LAND TITLES
1992-2010 BC ESTATE and ALBERTA ESTATE FALSE CLAIM ACT
an elaborate fraud” against the QUEEN BY THE MINISTERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERMENT
OF CANADA AND A AMERICAN CONTACTOR MAXIMUS
INFESTATION OF ATTORNEY FRAUD and the Canadian FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Criminal Cover-up
I believed the role, as lawyer or mediator, is to try to get your matters resolved quickly, cost effectively and with the least stress possible, provided the result is a fair and equitable one.
2002 - BC- ESTATE HAS BEEN ROBBED
THIS CRIME WAS COMMITTED BY THE QUEEN'S OFFICERS OF THE COURT,BEHIND THE VICTIM'S BACK, AND WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE WRONGDOING
When caught THE "GOVERMENT CONSIDERED the Debt an OVERSIGHT DUE TO A CLERICAL ERROR.
WRONG.............THIS IS EXTORTION FRAUD
LogoColin L. Spencer family issues such as division of property, spousal and child support, and child custody and access. Estate issues, and Commercial and Partnership Disputes. grew up in Saskatchewan. . a Bachelor of Arts in History before completing a Bachelor of Law Degree at the University of Saskatchewan. 13 years before the Unified Family Court in Saskatoon jTees Kiddle Spencer in 1993. qualified as a Family Mediator in 1994
Colin believes his
Called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1980, and the British Columbia Bar in 1993
Member of family and Supreme Court mediators rosters
Former prosecutor for the Attorney General of Canada
2010- BC's Dirty Sheriffs Deeds
an overt act of fraud
cover up cover-up
AN ATCO COMPANY GRANTEE- Canadian Western Natural Gas Company Definition: A grantee is the entity receiving title to a piece of real estate. The grantee is the buyer. When the grantee sells the property, the grantee becomes the grantor.
GRANTEE- Canadian Western Natural Gas Company August 6 2009
LAND TITLES REGISTRATION 091-227-730
Alberta Treasury branches 131,31 Southridge Drive Okotoks Alberta T1S 2N3
ORIGINAL PRINCIPLE AMOUNT $405,910.00
AMENDING AGREEMENT LAND TITLES REGISTRATION 091-334-582
AFFECTS LAND TITLES REGISTRATION 091-227-730 $532,00.00
CANADIAN WESTERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY
LIMITED
An ATCO Company
COMPANY PROFILE
investor-owned utility
Canadian Western Natural Gas Company Limited is an investor-owned utility which has
been providing Albertans with safe, dependable natural gas service since 1912,
A member of the Calgary-based ATCO group of companies, Canadian Western employs
approximately 1,200 people and provides natural gas service to more than 340,000
industrial, commercial and residential utility customers in 114 communities throughout
central and southern Alberta.
Canadian Western's operations encompass natural gas production, gathering,
transmission, storage and distribution, as well as the marketing of gas appliances and
natural gas for vehicles. However, the company's primary business is the distribution of
natural gas, 95 per cent of which is purchased from producers throughout Alberta.
Our corporate priority is to continue to provide our customer with safe, reliable and
efficient service in an environmentally-responsible manner.
by Chris Sorensen on Thursday, October 14, 2010 10:20am -
The ideal crime? Mortgage fraud is easy, common and lucrative. And in Canada, more often than not, it is left unchecked.
Several years ago, the Bank of Montreal first noticed what it described as “irregularities” in some mortgages sold in Alberta. After conducting an internal investigation, it quietly launched a lawsuit last year that alleged a massive mortgage fraud scheme involving hundreds of people, ranging from lawyers to mortgage brokers and four of the bank’s own employees—even a Calgary MP. It also hired a forensic accounting firm to try to trace the funds. BMO claims it advanced a total of about $70 million in mortgage funds to the scheme’s architects, with its losses estimated at $30 million.
Those who work in Canada’s mortgage lending industry described the case, which only came to light earlier this year, as unusual—not because mortgage fraud is rare in Canada (police say it’s not), but because of the size and sophistication of the operation, which involved as many as 14 different interconnected groups.
BMO’s decision to file a lawsuit (in a bid to recoup its money) is also seen as an oddity, with some suggesting that banks and other lending institutions are reluctant to talk about what is believed to be a relatively easy—and lucrative—crime to commit. “If you’re a bank with 1,200 branches, they would probably say that by talking about it, they’re going to educate people on how to pull off a fraud,” says Gerald Soloway, the chief executive of Home Capital Group, which sells mortgages in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia. “I happen to feel that it is a big problem. And I, for one, would like to see more resources devoted to trying to stamp it out.”
But clamping down on mortgage fraud, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually by some estimates, is easier said than done. For one thing, nobody has any idea precisely how big a problem it is in Canada because, unlike in the United States, no one keeps national statistics on it. And the scams tend to be difficult and time-consuming for police to investigate, if they get investigated at all. But the biggest obstacle may simply be the fact that, in a booming real estate market such as Canada’s, it’s easy to pretend the problem doesn’t exist since there’s far more money to be made selling mortgages than guarding against their abuse.
As white-collar crimes go, many mortgage frauds are relatively straightforward: buy a cheap home in a good neighbourhood and then, with the help of a shady lawyer, real estate agent or other industry professionals, sell it at an inflated price to a phony “straw buyer”—basically anyone who can be convinced to apply for a mortgage using fake income and credit documents in exchange for a few thousand dollars. Thinking there is nothing out of the ordinary, the institution then lends the money (often without conducting a physical appraisal) and the ringleaders pocket their profits, leaving the straw buyers on the hook. It’s often only when the lender eventually forecloses on the property that it’s discovered the house in question is worth a fraction of the amount claimed in the mortgage application.
Given the vast amounts of money up for grabs, the relative simplicity of the scam, and what many argue is a lack of resources to investigate suspected cases, it’s no surprise that mortgage fraud has emerged as an attractive option for career criminals in recent years. “What we’ve seen is that, while the housing market was going up, there was a lot of money to be made—both by legitimate homebuyers, but also by organized crime,” says Greg Draper, a forensic accountant in Alberta and former RCMP officer. Plus, unlike other forms of organized crime, “nobody gets shot over mortgage fraud and the Hells Angels don’t typically come and burn down your house.”
The alleged BMO fraud ring, which an RCMP spokesperson said is still under investigation and has yet to result in charges, is by far the largest in recent memory, but BMO spokesperson Ralph Marranca says it doesn’t indicate a systemic problem at the bank, which says only a tiny fraction of its mortgage losses are due to fraud. He says the suit was launched mainly to recoup the lost money and to “send a strong message” to would-be fraudsters.
It’s unclear whether they are getting the message. In August, Alberta’s integrated law enforcement unit said it had laid charges in a similar but separate $12-million mortgage fraud case after a two-year investigation. The financial institutions allegedly targeted include Scotiabank, ATB Financial, First National Financial, TD Canada Trust, CIBC, Merix Financial, Royal Bank and MCAP Financial, according to police.
A 31-year-old man, described as a ringleader, has been charged with 23 counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of extortion. Other individuals are also facing charges.
While mortgage fraud is a problem across the country, Draper says Alberta emerged as a particular hot spot because of the booming housing market in cities like Calgary, where rapidly escalating prices don’t look out of the ordinary. As well, he says the province’s laws make it easier for buyers to assume someone else’s mortgage, allowing crooks to transfer properties back and forth several times in a bid to artificially inflate the price.
The ideal crime? Mortgage fraud is easy, common and lucrative. And in Canada, more often than not, it is left unchecked.
by Chris Sorensen on Thursday, October 14, 2010 10:20am - 5 Comments Police in Mississauga, Ont., near Toronto, recently busted a mortgage fraud ring that involved a credit union catering to the local Croatian community. The suspects are accused of defrauding the credit union and its 4,000 customers of about $9 million over a six-year period, although their deposits are covered by insurance, with the exception of a $250 membership fee. The scam was similar to the ones uncovered in Calgary, but involved parcels of rural land instead of houses, police alleged.
@It’s not just banks and credit unions that are being victimized. People who buy in neighbourhoods where mortgage fraud is rampant are at risk of paying more than necessary for their houses and, subsequently, more in property tax. And they can suffer further when a wave of foreclosures hits, causing property prices to plummet. Those recruited as “straw buyers” have sometimes been painted as victims—particularly new immigrants without a solid grasp of how the country’s real estate industry works.
The recent flood of high-profile cases has prompted calls for action. “People within the mortgage industry—lenders, insurers and others involved in real estate transaction—all want to make sure that this crime is treated seriously and that the proper resources are applied,” says Jim Murphy, the president of the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals, which boasts some 12,000 members and represents more than 90 per cent of mortgage activity in Canada.
A first step, he says, is getting a handle on the problem by creating some sort of centralized reporting database. That’s now the case in the U.S., where mortgage fraud is being closely tracked and was estimated to cost various institutions some US$14 billion last year.
It’s such a serious problem that the FBI assembled a national mortgage fraud team in 2008 that’s charged with working with law enforcement agencies and the real estate industry to investigate everything from loan origination scams, where falsified information is used to obtain mortgage loans, to shady dealings in the market for mortgage-backed securities.
@While Murphy says he doubts the problem is nearly as widespread in Canada, where the banking system is different and didn’t suffer from the same level of risky subprime lending, the truth is there is really no way to tell for sure.
In Canada, mortgage fraud is generally dealt with by the commercial crime departments of local police agencies. The RCMP has investigators who specialize in mortgage fraud in Calgary and Vancouver, but there is no dedicated team at the national level, according to a spokesperson.
As for numbers, the industry group representing the country’s banks says it doesn’t keep any statistics on mortgage fraud on behalf of its members. Maura Drew-Lytle, a spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association, says numbers are “difficult to compile because there are a number of groups taking the losses,” ranging from banks and credit unions to insurance funds.
A spokesperson for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., meanwhile, wasn’t able to provide any data on how much it pays out annually in claims related to mortgage fraud before this article went to publication. The Crown corporation is charged with backstopping lenders who provide mortgages to buyers who put down payments of less than 20 per cent on their homes. In total, the CMHC paid $1.1 billion in net claims last year, up dramatically from the $372 million it paid out in 2008, although much of the increase was due to the impact of the recession on homeowners who suddenly found themselves stretched to the limit. In fact, the closest thing to an official estimate is found in a 2007 report by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, which cites industry estimates of mortgage fraud that “range into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”
Why the tepid response? One possible reason is because the country’s banks and other lending institutions have decided that it’s an acceptable cost of doing business in a sector that boasted $940 billion worth of outstanding mortgage loans last year. “The banks are in the customer service industry,” says Draper. “And if they can’t get the customer what they need on a timely basis, the customer will go somewhere else.” As a result, many big banks rely heavily on computer-automated underwriting and property-valuation systems to conduct mortgage transactions cheaply and quickly—a part of the business the CISC report described as a “major vulnerability.”
The Canadian Bankers Association, however, disagrees. “We think that is too simplistic a view,” Drew-Lytle wrote in an email. “There are fraud detection measures built into these automated systems that will raise red flags for further investigation, which might include doing an appraisal.” She also denied that the industry tries to keep mortgage fraud quiet. “Real estate fraud is different than many other types of fraud and much more complex. There are many different parties involved; banks are not always aware if another party has become a victim.”
Like all commercial lending, mortgages are a calculated gamble. But lenders can afford to be less careful in a hot housing market, where a property that gets foreclosed on today will likely be worth more tomorrow (giving defrauded lenders an opportunity to recoup a portion of any losses). Add to that the fact that many of the riskiest loans are likely to be insured by the CMHC, which says it has a policy of paying 100 per cent of all eligible costs on fraud claims made through its automated system (with the notable exception of cases where the lender or its staff are involved, which may be why BMO decided to pursue the case in the courts), and it’s easy to see why many are willing to take the risk.
@Murphy, for one, says he would like to see mortgage fraud treated as a more serious offence (most suspects are usually charged with fraud over $5,000), with more police resources dedicated to investigations. “If someone has a DVD player stolen from their home, the police come and fill out a report,” he says. “We think mortgage fraud should be dealt with in the same way because they actually take the whole house.”http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/10/14/the-ideal-crime/2/
"Bank of Montreal CALGARY - A backbench MP for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's federal Conservatives is among those named in a lawsuit alleging a $70-million mortgage scam at the Bank of Montreal.
Mr. Shory, this is a civil action, it's not a criminal matter, it's a private matter," Harper told reporters Thursday during a trip to the Netherlands. Shory, 51, said in a statement late Wednesday that he's "done nothing wrong." 100 people — including other lawyers, mortgage brokers and even staff at the bank itself — targeted in the suit, filed in Calgary by the bank.
Investigators found Shory acted in at least five straw-buyer cases. The bank obtained Shory's trust account ledger. It shows he ran more than $3.7 million through an account that the bank has linked to the fraud.
The documents show Shory did not disclose to the bank that he was involved in a transaction involving a straw buyer.
In its lawsuit, the bank says the fraud's "central participants" arranged the "skip transfer." Using a skip transfer is a common method of falsely inflating the value of a property.
"In this case, the title to the property never was in the name of the central participant, but rather, went directly from the original owner to the straw buyer."
The bank says it has been scammed in several schemes in Western Canada that were first flagged in a security check four years ago. It alleges the defendants found undervalued houses in upscale neighbourhoods, then paid someone a few thousand dollars to put his or her name on a mortgage application.
Documents were then forged to inflate the value of the property and to fool the bank into believing the buyer had the ability to pay. Once the mortgage was approved, the fraudsters pocketed the profit and the money was sent overseas, the bank alleges.
By Dean Bennett in Edmonton http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/05052010/2/biz-finance-alberta-mp-devinder-shory-named-defendant-bmo-70m.html
Greg Draper, a forensic accountant in Calgary, said his experience would suggest this is just the surface of an industry-wide problem.
"This is hitting the news because of the size of the operation and the fact a bank has decided to take such forward action on it," said Draper, who works with the firm Meyers Norris Penny.
"But it's happening on a smaller scale to financial institutions across the country on a regular basis." By Dean Bennett in Edmonton http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/05052010/2/biz-finance-alberta-mp-devinder-shory-named-defendant-bmo-70m.html
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
OTTAWA - What kind of allegation or RCMP scrutiny will get a Conservative booted from caucus?
The constituency office of Conservative MP Devinder Shory is locked in Calgary, Thursday, May 6, 2010. Alberta MP Devinder Shory is one of dozens of people named in a Calgary lawsuit alleging at $70-million mortgage fraud against the Bank of Montreal. The RCMP have said they are in the preliminary stages of seeing whether a crime is involved.
According to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, allegations of a civil or "private" nature don't cross the line, and that's why Alberta MP Devinder Shory is still sitting with his Tory colleagues.
Shory is one of dozens of people named in a Calgary lawsuit alleging a $70-million mortgage fraud — one of the largest in Canadian history — against the Bank of Montreal.
"Mr. Shory, this is a civil action, it's not a criminal matter, it's a private matter," Harper told reporters Thursday during a trip to the Netherlands.
"Its origin is before he became a member of Parliament and it's before the court, so I'm not going to comment."
Alberta MP Devinder Shory named as defendant in BMO $70M mortgage-scam lawsuitWed May 5, 9:41 PM CALGARY - A backbench MP for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's federal Conservatives is among those named in a lawsuit alleging a $70-million mortgage scam at the Bank of Montreal.
Devinder Shory, MP for Calgary Northeast, is one of more than 100 people — including other lawyers, mortgage brokers and even staff at the bank itself — targeted in the suit, filed in Calgary by the bank.
Shory, 51, said in a statement late Wednesday that he's "done nothing wrong."