MFI-Miami Blog

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Introduces A Bill To Ban Income Discrimination In Housing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been blamed for New York’s shrinking population. It’s an election year in New York and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is up for re-election this year. He’s campaigning hard by making promises to different groups of people. Something his primary opponent,  Golden Girls: The Next Generation star Cynthia Nixon can’t do. As a result, one of his campaign strategies seems to be to appeal to New York’s underpaid blue collar workers, seniors, and veterans. Cuomo has introduced a bill that would outlaw housing discrimination based on the source of a resident’s income. Cuomo’s announcement also comes on the heels of HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s push to  raise rents on Section 8  recipients. The governor is also facing criticism that he has not done enough to make New York State an affordable place to live. New York has seen its population shrink s...

Goldman Sachs Battles Epidemic Of The Contagious Mumps Virus On It’s Trading Floor Goldman Sachs is battling to contain a rare but contagious outbreak of mumps after several employees contracted the disease. Several employees on one of its trading floors showed signs of the disease last week. A Goldman Sachs employee with knowledge of the matter told  Business Insider : Goldman Sachs told people to get shots or visit the firm’s health center if they didn’t receive the vaccine during childhood.  Goldman’s health center was administering the mumps vaccine for free on Friday. A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman declined to comment. The  Centers for Disease Control  says Mumps is caused by a contagious virus. Symptoms usually involve fever, headache and muscle aches. Mumps symptoms also include exhaustion and reduced appetite. Those signs usually give way to a swelling of the salivary glands. If untreated a victim could get puffy cheeks and a swollen jaw. R...

New York State Courts Just Made New York Evictions Easier For Lenders To Kick Homeowners Out Of Their Homes NYS courts have made New York evictions easier for lenders and landlords.  Lenders  are overjoyed they no longer need to prove deed ownership to the tenant during an eviction. New York attorney  Peter Roach  wrote a great blog on it on his website. The NYS Courts had held that a post-foreclosure eviction a copy of the deed needed to be exhibited to the occupant. However, the meaning of “exhibiting the deed” has been one of great debate. The court held in  Home Loan Services v. Moskowitz  that attaching a copy of the deed to a 10-day notice to quit served by “nail and mail” was insufficient to satisfy the requirement of the exhibition of the deed. Read more at MFI-Miami

Mobile Home Loan Delinquencies Up 200% In 12 Months As Lower Income Americans Struggle To Make Payments The mobile home loan delinquencies have doubled in the past twelve months according to UBS. Manufacturers of mobile homes and manufactured homes are feeling it as the report is causing resale values to plummet. UBS is reporting the delinquency rate on mobile home loans has increased by 200 basis points over the past year. The Swiss-based bank is claiming the 30-day-plus delinquency level now at around 5%. This is the highest level of mobile home delinquencies since 2005. The increase in the number of struggling mobile home borrowers suggests these individuals haven’t benefitted from the economic growth of the past few years The UBS report states: We interpret this data to mean that these individuals have not largely benefitted from these macro-dynamics, and may also be disproportionately exposed to industries that have experienced compression. Read more at MFI-...

Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission Accuses Credit Repair Attorney Gary Nitzkin Of Misleading Clients A Detroit area credit repair attorney has been accused of misleading clients. Former clients accuse Gary Nizkin of not being upfront about taking attorney fees out of settlements for services. The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission filed a six-count complaint against Gary Nitzkin. Nitzkin is the owner of a Southfield law firm that goes by the names Michigan Consumer Credit Lawyers and Credit Repair Lawyers of America. The complaint accuses Nitzkin of "false, fraudulent, misleading or deceptive" communications and other alleged misconduct that can reflect badly on the legal profession. Nitzkin denies all the allegations. He contends there is nothing misleading on his websites or client paperwork. Nitzkin told the Detroit Free Press: I've done the best that I could to be as clear as possible. Th...

HUD Launches Another Facebook Investigation After Receiving More Complaints About Discriminatory Housing Ads HUD announced they are launching another Facebook investigation about real estate ads. The agency launched a Facebook investigation last year but halted it earlier this year. However, new information has come to light. HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s office issued the following statement: Secretary Carson has directed HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to re-open its investigation into Facebook’s advertising practices. Since our initial investigation, we have learned more about these practices that warrant a deeper level of scrutiny. At this point, we are resuming an investigation. The investigation began was in response to a  ProPublica   article  in October 2016.  Reporters  Julia Angwin  and  Terry Parris Jr.  found Facebook gave advertisers the ability to exclude certain ethnic groups from seeing the ads....

Florida Foreclosure Defense Attorney Mark Stopa Fighting Desperate Battle To Keep His Bar License  Hotshot attorney Mark Stopa was once one of the most popular foreclosure defense lawyers in Florida. Stopa is now fighting for his legal career for the second time in three years. This time he could find himself permanently disbarred. Attorney Mark Stopa was once the darling of the foreclosure activist movement but soon became infamous for his boorish and obnoxious behavior in court. In 2016, the  Florida Bar claimed Stopa  ripped off and misled two foreclosure clients. Now, the Florida Bar is claiming Stopa violated at least a half dozen rules of professional conduct and is seeking to have him permanently disbarred. Pinellas County Circuit Judge Linda Allan has already agreed that the Bar has proved five of the six misconduct counts against Stopa. Read more at MFI-Miami

Fox News Host Sean Hannity Cashed In On Peoples Misery By Snagging Up Fraudulent Foreclosures And Evicting People Blabbermouth Fox News Host Sean Hannity Fox News blabbermouth Sean Hannity harshly criticized the Obama Administration’s dealing with the financial crisis. Yet, it now appears he profited handsomely from the very policy he criticized publicly on his show. The Guardian  has confirmed Hannity’s chosen investment strategy. The newspaper scoured through thousands of pages of public records in seven states. The records show a real estate portfolio of remarkable scale. Yet, Sean Hannity has not publicly acknowledged his real estate holdings. Sean Hannity is the owner of a group of shell companies that bought 870 homes for $90m in 2013. The properties range from luxurious mansions to rentals for low-income families. The portfolio covers properties in seven states. The list of properties bought by the Hannity-linked companies includes multimillion-dollar homes u...

Actress Allison Mack Indicted For Recruiting Woman Into Hudson Valley Sex Cult Pyramid Scheme NXIVM NXIVM leader Keith Raniere NXIVM  leader Keith Raniere and actress Allison Mack were indicted on Friday. Federal prosecutors charged the two with two counts of sex trafficking-related charges and forced labor conspiracy. Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York states: Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group. The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit. As this pyramid scheme continues to unravel, we ask anyone who might have been a victim to reach out to us with information that may further our investigation. Allison Mack And Her Involvement In NXIVM and The Source Raniere created a series of purported self-help programs over the past 20 years within his umbrella organization  NXIVM  (pronounced NEX-i-um).  The Albany, New Y...

Suntrust Hacker Steals Information On 1.5 Million Suntrust Customers. Hacker Believed To Be Former Employee The SunTrust hacker breached the bank’s security system. SunTrust announced Friday that a former employee has stolen the personal information of approximately 1.5 million customers. The company also stated that its investigation is still ongoing. The Suntrust hacker stole names and addresses of account holders. The hacker is also believed to have stolen account information of 1.5 million customers. The  bank claims  the Suntrust hacker did not access personally identifying information. Suntrust also claims information as Social Security number and account number. The bank claims that PIN and User ID are safe. Read more at MFI-Miami

Al Capone’s Former Miami Beach Mansion Hits The Market For $15 Million The former Miami Beach mansion of Al Capone just hit the market for $14.9 million. The world’s most popular gangster bought the home in 1928. He died in the mansion in 1947. A wealthy Italian industrialist family now owns the Miami Beach mansion. The  Real Deal Miami  is reporting MB America paid $8 million on behalf of the family for the Miami Beach mansion in 2013. The owners have also just completed a multimillion-dollar renovation of the property. MB America is representing the wealthy Italian family selling the bayfront estate at 93 Palm Avenue. Nelson Gonzalez of  EWM Realty International  is the listing agent. Read more at MFI-Miami

Manhattan Residential Property Listings Prices Plummet By 10.9 Percent Compared To Last Year The real estate website,  The Real Deal  is reporting that Manhattan residential property listing prices are plummeting. The website also states that listing prices are down nearly 11% from this time last year. During the week of April 5th through April 12th, the average listing price for Manhattan homes stood at $2.2 million. Prices dropped by 10.9 percent compared to the same time last year. The average price per square foot in Manhattan also dropped by the same percentage. Square foot pricing decreased by 3 percent year-over-year to $1,749 per square foot. Manhattan is flooded with listings. The borough has 6,282 homes in on the market. This is a 9% increase from last year. Read more at MFI-Miami

Quicken Loans Fraud On FHA Loans Is Costing Florida Dad With 4 Kids His Home Quicken Loans fraud on FHA loans is what is engineered to amaze. Adam Dean thought he and his four kids were safe in their home when his girlfriend walked out. Now she is trying to evict them from the home and she's using Quicken Loans fraud as her weapon of choice. The story begins in May of 2013 when Adam and his then-girlfriend Danielle Headrick called and spoke to Andrew Kuhn at Quicken Loans in Detroit about refinancing her home. Kuhn put the couple into a 15-year FHA loan for $41,259.00 with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%. The closing documents indicate Andrew Kuhn did nothing wrong. The Quicken Loans fraud happened after the loan went into underwriting. The fraud also includes Dan Gilbert-owned title company, Title Source. People think FHA loans are still reviewed by real people. They are not. Mortgage underwriting is all automated and approval is based on the information keyed in...

Former CFO of Soup Nazi Business Sentenced to 9 Months Imprisonment for Tax Evasion Robert N. Bertrand, the former CFO of Soupman was sentenced to  nine months in prison . Soupman licenses its name and recipes from  Al Yeganeh . Yeganeh was the inspiration for the Soup Nazi  character  on the television series “Seinfeld.” The IRS busted Bertrand last year. He initially pleaded not guilty. He later admitted to abusing his power as CFO of the company: I failed to collect and account for and pay  taxes. The Court also ordered the Soup Nazi CFO to pay $78,518.18 in restitution to the United States.  Bertrand pleaded guilty in December 2017 for failure to pay Medicare, Social Security, and federal income taxes. Bertrand’s sentence also includes one year of supervised release. Bertrand’s mismanagement also forced Soupman into Chapter 11  bankruptcy  last year. Read more at MFI-Miami

Millionaire Doctor Dad Of Actress Chloe Moretz Financially Ruined His Family Then Ran Off With Hilton Heir’s Ex It turns out celebrity plastic surgeon father of actress Chloe Moretz is a real scumbag. McCoy Moretz financially destroyed his family in 2005. He also abandoned Chloe’s cancer-stricken mom and his 5 kids to get sloppy seconds from Hilton heir Ronald Hilton’s ex-wife. McCoy Moretz declared bankruptcy and lost everything in 2005. Moretz and his wife Teri owed millions of dollars to nearly 199 creditors. Yet, to an outsider, it looked like the Moretzes were millionaires. McCoy Moretz was an ear, nose and throat specialist with a practice in suburban Atlanta. He also ran a small cosmetic surgery company called Southern Facial Arts Center from the same office. The Moretzes lived in a sprawling $3.4 million at the time of the bankruptcy. The seven-bedroom and eight-bathroom home sat on 2.95 acres. The sprawling property also had a tennis court and a swimming poo...

HUD And Department of Justice Tell Pervert Landlords Their Days Of Sexual Harassing Female Tenants Are Over! It seems like too many pervert landlords think those property  sex videos on Pornhub  are real. Sexual harassment complaints by female tenants about their pervert landlords have spiked in recent years. As a result, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice are stepping up. They have created a task force to combat it. HUD announced a partnership with the DOJ to started an initiative to increase reporting of sexual harassment in housing. The initiative also includes an outreach toolkit and a public awareness campaign. HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement: All discrimination stains the very fabric of our nation. HUD is especially focused on protecting the right of everyone to feel safe and secure in their homes, free from unwanted sexual harassment. No person should have to tolerate unwanted sexual advances in order to...

Israeli Loan Modification Scam Operators Plead Guilty To Targeting Elderly People In Poor Health Herzel Meiri A father and son team of Israeli loan modification scam operators pleaded guilty to scamming old people in poor health. Herzel Meiri and his son, Amir pled guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Federal prosecutors allege the father and son team fraudulently induced distressed homeowners to sell their homes to a company they owned and controlled. Herzel and Amir Meiri pleaded guilty to defrauding distressed homeowners throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens from 2011 through 2015. Amir Meiri apparently didn't make the scam operation a secret. Websites like New Economy NY were reporting on the Meiri's shenanigans as far back as 2013. The Meiris promised elderly homeowners that they could assist them with foreclosure relief that could save their homes. However, the Meiris deceived them into selling their homes f...

Sicko New York Landlord Demanded Sexual Favors From And Groped Female Tenants An upstate New York landlord apparently thought the  property sex videos  he watches on Pornhub are real. Now Douglas S. Waterbury is in trouble with the feds for violating the Fair Housing Act. The  Department of Justice  alleges Waterbury pressured female tenants and prospective female tenants into performing sex acts in exchange for housing. He also offered reductions in rent and deposit payments. Female tenants also claim they were on the receiving end of unwanted sexual advances and groping. They claim Waterbury offered tangible housing benefits in exchange for sex. He also allegedly refused needed maintenance services to females who  turned down his sexual advances . Waterbury’s wife and business partner, Carol Waterbury and two residential property companies are named as co-defendants in the case. As a result, police investigated Waterbury at least three time...

NYDFS Squeezes $17 Million In Fines Out Of Nationstar aka Mr Cooper For Violating New York Finance Laws The New York Department of Financial Services   has announced reached a $17 million settlement with Nationstar aka Mr Cooper. The NYDFS accused the lender of violating a plethora of NYS financial laws. Lending Website Housingwire stated: The settlement shouldn’t come as a shock. Nationstar disclosed back in November that it was in negotiations with the NYDFS. NYDFS stated the investigation uncovered numerous deficiencies and violations of the state’s banking laws. The violations occurred during Nationstar’s servicing and origination operations between 2011 and 2014. NYDFS audits found evidence that Nationstar aka Mr Cooper failed to develop effective controls that kept pace with its growth. These issues caused damage to homeowners. The settlement covers both Nationstar’s mortgage origination and  servicing activities  in the state. Read...

Trump Appointed CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney Has Yet To Launch Any Investigations Or Enforcement Actions It has has been 136 days since former CFPB Director Richard Cordray resigned his post. President Trump appointed his OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to replace him. Since then, the bureau has not issued a single enforcement action or launched a single investigation.  The Ken Sweet from the  Associated Press is reporting that all enforcement at the CFPB has abruptly stopped. This doesn't just apply to the mortgage industry. Banks, credit card companies, debt collectors or any other finance company has not received an enforcement action from the CFPB since Mulvaney took over as CFPB Director. It's no secret that Mulvaney like the rest of the GOP hates the CFPB . Congressional GOP leaders don't like that they have little to no say in the funding of the agency. CFPB funding comes from the Federal Reserve, not Congress. Therefore, The GOP who control th...

Wells Fargo Bank Facing $1 Billion Fine From The CFPB For Mortgage And Auto Insurance Issues It looks like Wells Fargo Bank is about to break a record! Wells Fargo Bank is facing a record fine of a billion dollars from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The record-breaking fine even has the support of President Trump! Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray initiated the investigation into Wells Fargo. He supposedly signed off on a fine before resigning in November 2017. However,  Reuters reported  in December that CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney was reviewing the situation and could choose not to move forward with the fine. READ MORE AT MFI-Miami

Long Island Veteran Wins Foreclosure Case Because Of Wells Fargo Lawyers Missing Deadline A Long Island veteran and his wife won their 12-year battle with Wells Fargo. The appellate division of the state Supreme Court threw out the foreclosure case against them. The court ruled Wells Fargo and MBS trust who allegedly held the note missed New York’s six-year statute of limitations. The four-judge panel ruled that Wells Fargo missed the six-year deadline to file its second foreclosure lawsuit. Wells Fargo filed its original case in 2006. The bank had argued that the clock stopped at various times due to court maneuvers. However, the appellate panel rejected that argument. Wells Fargo who serviced the loan for the US Bank MBS said: We respect the court’s decision and are still considering whether or not to undertake any further appeals. In 2013, a judge threw out the foreclosure lawsuit, finding that the lender never properly served the Josephs with court p...

Catholic Deacon Accused Of Pilfering Poor Box Of Suburban Detroit Church Known For It’s Mafia Members Mike Barthel  Catholic deacon Mike Barthel of Roseville, Michigan is in serious hot water. He is under investigation for misusing Saint Joan of Arc parish funds by the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department. The Macomb County Sheriff’s Department is the least of Barthel’s problems. Barthel needs to be more concerned about the parishioners of Saint Joan of Arc. Elite members of Detroit’s  Italian mafia  attend mass at the parish. It was also the parish of convicted wife murderer and dungeon sex aficionado  Bob Bashara . Monsignor G. Michael Bugarin wrote in a letter to parish members: It is with sadness that I must share some news with you regarding our parish community. Mike Barthel is under investigation by the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office for possible misuse of parish funds. Because of this development, he will no longer serve as th...

MFI-Miami Names The 10 Wealthiest Neighborhoods In Florida. Half Of Them Are In Palm Beach County MFI-Miami has done the research and has discovered the top ten wealthiest neighborhoods in Florida. It’s no surprise that all of them are in South Florida and that half of them are in Palm Beach County. Read more at MFI-Miami