MFI-Miami Blog

Manhattan Financial Adviser James Booth Pleads Guilty To Operating A $5 Million Ponzi Scheme Manhattan financial adviser James T. Booth pleaded guilty to securities fraud last week. Federal prosecutors accused Booth operating a years-long scheme to defraud customers of his financial services firm, Booth Financial Associates. Booth is accused of stealing nearly $5 million through a variety of lies and misrepresentations. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: Booth bilked some 40 clients of nearly $5 million by convincing them that he would deliver solid and secure returns on their investments.  Instead, Booth delivered lies and deceit.  Today, Booth has admitted to his scheme and now faces a prison term for his lies.  Read more at MFI-Miami

Barclays PLC CEO Jes Staley Says Garbage Corporate Loans Could Doom Future Corporate Finance Barclays Plc CEO Jes Staley says Barclays is among lenders sitting on $2 billion of risky corporate loans they can’t sell. He appeared on Bloomberg last week warning of the dangers of poorly assembled and poorly underwritten deals. Staley told Bloomberg TV that buyers of leveraged loans are shunning transactions that aren’t structured properly. Banks globally have been left holding parts of loans that funded at least seven private-equity deals. Barclays was a lead underwriter on four of them. If you have a deal that’s not structured properly the market can be pretty punishing at the bottom end. Banks typically arrange leveraged loans to fund acquisitions for private-equity companies. They usually arrange to sell the debt to third party investors before deals close. Read more at MFI-Miami

The Only Cenlar Foreclosure Defense Team With A Track Record Of Delivering A TKO To Cenlar MFI-Miami has created a specialized Cenlar Foreclosure Defense Team. The team's focus will focus solely on developing strategies to keep homeowners in their homes!  We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the strength to successfully challenge Cenlar in any courtroom in the USA. Our competitors show off one or two victories against Cenlar but they can't beat our track record. How do we know this? Because we have the 10-year track record   to prove it!   MFI-Miami's Cenlar Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Team is also Cenlar's worst nightmare. Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of their most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers. For nearly 10-years, MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert has developed a reputation of bringing Cenlar to their knees.  Steve Dibert has also helped keep Cenlar from discriminating against mentally challenged homeowne

Cruella DeVos Held In Contempt For Violating Court Order Banning Her From Predatory Collection Efforts For Scam University A federal judge held US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos aka Cruella DeVos in contempt of court. Judge Sally Kim also imposed a $100,000 fine against Cruella DeVos for violating a federal court order. DeVos had been aggressively pursuing student loan debt owed by students of a defunct for-profit college. The rare judicial rebuke came after the Trump administration was forced to admit that it  collected on the loans of some 16,000 borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges. The federal court ordered to stop doing so in May 2018. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim  wrote  that  “the evidence shows only minimal efforts to comply with the preliminary injunction”  Read more at MFI-Miami

FHFA Director Mark Calabria Threatens To Wipe Out Fannie And Freddie Shareholders To End GSE Conservatorship FHFA Director Mark Calabria said he’s willing to wipe out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders to end the government conservatorship. Shareholders include retirement funds and pension funds. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also back about half of the nation’s mortgages.  Calabria took charge of FHFA in January . He replaced Mel Watt Calabria told the House Financial Services Committee: I’m working for the taxpayers. If the circumstances present themselves where we have to wipe out the shareholders, we will. Calabria told Congress in the Tuesday hearing: I’m on the record as saying in 2008 what we should have done is wipe out the shareholders. Instead, they were put into conservatorship. The government received new senior preferred stock and common stock warrants. The government took a 79.9% stake in the GSEs as collateral for the bailout. Read more at MFI-Miami

Deed Theft Against Black Homeowners In Brooklyn Speeding Up Gentrification And Leaving People Homeless Real estate experts say that deed theft against Black homeowners in Brooklyn has skyrocketed in the past five years. Experts can show data that historically black neighborhoods are now primarily white. Thus, speeding up gentrification in Brooklyn.  The  New York Times  stated Monday that accounts for nearly half of New York City’s 3,000 deed fraud complaints since 2014. Scammers target elderly longtime black residents who bought property in the 1970s as white people fled New York City. Conmen are also deceiving or coercing elderly black homeowners into signing over ownership of their properties for ludicrously low sums. Broadies Byas’ gorgeous Victorian townhouse is a perfect example. First constructed in 1856, her father purchased the home in 1957 for $7,500. The house is currently worth $1.2 million. However, unbeknownst to Byas, she had given it away for just $120,000.

The Bank of America Hotline Arms You With The Firepower To Fight A Bank of America Foreclosure! Call 888.737.6344 MFI-Miami has created a Bank of America Hotline to put you in touch with our Bank Of America foreclosure defense team. The team’s focus is solely on helping homeowners develop strategies to fight Bank of America!  We are also the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the strength to successfully challenge Bank of America. Our competitors show off one or two victories against Bank of America. They can’t beat our track record. How do we know this? We have the  10-year track record  to prove it!  MFI-Miami’s Bank of America hotline and foreclosure defense team is Bank of America’s worst nightmare. Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of their most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers. Read more at MFI-Miami

Attom Data Solutions Says Residential Foreclosure Rates Dropped 20% On Average.  A new report from  Attom Data Solutions  indicates residential home foreclosure rates dropped 20% in the third quarter. The report shows the New York metro area, South Florida and Los Angeles all showed double-digit declines. Attom says 143,105 properties had foreclosure filings from July through September of this year. This is down from nearly 172,000 over the same period last year. The numbers include default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions. The reports also indicate foreclosure rates are at the lowest level since the second quarter of 2005. Foreclosure reports from month to month can be volatile. However, the data could indicate the market is not at the level of distress it was prior to the last recession. It could also mean that despite  numerous indicators  showing a slowdown in the housing market, borrowers have yet to default on their payments. Read more at MFI-Miami

Bank of America Warning! Can Bank of America Validate Your Mortgage Debt? Probably Not! Steve Dibert, CEO of internationally-renowned mortgage fraud investigation firm  MFI-Miami , announced today that  MFI-Miami  has discovered serious flaws in the way Bank of America validates debt owed by homeowners. As a result, MFI-Miami has issued a Bank of America Warning to homeowners.  MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert: Homeowners need to request their complete mortgage transaction histories from Bank of America and review them. If there is missing information or if something doesn’t look right, they need to contact a lawyer or a properly trained mortgage fraud expert immediately! MFI-Miami  has examined nearly 150 transaction histories from mortgage loans currently serviced by Bank of America since 2015. Nearly 125 of these contained serious accounting flaws in the transaction histories. These flaws would call into question the amount homeowners owe on their mortgages. Additionally, MF

AARP Launches New Fear-Mongering Campaign Warning The Elderly That Their Families Are Coming To Rob Them The AARP has launched a new program called  BankSafe . The program is designed to teach bank employees how to spot when elderly people are being financially exploited. Most banks already have similar programs. I know JPMorgan Chase does. What makes the AARP program different is the marketing. The AARP is using fear-mongering and scare tactics that rival the NRA or attorneys advertising on TV. Yes, the AARP is actually promoting paranoia among elderly people. The group actually wants to make the elderly believe that their family is out to rob and steal from them. AARP Executive VP Debra Whitman told the media: People are literally being robbed every day through scams or financial exploitation from members of their own family. Read more at MFI-Miami

Total Student Loan Debt Of $1.5 Trillion Is So High It Could Buy Every House on The U.S. Market Twice Over Total student loan debt in the United States has reached $1.5 trillion. It’s now at a new all-time high according to a new study by  realtor.com .  That has realtors and housing experts concerned. Real estate agents across the US keep asking what does that mean for the housing market? $1.5 trillion sounds like a lot. However, how much is it really when you break it down? Divided out, the average student loan borrower owes about $34,500, that’s $8,500 more than the typical down payment of $26,000. This is an average of 10% of the median home price of $260,000. $1.5 trillion is enough to buy every single home on the market in the United States twice over. Read more at MFI-Miami

Gap In Housing Market Between Home Prices And Income Point To Recession By 2020 Election The housing market is signaling there will be an economic recession by the 2020 election.  Council on Foreign Relations  Director of International Economics Benn Steil joined  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon  predicting a recession: Looking back at the years preceding the 2008 financial crisis. A critical warning sign was the surging gap between the growth in home prices and household income. Today, a parallel dynamic is playing out. Household incomes have been growing. However, it hasn’t come close to keeping up with the increase in home prices. The median annual household  income  in August rose by 1.3% from 2018. Yet,  data from the National Association of Realtors  shows the median home prices in the United States housing market rose 4.7% in August from a year earlier. Read more at MFI-Miami

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Warns Recession Is Coming. He Blames Trump’s Trade War With China JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says a recession is coming due to Trump’s trade war with China. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that a recession is on the horizon. He said its thanks to the Trump Administration’s continuing trade war with China. Dimon said during a morning call with reporters after the bank announced its third-quarter earnings: Of course, there’s a recession ahead.  It does look like geopolitics, particularly around China and trade, are reducing business confidence and business capital expenditure. Read more at MFI-Miami

Citibank Slapped With $30 Million Fine For Leaving Hundreds Of REO Properties Vacant Past The 5-Year Limit Federal banking regulators have slapped Citibank with a $30 million fine. An investigation found that the bank was not selling foreclosed homes back into the market fast enough.  The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced it fined Citibank $30 million for  “violations related to the holding period of other real estate owned.” Federal investigators found more than 200 violations between April 4, 2017, and Aug. 14, 2019. However, Citibank states that the problem was limited to those 200 properties. Federal banking regulations only allow banks with a two-year limit on possessing foreclosed properties. However, the rules stipulate that banks can apply for an annual exemption that can push their ownership of a property to as much as five years. Read more at MFI-Miami

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Specialized Loan Servicing Warning! Can Specialized Loan Servicing Validate Your Mortgage Debt? Probably Not! Steve Dibert, CEO of internationally-renowned mortgage fraud investigation firm  MFI-Miami , announced today that  MFI-Miami  has discovered serious flaws in the way Specialized Loan Servicing validates debt owed by homeowners. Specialized Loan Servicing is owned by  Computershare  out of Australia. As a result, MFI-Miami has issued a Specialized Loan Servicing Warning to homeowners.  MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert: Homeowners need to request their complete mortgage transaction histories from Specialized Loan Servicing and review them. If there is missing information or if something doesn’t look right, they need to contact a lawyer or a properly trained mortgage fraud expert immediately! MFI-Miami  has examined nearly 150 transaction histories from mortgage loans currently serviced by Computershare subsidiary Specialized Loan Servicing since 2015. Nearly 140 of these c

BOMBSHELL: Manhattan Foreclosures Skyrocket By 118%  Property Shark posted it’s latest foreclosure activity report for New York City. Manhattan foreclosures have skyrocketed 118% compared to a year ago. That is not good news for Manhattanites because property values will be plummetting soon. Manhattan wasn’t the borough with triple-digit foreclosure increases. Staten Island saw an unprecedented 183% increase in foreclosures.  However, the news wasn’t so gloomy for Queens and the Bronx. Foreclosures in the Bronx saw a 51% drop from the third quarter of 2018. Queens saw a 16% drop in foreclosure filings in the past year. First-time foreclosures in New York City stagnated despite major foreclosure activity increases in two boroughs. New York City only saw an uptick of 1% city-wide uptick year-over-year. Read more at MFI-Miami

BUSTED: Most Mortgage Servicers Are Unable To Prove How Much Homeowners Actually Owe On Their Mortgages Most people just assume most mortgage servicers have calculated their payoff or balance correctly. The finance world also requires you to be good at math. So, at a minimum, you would also think most mortgage servicers would be able to do basic fifth-grade math, right? Believe it or not, they don’t and unfortunately, it only becomes painfully obvious after the homeowner is put into foreclosure.  Lenders and their attorneys need to accomplish two things in order to successfully foreclose on a homeowner. They need to prove they have legal standing to bring a foreclosure action. They also need to be able to validate the dollar amount of the debt that is owed.  Mortgage servicers cannot prove one and not the other. They have to prove both.  Read more at MFI-Miami

Select Portfolio Servicing Warning! Can Select Portfolio Validate Your Mortgage Debt? Probably Not! Steve Dibert, CEO of internationally-renowned mortgage fraud investigation firm  MFI-Miami , announced today that  MFI-Miami  has discovered serious flaws in the way  Credit Suisse  subsidiary  Select Portfolio Servicing  validates debt owed by homeowners. As a result, MFI-Miami has issued a Select Portfolio Servicing Warning to homeowners.  MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert: Homeowners need to request their complete mortgage transaction histories from Select Portfolio Servicing and review them. If there is missing information or if something doesn’t look right, they need to contact a lawyer or a properly trained mortgage fraud expert immediately! MFI-Miami  has examined nearly 200 transaction histories from mortgage loans currently serviced by Credit Suisse subsidiary Select Portfolio Servicing since 2016. Nearly 175 of these contained serious accounting flaws in the transaction h

The FTC Shuts Down Real Estate Get Rich Quick Seminars Endorsed By HGTV’s Biggest Stars A court has agreed to put a  temporary stop  to a pricey real estate get rich quick real estate seminars fronted by HGTV stars. The Federal Trade Commission alleges instructors making promises to make attendees rich were misleading” and bogus. The Federal Trade Commission alleges in its complaint that Utah-based Zurixx LLC would hold free “Get Rich Quick” real estate events. HGTV stars  Tarek El Moussa and Christina Anstead endorsed Zurixx’s seminars endorsed the seminars.  El Moussa and Anstead host HGTV’s fake reality show, “Flip or Flop”. The HGTV stars are also named in the FTC complaint against Zurixx. Christina Anstead told ABC News that Zurixx is “teaching” their sales techniques and she stands by her sales system. Read more at MFI-Miami

Snapchat Sextortionist Found Guilty Using Snapchat And Kik To Coerce Kids Into Making Kiddie Porn A Snapchat Sextortionist  was convicted this week  of multiple kiddie porn-related crimes. Joseph Isaiah Woodson Jr used popular messaging apps to coerce minors into producing child pornography.  A federal court jury convicted Woodson on three counts of producing child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. The South Florida jury also found him guilty of one count of sending extortionate threats and one count of conspiracy. Woodson faces a statutory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 117 years in prison.  Read more at MFI-Miami

New York Psychic Known As Psychic Zoe Indicted For Swindling Dozens Of Victims Out Of $1 Million  The Manhattan DA has charged a New York psychic with swindling dozens of victims out of $1 Million. Psychic Zoe also swindled $740,000 from a Canadian woman. The phony psychic insisted the money would be used to buy gold coins. The gold coins would be placed in a temple to protect her clients from danger. However, most of the money was spent in casinos in Atlantic City. Ann Thompson aka Psychic Zoe was looking more morose than mystic as she was waiting to have her case heard.  Thompson last appeared in court in August. She pleaded not guilty to 17 counts from 12 of her former clients. She was indicted on charges of a scheme to defraud, grand larceny, and forgery.  Prosecutors say she touted herself as a renowned psychic medium and advertised readings for five dollars. Thompson operated out of the storefront ‘Psychic Zoe’ on West 35th Street near Seventh Avenue. Read more at

The Only Rushmore Loan Management Helpline That Helps You Deliver A Knock-Out Punch To Rushmore! MFI-Miami has created a Rushmore Loan Management Helpline to put you in touch with a foreclosure defense team exclusively for Rushmore Loan Management. The team's focus will solely be on helping homeowners develop strategies to fight Rushmore Loan Management in their foreclosure! We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the strength to successfully challenge Rushmore Loan Management. Our competitors show off one or two victories against Rushmore. They can't beat our track record. How do we know this? We have the 10-year track record  to prove it! MFI-Miami's Rushmore Loan Management Foreclosure Defense Team Is Rushmore's Worst Nightmare Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of their most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers. MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert has developed a reputation for staring down the Wall Street banks. He has even hum

Metro-Detroit Is A Mecca For Scammers Who Want To Live Off Dead Relatives’ Government Benefits Scammers who live off the government benefits of dead relatives cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Last year alone, Social Security Administration inspector general audits found that the Social Security Administration paid out more than $40 million to 500 dead people in Michigan alone. Over the last five years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit says it has prosecuted more scammers living off dead relative’s government benefits than anywhere else in the United States. The USAO in Detroit charged 40 people with illegally collecting dead relative’s government benefits. They are also investigating another 125 cases that were flagged in a 2018 audit. Prosecutors say scammers in Detroit now account for almost half of all Social Security fraud in the country. Of the 41 defendants charged in metro Detroit since 2014, 31 have been convicted and sentenced; six are awa

Foreclosure Lawyer Mark Stopa Banned For Life From Practicing Law In Florida Foreclosure lawyer Mark Stopa Has Been Kicked Out Of The Florida Bar The Florida Supreme Court has permanently disbarred foreclosure lawyer Mark Stopa. Stopa was once among the state’s best-known foreclosure defense attorneys. The court ordered Stopa to pay $31,620 in costs related to the Florida Bar’s investigation of him for violating bar rules. Stopa had been under indefinite suspension since last year for his  “boorish’’  behavior toward judges. He also failed to tell clients about bank settlement offers and other professional misconduct. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement later raided his Tampa area office. They seized computers and records. They soon discovered he had acquired millions of dollars worth of property from some clients through a years-long pattern of fraud and deception. Stopa, who claimed to have represented more than 7,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, sold his law pract