DavidG33 (Florida)
Posts: 1
Posts: 1
Posted:
I am losing my home because, I allege, of retaliation for reporting a 2 time Board President for criminal activity (for which he was convicted of fraud and perjury amounting to more than a quarter of a million dollars in a massive early retirement disability scandal in New York) and based on my limited work as Board Treasurer have reason to believe the same individual was stealing from the Association as President at the same time. And the folks who served with this individual appear to be covering up and working with him to retaliate and destroy me. and They have succeeded.
In 2008 I was very close friends with the individual who encouraged my partner and I to purchase a home across the circle. It was during this intimate time that the individual was first HOA President and revealed a great deal about his leadership but also about the scam he was involved in - even admitting he was wrong - until the New York Times broke the story of the massive scam. This individual even pushed me to run for Board Treasurer, not just a Board member but specifically Board Treasurer.
I took office shortly after the housing market crash and began preparing for the impact of the crisis. The more I investigated the more questionable transactions I uncovered and the more paranoid the individual became. The situation was so dysfunctional on the board that I resigned after only 6 weeks. Shortly after (Jan 1, 2009) we had a heated discussion over lunch over the retirement scam and the questionable HOA transactions. He ended up nailing me to a wall in the restaurant and threatening me if I ever spoke about what we discussed. And because of the relationship with my ex, the two of them made it impossible to be safe in my own home and drove me out.
When my ex demanded I surrender the title by not my responsibility for the mortgage, I refused unless my ex got separate financing and held me totally harmless. He failed (didn't qualify) for separate financing so he filed for bankruptcy - and while filing for bankruptcy had a renter - the income of which was not reported in his bankruptcy - nor did he register the renter even those the criminal individual was President for the second time and knew about the renter because they were sleeping together and the criminal even had Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the renter in the property.
More to the point, not only did the criminal who was President not enforce the registration and fee requirement for the renter, no action was taken to collect the rent in lieu of the delinquent HOA fees and this was all occurring shortly after the individual had to appear before a Grand Jury investigating his role in the massive disability retirement scam.
To make it even worse, in Jan 2010 the Association fired their management company and went to self-management - they also stopped keeping the books under this individual's Presidency.
sometime in the spring of 2011 this individual resigned but continued to have a huge role in the Association management - from managing the official email to being responsible for debt collection - unbeknownst to me.
Also, despite my repeated attempts to return to my property and that my ex had agreed to surrender the property (to the mortgage holder), he refused and kept me for re-occupying the property.
By May of 2011 I came across a Board member who informed me of the renter and that the ex had recently moved - and she strongly encouraged me to evict the renter and retake the property - and promised me the Board would work with me on a repayment schedule for the delinquent fees and would even waive the late fees and interest. So i did. what a mistake.
when I tried to address the repayment schedule the individual ran interference and over the course of the last 2 years the Board has refused to negotiate a repayment schedule or even for most of that time even discuss how to bring the property up to date on the fees - and some of it has to do with the fact that I began to address the principle of unclean hands since they didn't collect the fees in lieu of the delinquency.
I fought and fought to get the title for the property and spent significant amounts on legal fees at the same time. Finally on May 28 2012 the ex quit claimed the deed and I began the loan modification process to bring the mortgage up to date - but no movement from the Board.
I also immediately retained the attorney to address the HOA fees; we wrote requesting a repayment schedule, addressed the principle of unclean hands, but also sent a payment in good faith. The Board ignored our letter and never did answer it for 3 months and took 2 months to even cash the good faith check - and keep in mind the President at that time and the Secretary (both of which continue in office to today and will be re-elected for next term by default) were members of the 2008 Board during which I have reason to believe the individual was first stealing Association funds...
Not only did the Board refuse to address my appeal for a repayment schedule, several weeks after we sent the the appeal for a repayment schedule and less than 30 days after I secured the quit claim to the deed, the Board filed its lien - almost two years after the last payment was made on the property....
As we tried to settle the matter the Board would go for long periods of time before answering my attorney - even months and never responded with a counter offer - my attorney would demand an answer of some kind and notified them that they were intentionally seeking to prejudice my ability to ever pay the bill by their delay which kept running up the late fees and interest....
Also during this time, the Board finally addressed the concern that I had noted from the beginning of my re-occupation and for which they were demonizing me - the books were not being kept. The Treasurer resigned and the Board accepted the individual's offer (made prior to any open meeting and behind the scenes as he was very involved in all manner of Association business and activity) to have the individual's partner fix the books for free.... interesting that every time this individual who was stealing Disability Retirement money was President, he made sure some close associate followed up who had control of the books - me first then following his second term, his partner).
The HOA has since filed for foreclosure - between the fact that the Association is run like crap and the property is neglected - and the fact that the bill has been run up so high I can't pay the bill in a 6 month time - and the animosity as the Board defames my character and demonizes me in the community - I filed for Chapter 7.
The only silver lining to this nightmare is that in Sept of 2012 the individual was arrested - largely on my testimony and my work with the FBI and recently changed his plea to guilty - having turned states evidence against the scam manager and with the hope of securing a lenient sentence, per the news media - the individual is facing 55 years - two counts of fraud and an additional count for perjury trying to cover up his wrong doing. And as a witness I have the opportunity to testify at his sentencing hearing.
I have lost all of my retirement savings and my home because of this individual's crimes and his position and influence on the Board, I allege.
In 2008 I was very close friends with the individual who encouraged my partner and I to purchase a home across the circle. It was during this intimate time that the individual was first HOA President and revealed a great deal about his leadership but also about the scam he was involved in - even admitting he was wrong - until the New York Times broke the story of the massive scam. This individual even pushed me to run for Board Treasurer, not just a Board member but specifically Board Treasurer.
I took office shortly after the housing market crash and began preparing for the impact of the crisis. The more I investigated the more questionable transactions I uncovered and the more paranoid the individual became. The situation was so dysfunctional on the board that I resigned after only 6 weeks. Shortly after (Jan 1, 2009) we had a heated discussion over lunch over the retirement scam and the questionable HOA transactions. He ended up nailing me to a wall in the restaurant and threatening me if I ever spoke about what we discussed. And because of the relationship with my ex, the two of them made it impossible to be safe in my own home and drove me out.
When my ex demanded I surrender the title by not my responsibility for the mortgage, I refused unless my ex got separate financing and held me totally harmless. He failed (didn't qualify) for separate financing so he filed for bankruptcy - and while filing for bankruptcy had a renter - the income of which was not reported in his bankruptcy - nor did he register the renter even those the criminal individual was President for the second time and knew about the renter because they were sleeping together and the criminal even had Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the renter in the property.
More to the point, not only did the criminal who was President not enforce the registration and fee requirement for the renter, no action was taken to collect the rent in lieu of the delinquent HOA fees and this was all occurring shortly after the individual had to appear before a Grand Jury investigating his role in the massive disability retirement scam.
To make it even worse, in Jan 2010 the Association fired their management company and went to self-management - they also stopped keeping the books under this individual's Presidency.
sometime in the spring of 2011 this individual resigned but continued to have a huge role in the Association management - from managing the official email to being responsible for debt collection - unbeknownst to me.
Also, despite my repeated attempts to return to my property and that my ex had agreed to surrender the property (to the mortgage holder), he refused and kept me for re-occupying the property.
By May of 2011 I came across a Board member who informed me of the renter and that the ex had recently moved - and she strongly encouraged me to evict the renter and retake the property - and promised me the Board would work with me on a repayment schedule for the delinquent fees and would even waive the late fees and interest. So i did. what a mistake.
when I tried to address the repayment schedule the individual ran interference and over the course of the last 2 years the Board has refused to negotiate a repayment schedule or even for most of that time even discuss how to bring the property up to date on the fees - and some of it has to do with the fact that I began to address the principle of unclean hands since they didn't collect the fees in lieu of the delinquency.
I fought and fought to get the title for the property and spent significant amounts on legal fees at the same time. Finally on May 28 2012 the ex quit claimed the deed and I began the loan modification process to bring the mortgage up to date - but no movement from the Board.
I also immediately retained the attorney to address the HOA fees; we wrote requesting a repayment schedule, addressed the principle of unclean hands, but also sent a payment in good faith. The Board ignored our letter and never did answer it for 3 months and took 2 months to even cash the good faith check - and keep in mind the President at that time and the Secretary (both of which continue in office to today and will be re-elected for next term by default) were members of the 2008 Board during which I have reason to believe the individual was first stealing Association funds...
Not only did the Board refuse to address my appeal for a repayment schedule, several weeks after we sent the the appeal for a repayment schedule and less than 30 days after I secured the quit claim to the deed, the Board filed its lien - almost two years after the last payment was made on the property....
As we tried to settle the matter the Board would go for long periods of time before answering my attorney - even months and never responded with a counter offer - my attorney would demand an answer of some kind and notified them that they were intentionally seeking to prejudice my ability to ever pay the bill by their delay which kept running up the late fees and interest....
Also during this time, the Board finally addressed the concern that I had noted from the beginning of my re-occupation and for which they were demonizing me - the books were not being kept. The Treasurer resigned and the Board accepted the individual's offer (made prior to any open meeting and behind the scenes as he was very involved in all manner of Association business and activity) to have the individual's partner fix the books for free.... interesting that every time this individual who was stealing Disability Retirement money was President, he made sure some close associate followed up who had control of the books - me first then following his second term, his partner).
The HOA has since filed for foreclosure - between the fact that the Association is run like crap and the property is neglected - and the fact that the bill has been run up so high I can't pay the bill in a 6 month time - and the animosity as the Board defames my character and demonizes me in the community - I filed for Chapter 7.
The only silver lining to this nightmare is that in Sept of 2012 the individual was arrested - largely on my testimony and my work with the FBI and recently changed his plea to guilty - having turned states evidence against the scam manager and with the hope of securing a lenient sentence, per the news media - the individual is facing 55 years - two counts of fraud and an additional count for perjury trying to cover up his wrong doing. And as a witness I have the opportunity to testify at his sentencing hearing.
I have lost all of my retirement savings and my home because of this individual's crimes and his position and influence on the Board, I allege.