My GOD.. it's all their butt buddies involved.
Quote of the year: (Brian Albritton) "You can't PROSECUTE your way out of mortgage fraud.'
WHAT THE FUCK???
A hallmark of these motherfuckers is that they do not mind one tiny slice how fucking stupid they sound.
And I am deeply ashamed how many members of the Florida Bar are involved in this. They had to MURDER OFF a slew of decent attorneys to get this far. I'd start with looking at Frank Vaccaro and Albert Lima.
Despite what you think of them ... they did the right thing many times. Just like Barry Cohen does. And as far as I know ... Al Lima always did right by me and I never heard any different.
May he rest in peace. Murdering motherfuckers.
Foreclosures bring wealth, rebukes for Florida lawyer
By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent In Print: Sunday, July 18, 2010
David J. Stern, whose law firm helps banks foreclose on homeowners, owns three boats and lives in this $15 million, 16,500-square-foot Fort Lauderdale home with a tennis court.
[Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office]
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You could call him the foreclosure king of Florida.
As lawyer for several major banks, David J. Stern handles 20 percent of all foreclosure cases in the nation's fourth most populous state. It is from Stern's law firm that well over 100,000 Floridians, including many in the Tampa Bay area, have received the dreaded notice to pay up or face losing their homes.
The foreclosure business has been good to Stern, who lives in a $15 million Fort Lauderdale mansion and reaped $58.5 million by selling his back-office operations to a new public company in which he is a major shareholder.
But as his case load has grown, so have the controversies.
This spring, a Pasco County judge threw out a foreclosure case against a Wesley Chapel man after ruling that Stern's firm had submitted a clearly fraudulent document.
In South Florida, a foreclosure defense lawyer discovered more than 20 mortgage documents submitted by Stern's firm that bore notary seals that did not exist at the time the documents supposedly were notarized.
The Florida Bar reprimanded Stern in 2002 for overcharging and misleading clients, and is now considering a complaint questioning whether he should be allowed to farm out so much of his firm's business to nonlawyers.
Stern declined to be interviewed for this story.
"We're in a tough business,'' said Christopher Simmons, Stern's manager of investor relations. "We're sort of the negative side of the American dream, so oftentimes it's not best to comment.''
Stern's firm is not the only example of what critics derisively call "foreclosure mills.'' The Florida Default Law Group in Tampa, the Marshall Watson law firm in Fort Lauderdale and Lender Processing Services in Jacksonville also handle thousands of foreclosure cases.
But "I think they symbolize what's wrong with the foreclosure process,'' said Louis Silber, a West Palm Beach lawyer who is suing Stern's firm on behalf of homeowners. "They do nothing but foreclosures, and maybe because of the large volume, there are corners that are cut that shouldn't be cut.''
$2.1 million payment
Stern, 50, graduated from Houston's South Texas College of Law and in 1994 started what would become one of the nation's biggest foreclosure law firms.
Foreclosure rates were already creeping up for many reasons, including the trend toward "securitization'' — packaging loans into securities and selling them to investors. That hurt the once-close relationship been banker and borrower in which lenders might be more lenient with homeowners who fell behind in their payments, a study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found.
By 1999, Stern's firm represented banks in foreclosure actions against more than 10,000 homeowners, according to records in a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Tallahassee. The suit alleged that the firm overcharged homeowners for title searches, postage and other expenses, then submitted "false and fraudulent'' invoices to support the charges. The case was closed in 2000 with Stern agreeing to pay a total of $2.1 million to homeowners.
He next drew scrutiny from the Florida Bar over complaints that his firm had misled its own clients as well as borrowers.
Because of the competition among lawyers to handle foreclosures, Stern agreed to charge lenders a flat fee, generally $1,000 per case. But to get around that cap, he created his own title company, Professional Title, that issued invoices for as much as $400 for title searches that were actually done by another company for $150 or less.
Stern failed to "fully inform'' clients of that arrangement or that some of the work purportedly done by attorneys was handled by nonlawyers, the Florida Bar said.
Additionally, Stern's firm made it so hard for homeowners to contact the lawyer assigned to their case that late fees and other costs mounted, making it even more expensive for people to reinstate their mortgages.
Because of these and other actions "contrary to honesty and justice,'' the Florida Bar said an "appropriate sanction'' could be suspension of Stern's license to practice law. Given his cooperation, though, it publicly reprimanded him in 2002 and fined him $999.
Backdated documents
Despite the reprimand, Stern's law firm ballooned along with the foreclosure rate. From its headquarters in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Plantation, it now handles nearly 100,000 foreclosure cases at any one time and has a client list that includes Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
"It's a beehive,'' said Thomas Ice, a West Palm Beach lawyer. "You see people running around with documents and huge rolling carts as tall as a person, loaded with file folders.''
Ice, who represents homeowners, noticed something curious on 21 assignments of mortgage filed by Stern's firm. Florida notary commissions are good for four years, yet these assignments purportedly had been notarized five or six years before the expiration date on the notary seals.
"So there was no way they could have had a notary stamp on the day they said they were notarizing,'' Ice said. "They would have had to time-travel back in time.''
Assignments of mortgage — which transfer ownership of a loan from one party to another — are key in determining who has the legal right to foreclose. A back-dated assignment could mean that the bank didn't own the note at the time it started foreclosing, or worse, that the assignment was created to show ownership that didn't actually exist.
"It is a deliberate falsification of a legal instrument for the specific purpose of evading the consequences of filing their case before securing the right to sue,'' Ice said. The consequences? Dismissal of the foreclosure case.
A Stern employee who Ice deposed last year about the assignments acknowledged the back-dating and blamed it on "sloppiness.'' She said the firm had changed procedures to keep it from happening again.
But Tampa lawyer Ralph Fisher found the same problem this year on a mortgage assignment submitted by Stern's firm in foreclosure proceedings against a Pasco County homeowner. The assignment was notarized in 2007, though the signer didn't get her notary commission until 2008.
Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper was outraged.
"The purported assignment was … fraudulently backdated in a purposeful, intentional effort to mislead the defendant and this court,'' Tepper said in dismissing the case with prejudice — meaning the bank cannot file the case again.
Stern's firm later released the homeowner from all claims and paid him $6,900 for legal fees.
As officers of the court, "we attorneys cannot allow fraudulent documents to be introduced, and we have an obligation to withdraw those documents,'' Fisher said. "I don't see that … going on in Stern's law firm. I don't see somebody saying to the judge, 'This isn't right.' ''
A new complaint
At a time when 20 percent of Florida mortgages are at least 90 days past due, Stern and his wife live mortgage-free in a 16,500-square-foot waterfront home with a tennis court in Fort Lauderdale's exclusive Harborage. They also own a $5 million condo in the Harborage and four boats of recent vintage.
Stern himself is something of an enigma. Other than references to his law firm and a sketchy biography, there is almost nothing on the Internet about him. No photos are available.
"He is a very energetic and charming guy that built the company from scratch,'' said Christopher Nolan, a research analyst for the Maxim Group of New York, an investment banking, securities and investment management firm. "He's very dynamic."
Stern and Nolan met when the analyst began following the stock performance of DJSP Enterprises, the public company to which Stern sold his "nonlegal'' operations in January. Stern is among the biggest shareholders in DJSP, whose stock hit $13.65 in April on the NASDAQ before closing Friday at $5.70.
The company, which had $260 million in gross revenues last year, is registered in the British Virgin Islands but is based in Plantation and gets more than 90 percent of its business from Stern's law firm, according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That could be a problem in light of state laws and Florida Bar rules that prohibit fee-sharing and the unlicensed practice of law, the statement acknowledges.
"How can a nonlawyer, publicly traded company be permitted to generate $19.6 million in revenues from foreclosure fees if it is not in fact providing legal services?'' St. Petersburg lawyer Matthew Weidner asked in a recent complaint to the Florida Bar.
Weidner, who represents homeowners, wants the Florida Bar to investigate exactly which "nonlegal" activities the company is handling and whether transferring so many foreclosure functions to nonlawyers could lead to "potential abuse of consumers and the court process.''
In its statement to the SEC, the company lists other risks to growth. Among them: the possibility that Stern's $58.5 million payout could "reduce his incentive'' to drum up new business.
In general, though, DJSP Enterprises predicts a fairly bright future for itself. While loan modification programs may temporarily slow the pace of foreclosure, "we believe these programs are simply delaying the inevitable,'' the statement says.
And as more Americans lose their homes, Stern's spinoff company is developing a promising new business — helping banks sell all those foreclosed houses and condos.
Times researchers Carolyn Edds and Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com.[Last modified: Jul 17, 2010 09:28 PM] Click here for reuse options! Copyright 2010 St. Petersburg Times
There are 37 comments Oldest First Newest First Top Rated
orrgroup wrote:
what a ●●●●●●●.
Jul 17, 2010 10:49 PM
7 2
Lucifer wrote:
There is a ton of David J. Stern information on this web site with loads of fraudulent documents coming from this firm.
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/
Jul 18, 2010 12:47 AM
6 1
neidermeyer wrote:
David J Stern **appears to be** a bid rigging , document forging thief... The Florida Bar should take everything he has.. read more here http://pibillwarner.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/david-j-stern-law-offices-cash-in-on-foreclosures-with-sewer-service-and-bid-rigging-on-homes-sold-on-the-court-house-steps-fbi-needs-to-investigate/
Jul 18, 2010 12:59 AM
9 1
ForeclosureHamlet wrote:
David J Stern? Check out the 5 part video series on the front page of ForeclosureHamlet.org to learn more.
Also available are the depositions of Stern's employees Cheryl Samons and Shannon Smith. Not to mention a growing number of wrongful foreclosure reversals.
ForeclosureHamlet.org
Jul 18, 2010 1:48 AM
7 1
isleofjava wrote:
I once knew a lawyer 20 years ago who was disbarred for what is, comparably, a very minor crime. I'm not defending him but I'm wondering why he was punished so severely and extremely quickly for a pretty minor (in the big scheme of things) crime and how long it will take the fat cats to slam this fool to the floor.
Jul 18, 2010 4:26 AM
5 1
4closureFraud wrote:
Excellent writeup Susan and staff. Thank you for covering these issues and bringing the acts of these fraudsters to light.
All across Florida, the courts have received additional monies to "push" these foreclosures through and grant summary judgments to the banks as fast as possible to "get the properties back on the market".
Things to think about.
A summary judgment is to "show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact".
With all that is now known, with all the fraud that has been presented, with all the reports exposing the issues and with investigations pending from the FL Attorney Generals office into these firms, how can any judge grant a summary judgment to a contested case? I guarantee there are issues of fact in EVERY case presented to the courts.
Even if you considered people in foreclosure "deadbeats" do we really think it is a good idea to disposes families and flood the market with tens of thousands of homes all at once?
4closureFraud.org
Jul 18, 2010 7:39 AM
7 2
ForeclosureHamlet wrote:
In Florida, you have 20 days to respond to a foreclosure lawsuit starting the day you get served with the papers. Even if you can't afford a lawyer (many might be within your means) write something to the court asking for more time for you to answer the lawsuit. Send a copies to the court & to the law firm that is suing you. Then sit down & do some research on how to defend your family's home.
If it's past that point and you have received a notice for SUMMARY JUDGMENT you must either go in yourself or hire an attorney to represent you. If you have questions about the authenticity of the signers on the the endorsement in blank on the promissory note & the assignment of mortgage (based on reasons partly spelled out in this article) and you believe that there are issues of material fact in your foreclosure case, like you have no idea who is suing you & how they got transfer of your loan, tell the judge.
HIRE A COURT REPORTER, Not expensive!
DEFEND YOUR HOMES!ForeclosureHamlet.org
Jul 18, 2010 7:59 AM
7 1
weidnerlaw wrote:
An excellent story of course and there is so much more....it is just staggering that courts allow such blatant abuses to occur right in front of them....this has got to stop...more info and the complete SEC documents are on my blog....www.mattweidnerlaw.com
Jul 18, 2010 8:14 AM
4 1
tmatthew wrote:
One reason Stern can handle cases all over the state is because the Florida Supreme Court makes trial judges allow attorneys to appear by phone unless the court, in advance can show good cause why it should not. All other states allow trial judges to hold telephone hearings not make them. The telephone hearing rule was pushed thru by gold coast lawyers and approved by Supreme Court justices who has never been trial judges. Go Stern Go the Supreme Court made you.
Jul 18, 2010 8:18 AM
1 2
LT wrote:
Alcee Hastings, former Federal Judge and current US Representative of Congress, looked into this a said he was good to go. Alcee is more than qualified to understand the art bad behavior.
Jul 18, 2010 8:34 AM
1 2
Lucifer wrote:
EXPOSED!!! Picture OF David J. STERN is here
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2010/07/17/exposed-foreclosure-mill-david-j-sterns-djsp-15-million-dollar-estate/
Jul 18, 2010 8:55 AM
2 1
Gaius Baltar wrote:
Any lawyer can guess what happens at foreclosure mills like Stern's. Lawyers are handed crushing case loads and impossible goals and deadlines. The client-banks purporting to own the mortgage don't respond to requests for documents. Stern doesn't want to hear ANY excuses. Meet goals and deadlines or find another job. The pressure is relentless and never ends. Just Do It! The lawyer sees his or her colleagues who lie, cheat, and steal making Stern happy and making good salaries. The lawyer sees a crappy job market and his or her own mortgage and student loan payments coming due.
So the lawyer does what Stern wants and what his or her colleagues do. Forge documents. Lie in court. Ignore phone calls from the homeowner or the homeowner's attorney. Stern gets off their back, and paychecks keep coming.
Bottom line: Stern puts a gun to the heads of his attorneys, who know what they have to do. And they Just Do It! Sanctions from the Bar? Gimme a break! Ha ha, that's a good one! LOL!
Jul 18, 2010 9:17 AM
4 1
Gaius Baltar wrote:
@tmathhew: can the opposing lawyer move to require a personal appearance?
Has anyone pressured Stern's clients to use only honest law firms?
Jul 18, 2010 9:20 AM
1 1
Ace wrote:
Quick & easy lesson on how to avoid David Stern and others of his ilk....BUY what you can AFFORD. Then PAY your mortgage.If circumstances prevent you from paying , then sell (short-sell if you have to) , but don't just sit and wait for buzzards like Stern to come & "pick your bones".
Jul 18, 2010 9:26 AM
2 5
tozzie wrote:
These firms also handle short sales, badly. They drag their feet, jeopardizing anything that would help the homeowner. Why are they allowed to do business in what is obviously a conflict of interest?
Jul 18, 2010 9:40 AM
2 0
CHOKEONTHIS wrote:
You would think with all that money he would have a good looking woman. That swamp donkey I have seen him out with looks like she needs her rabies shot. I have to think that since his "woman" looks like a man, he is a closet homosexual. I would check the cabins on his boats. I bet thats where he keeps his collection of mens underwear he has collected from his many conquests.
Jul 18, 2010 10:09 AM
4 4
liquorbutt wrote:
If anyone is wondering how he stays in business it is because our system survives on money, and he pays alot into the system to keep operating. Maybe the judges make a few million a year. Sounds like alot that he is paying, but it is small in comparison to what he is making.
Jul 18, 2010 10:10 AM
3 0
Dr_Dug wrote:
Banks and lawyers....caused the meltdown...now making a fortune burying the people they melted.
Jul 18, 2010 10:29 AM
4 1
voxyqt wrote:
What a PIG. It was no surprise AT ALL to see that like Mark Ober and SO MANY OTHERS he is a proud graduate of the South Texas School of Law. Is that place even a BUILDING??? Scum. I think that Michael Echevarria is also a graduate there. Same foreclosure fraud issues. Maybe they should just go ahead and arrest everyone who hails from south texas school of fraud. I mean law.
Jul 18, 2010 10:38 AM
5 0
Your vote has already been saved
Kelly_Ring wrote:
If this was a race issue, and black folk were not paying their mortgages and were being foreclosed on, you all would be saying some real nasty stuff. But this time it is white trash--which pretty much sums up the whole of St. Petersburg, it̢۪s white trash not paying their bills. And you all are crying a river because you all want something for free! Well, Mr. Stern, go to it! Get all these trailer park trash back to their flee invested lives. Just remember: IT AIN̢۪T FREE JUST BECAUSE YOU CANT AFFORD IT!
Jul 18, 2010 10:39 AM
0 7
voxyqt wrote:
So, he forged notary seals? Or stole them? I'm confused. How can you get a notary seal without it existing? Sounds like theft. That's all I'm sayin ...
Jul 18, 2010 11:02 AM
2 0
Thank you for your vote
FL-Reader wrote:
Outrageous! I found a lot more on David Stern and the Foreclosure Crisis on Matt Weidner's blog too. http://www.mattweidnerlaw.com/blog
Jul 18, 2010 11:15 AM
1 0
madbeach wrote:
David Stern for Governor!
Jul 18, 2010 11:22 AM
1 2
EdRingwald wrote:
David Stern: Living the life of high luxury while profiting from homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure. Nothing but pure greed.
After all, it is the developers, especially those from Miami that came in and bought out these apartment complexes and turned them into condos at highly inflated prices. Additionally, it is the banks who gave the loans to those people who could not afford them. Greedy developers plus greedy banks: Housing market collapse.
Just add the attorneys like David Stern who profit heavily from the foreclosure crisis: You got pure greed.
In a nutshell, it is the greedy developers and the greedy banks that contributed to the collapse of the housing market and the foreclosure crisis that followed. What the banks ought to do is to let those people who are having problems with their mortgage payment stay in their homes rather than start foreclosure.
Jul 18, 2010 11:26 AM
2 0
jeffyngbl wrote:
Imagine that another crooked J**
Jul 18, 2010 11:27 AM
1 2
cmc1986 wrote:
look at the home and boat though!!
Jul 18, 2010 11:42 AM
1 1
oldtimer67 wrote:
If he is behaving unethically, disbar him. If he is committing crimes, put him in jail.
That said, foreclosures are part of life and somebody has to be a foreclosure lawyer...unless you believe that people who sign mortgages they don`t repay should be allowed to go on living in their homes for free....while you go on paying YOUR mortgage.
Like one of the other posters said, live within your means and pay your debts. Then you will never receive that "dreaded" notice and you will never encounter a Stern. And then foreclosure lawyers would be out of business.
Jul 18, 2010 11:47 AM
1 5
rolltide wrote:
Stern is just another greedy ●●●● heading to the federal slammer.He's following in the footsteps of his hero's like Bernie Madoff and Scott Rothstein.State and federal investigations of Mr. Stern are already under way. By this time next year Mr. Stern's possessions will be auctioned off and he'll be sharing a cell with his fellow shylocks.
Jul 18, 2010 11:49 AM
2 1
rulmer wrote:
$999 fine, are you kidding me!!!!! You what 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the Gulf is don't you? A GOOD START!!!!
Jul 18, 2010 11:49 AM
2 0
oldtimer67 wrote:
EdRingwald, that`s a brilliant idea. Let people just stay in their mortgaged homes for free. While the responsible people who DIDN`T get in over their heads go on paying...Hell, why pay any debts?
Sounds to me like you used your home as an ATM machine and now you want a free pass. Did you vote for Obama too?
Jul 18, 2010 11:52 AM
1 5
Vankaye wrote:
Why do all of you people let the media get you so excited and angry about a wealthy attorney? Stern has absolutely nothing to do with the surge in foreclosures. That's all on the silly home-owners who can't plan their own future more than a week in advance. Look, these things must be handled by a law firm. The banks must hire a firm. So what if this guy was savvy enough to built the largest such firm? The firm has over 100,000 cases at any given time... Thats a lot of employees handling paperwork... Not all of them are good. Why hold Stern personally responsible for every stamp and document? You think he wants to risk it all for a measly $400 per case? OF COURSE NOT? But you will hold him responsible because he is rich - and you can't stand it. The media knows it. That's why they produce these stories... because they sell news. Smarten up people. Let's see you run law firm with a 100k cases at once. GOOD LUCK IN TOLL BOOTH SCHOOL!!!!
Jul 18, 2010 11:55 AM
2 4
mscolt1911 wrote:
There is a Sarasota PI named Bill Warner who has a blog and has written extensively about Stern including a female atty at his firm who was a pole dancer/hooker in Minn who changed her name when she became a member of the FL Bar.There is a lot more dirt on Stern and his operation in that blog.
Jul 18, 2010 12:20 PM
0 0
Dr_Dug wrote:
He is committng crimes while prying on the helpless...WHERE IS THE FLORIDA BAR?
Jul 18, 2010 12:29 PM
1 0
Jasonhouse wrote:
When you hear that the Bush tax cuts for the rich will soon expire, remember, this is is whose taxes will be going up... Sounds like karma to me.
Jul 18, 2010 12:30 PM
2 0
Dr_Dug wrote:
Vankaye...is you read the article...it's very obvious this Lawyer is committing wrongful acts....that's the problem. Lots of people make money....this guy makes it by prying on the helpless while using his Lawfirm to manipulate his profits...he should be suspended....for years.
Jul 18, 2010 12:31 PM
1 0
rolltide wrote:
vankaye:I'm pretty sure Stern was the kind of guy Hitler had in mind when he had Speer design Auschwitz!
Jul 18, 2010 12:33 PM
0 0
oldtimer67 wrote:
Right rolltide....because Hitler never stole anything. Just whole countries...
You are a racist piece of scum...
Jul 18, 2010 12:59 PM
0 0
Have your say...