Unless we suddenly find ourselves at war with Syria, Iran or North Korea, our troops will not be in combat for the first time in many years. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t waging other types of war. Evil is everywhere around us.

We have the highest respect for our troops and the veterans who proudly served. As I write this, my father’s American flag sits in a display case on my night stand, a “gift from a thankful nation”. (Dad was a combat veteran and fighter pilot.)

Most people in this nation have never been in actual combat. Thankfully so. While many Americans (primarily males) dress in camo and experience “combat” by watching Sunday football, others of us become cops, prosecutors or fight the forces of evil in the courtroom. Why? Because we all have the warrior spirit. Some more than others.

Earlier today I received an email from a client; someone who is losing their house because of a wrongful foreclosure by Bank of America. I say “wrongful” because the bank misplaced her payments and then declared her in default. It should be an easy problem to fix but Bank of America is a huge bureaucracy. It’s like a giant ocean liner except there is no captain and no officers on the deck to give orders or  take responsibility for problems. This is what she wrote:

“[This] also affirms why what you do is so important Brian. It takes a lot for anyone to even believe they have a fighting chance against big corporations. But then when we finally get fed up enough and muster the strength to stand up for ourselves, nobody wants to hear us. You realize immediately that your voice means nothing if nobody’s listening, and suddenly you’re the most insignificant noise to them. Too big to care, and too big to hear anyone. So you become our voice. And that means more than I can ever express.”

Thankfully, I never had to fire a weapon in anger as a police officer and my generation was spared the horrors of war. But all of us have a bit of warrior inside us. Happily, I have found a profession that provides a meaningful outlet for that aggression and energy.

We live in a society today that feels to even speak of aggression is politically incorrect. We are quietly losing our freedoms and many people now believe that their vote is meaningless. Doom and gloom isn’t inevitable, however. Nor is corruption, dishonest politicians or greed. There is a choice and there are good lawyers still willing to take up the good fight.

When I was a cop I  always told my friends that I hoped they never needed my services. I say the same thing today as a lawyer. But if your home or business is on the line, we are here to help. We can’t take every case – or even most cases – but we handle fraud cases in many jurisdictions and are willing to take on the biggest of opponents.

The great equalizer is the American jury system. We trial lawyers aren’t the heroes. The men and women who watch football on Sunday, who hold down jobs to support their families or who are simply are our neighbors – they are the real heroes and get to be warriors when serving on a jury. As long as we have a jury system we can level the playing field and achieve real justice.

[Ed. Note: This is not our usual post about fraud or tax topics. From time to time we take a little editorial license and write about why we do what we do.]

The post The Warriors In Us appeared first on Due Diligence.

Just 20 years ago, the types of investments commonly available to investors were quite limited. Stockbrokers generally peddled stocks, bonds and the occasional options strategy. Over the last several years, however, the sheer number of investment vehicles available is huge. Everyday a new derivative is invented and quickly brought to market. Unfortunately, today that means stockbrokers often don’t understand the intricacies (or even the basics) of the investments they are offering. Private placement memorandums, prospectus documents and offering documents are often hundreds of pages in length.

When the investment adviser or broker selling these investments doesn’t understand them, the investor often suffers. Without fully understanding the risk factors involved, financial professionals can’t perform any meaningful due diligence. They also can’t properly determine if they are suitable for their customer’s needs.

Another example of stockbroker fraud is the sale of thinly traded REITs and TICs. “Thinly traded” means there is no ready secondary market for the investment. That means investors might have to hold on to their investment for a decade or longer. While that might be fine for a younger investor with no need to access their monies, elderly investors who need their investments to fund retirement are at risk.

We have seen many instances of customers suing their brokers when they learn that they can’t sell or redeem their investment. Brokers must be extremely careful when recommending thinly traded investments. Several firms have been heavily fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for recommending thinly or not-traded real estate investments.

Earlier this year, FINRA fined LPL Financial $500,000 for improperly recommending non-traded REITs. Several customers complained when they learned they could not sell their investment. It’s nice to get a monthly statement saying your investment is worth $1 million but that statement is just a piece of paper. If the investment can’t be sold because there is no market, sone would argue the investment is worth nothing.

FINRA and the SEC have been warning the industry for several years to be careful when recommending alternative investments, particularly those that have no secondary market. As a result from on-going regulatory pressure and the recent fine against LPL, several broker dealers have announced new restrictions on the sale of these investments.

Some firms are now restricting how much of a customer’s portfolio should contain these alternatives. (Customers are always free to buy whatever they want, however the new guidelines restrict what and how much should be recommended to clients.) Other firms are beefing up their due diligence efforts to insure that brokers fully understand the investments they are recommending and to insure that the investment isn’t a scam.

Over the last 18 months, several broker dealers have gone under after getting hit with multiple stockbroker fraud claims stemming from sales of DBSI (a TIC Ponzi scheme) and tenants in common real estate projects affiliated with Carlton Cabot.

Investment advisers and stockbrokers can be held responsible for making unsuitable recommendations, for not fully understanding their customers’ cash flow needs and risk tolerance and for not performing due diligence on the products they offer. Unfortunately, when the broker dealer goes out of business, their clients may be stuck with no recovery.

Stockbroker fraud is a serious problem and takes many shapes and forms. The decision to scale back on alternatives, especially for the elderly, is a good one. Thus far just a handful of brokers have agreed to voluntarily impose internal controls. We hope other brokers do so as well.

Unlike investment advisers, stockbrokers frequently get paid by commission. While traditional investments might only carry a 1 or 2% commission, alternatives can pay 7 to 10%. Some stockbrokers resort to “selling away” which is the practice of selling investments without their employer’s knowledge. Purchasing from a broker who is selling away may prevent the customer from suing the broker dealer, particularly if the customer knew that his or her broker was working these “side deals.”

As more brokerage firms begin to regulate alternative investments, we expect to see an increase in selling away stockbroker fraud cases.

Our advice? Alternative investments can be a great way to make above market rate returns and capital appreciation. If approached by a stockbroker offering such an investment, inquire as to his or her commission, make sure you understand the fine print, make sure your broker fully understands the fine print and determine whether an employee of the brokerage firm has conducted extensive due diligence on the product. In other words, make sure that the investments has been well vetted and isn’t simply being offered because it carries a huge commission.

Also make sure that your adviser is working through a legitimate broker dealer and not “selling away.”

Stockbroker fraud occurs daily across the United States. Sometimes the broker is solely to blame and at other times its both the broker and a dishonest promoter. Either way, its the customers that ultimately suffer.

If you believe you are the victim of stockbroker fraud, contact us immediately. Most stockbroker fraud cases can be handled on a continent fee basis and can often be handled through arbitration, a quick way to resolve cases. For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct dial).

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Stockbroker Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Want more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific topics, just click the fraud recovery tab or type in the name of a particular topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany, Esq.

The post Stockbroker Fraud Post – Brokers Back Away From Alternative Investments appeared first on Due Diligence.

Experts say that 16% of America’s elderly are routinely abused. MetLife found that elder abuse costs seniors billions of dollars annually.

So what exactly is elder abuse? For some, it is physical mistreatment. Poorly paid or uncaring health care workers that fail to properly feed and cloth their patients. We are aware of many cases of healthcare workers stealing prescription medications from patients and either selling them on the street or taking the medications for themselves. As  I write this there are hundreds of suffering patients who aren’t receiving their pain medications.

While the physical examples of elder abuse are certainly cruel and despicable, financial elder abuse is the more insidious of the two. It’s rampant and most often the family members of the victim aren’t even aware that the problem is happening. For example, when my mother needed to go to a nursing home, I went to her condo to package up her belongings. Most of her personal jewelry was gone.  I say “most” because the good jewelry such as her wedding ring and diamonds were gone. Just the cosmetic remained.

Did my mother give away her wedding ring? I doubt it. But where did it go? A neighbor? A worker in the building? One of the many home health care aides? We will never know. While my mother was certainly free to give away her possessions, in her last months on her own she did not have the mental capacity to understand her actions.

In another example, a business colleague asked me to review his late mother’s probate proceedings. Apparently during his mother’s last years, a prior alcohol addiction completely overwhelmed her. She drank more heavily and saw her family less. Whether she didn’t want her grandchildren to see her drunk or not is just speculation on my part. What I do know is that after her death, a much younger, unemployed neighbor showed up with a will purporting to leave her entire estate to him and nothing to her children and grandchildren. The neighbor, who claimed he was such a great friend to the elderly woman, wouldn’t even agree to pay for the funeral out of his new found wealth.

There is a common theme with these stories. Studies show that women are far more likely to be victims of elder abuse than men. 70% of the victims are female according to recent studies.

What is most astonishing is how many families don’t fight elder abuse. We understand that the elderly victims may not have the capacity to fight but the families can and should fight. Whether physical or economic, elder abuse is a crime. Plain and simple. If someone stole your car, you would call the police. But when a family suspects that a loved one isn’t receiving proper care or things go missing from a loved one’s home, few people intervene.

The lack of intervention often is because the people committing the crimes are other family members. While strangers and care givers commit their fair share of elder abuse, in many instances the person committing the fraud is another family member. That makes everyone uncomfortable and while families may be react internally, few report crimes to authorities or hire a lawyer to undo an inheritance fraud or improper will.

If you are the victim of elder abuse or believe that someone has wrongfully coerced a loved one to change their will, we can help. The key to success is quick action. Often we can freeze funds before they are distributed or at least keep the fraudsters from spending the money while the claims are being resolved in court.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany by email at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just type in the key words “inheritance fraud” or “elder abuse” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany

The post Silent Screams – America’s Growing Elder Abuse Problem appeared first on Due Diligence.

FINRA says that Springsteen – Abbott misappropriated customer monies and used them to pay for personal expenses. Included on the list was a family vacation and a restaurant charge at Hooters. The company denies the charges and says that any charges were business related. The company said that investor funds were restored after FINRA’s concerns were brought to light.

FINRA’s accusations apparently came to light after sexual harassment and whistleblower complaints were filed by a former employee.

The company, which raised $240 million according to the Investment News story, is accused of misdirecting about $345,000. Some feel the individual charges are diminimis while others feel the conduct is pure investment fraud.

You may be a able to bring a stockbroker fraud claim if a stockbroker or investment adviser misappropriates your money, fails to follow your investment instructions, recommends an unsuitable investment or fails to understand your needs and risk tolerance (“Know Your Customer” rules). Most investment fraud claims are now handled by arbitration before FINRA and can be handled on a contingent fee basis. (That means no legal fees unless the lawyer recovers money for you.)

If you lost $100,000 or more because of a stockbroker, investment adviser or other financial professional, give us a call. The investment fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl have helped many victims get back their hard earned money. We also take cases involving other frauds including legal and accounting malpractice and Ponzi schemes.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany. Brian can be reached at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All calls are protected by the attorney – client privilege.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just use the fraud tab or type in key words such as “stockbroker” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany, Esq.

The post Hooters Girls and Investment Fraud appeared first on Due Diligence.

With over 5000 employees nationwide, Nationstar is not some fly-by-night mortgage lender. As we have seen with Bank of America and Allied Home Mortgage, even the biggest “too big to jail” lenders are not immune from foreclosure fraud complaints.

The company claims it voluntarily stopped foreclosures after hearing complaints from 4 state attorneys general. Nationstar says that after an internal review it restarted the foreclosure procedures. Shutting down in 23 states is no small issue. That action had to cost the company millions in lost revenues. We wonder exactly how serious the complaints from regulators were to lead to such a drastic action. We also wonder about the findings of the company’s own “internal” review.

Foreclosure fraud is out of control nationwide. Unlike mortgage fraud which is wrongful or deceitful action by borrowers, foreclosure fraud occurs when a lender or servicer (Nationstar is both) fails to properly follow state and federal foreclosure guidelines. Examples can include the wrongful denial of a HAMP modification, failure to process payments, robosigning, forging important mortgage documents and by failing to prove that the party foreclosing has the standing to do so.

With mortgages being purchased, packaged, flipped and securitized, often the servicer filing the foreclosure can’t even prove that it owns the mortgage.

No one has formally charged Nationstar with a crime or wrongdoing but in its own prospectus, the company admitted that it could not assure that future inquiries would not affect its ability to foreclose loans. We are looking for customers of Nationstar – or any lender – who feel they have been the subject of a wrongful foreclosure. Mahany & Ertl is not a traditional mortgage foreclosure defense firm. We believe the best defense is a good offense. If you made your payments but were still subjected to a foreclosure, let us know. We sue banks for foreclosure fraud.

For more information, please contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com (Wisconsin cases) or attorney Anthony Dietz at adietz@mahanyertl.com (Michigan cases). Facing a wrongful foreclosure in another state? We may be able to help in select other jurisdictions.

Please note that if you are facing the imminent loss of your home, contact a mortgage foreclosure or bankruptcy lawyer in your area immediately. We sue banks for money and compensation and can’t take foreclosure cases with impending eviction or hearing dates.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Foreclosure Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Foreclosure fraud cases in select jurisdictions nationwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information, just click the “foreclosure defense” tab or type in key words such as “foreclosure fraud” or wrongful foreclosure” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

The post Nationstar Mortgage Halted Foreclosure Proceedings in 23 States – Foreclosure Fraud appeared first on Due Diligence.

Not all foreign made pharmaceuticals are dangerous but last November the feds announced that dozens of doctors were selling foreign made Avastin, a drug used to treat colon, lung and kidney cancer. The investigation revealed that the pills simply contained cornstarch and acetone (a common cleaning solvent). That means hundreds of patients were paying tens of thousands of dollars for life saving drugs that contained nothing more than cornstarch.

The FDA investigation resulted in a massive recall effort and stern warnings to some of the physicians selling the fake drug. One physician was criminally convicted of selling phony Avastin. Although he didn’t know the drug was fake, he still knew it came from  an unlicensed source. By his own admission, he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit by purchasing the drug cheaply yet still billing Medicare and Medicaid the full rate.

Health care fraud occurs far to frequently. Investigators are simply spread too thin to monitor every prescription and every charge for service. Unscrupulous physicians and clinics often charge for services not provided or not medically necessary. The worst cases involve performing unnecessary but risky procedures and dispensing untested medications.

The first line of dispense in health care fraud cases are whistleblowers. Men and women who care enough to stand up and report fraud.

Under the federal false claims act and many state laws, whistleblowers are entitled to collect a cash award based on the amount recovered from the people responsible for the fraud. In health care cases, the awards typically range from several hundred thousand dollars to the tens of millions.

To qualify as a whistleblower, one must have inside, non-public information. There must also be a loss to a government program such as Medicare, Medicaid or a state assisted health care program. The case starts with the filing of a complaint in state or federal court.

Whistleblowers are important players in the battle against fraud. We believe they are the true American heroes protecting lives and saving taxpayers billions of dollars annually. If you wish to become a whistleblower or simply want to know if you have a claim, give us a call. Our false claims lawyers represent whistleblowers in a wide variety of cases. For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Maine and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Want more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific topics, just click the fraud recovery tab or type in the name of a particular topic such as “whistleblower” or “health care fraud” in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

The post Fake Drugs Represent New Whistleblower Opportunity appeared first on Due Diligence.

A tenancy in common is a real estate investment that allows multiple people to purchase fractional interests in a property. TICs are often used to acquire shopping centers, hotels and office buildings.  By pooling resources and purchasing fractional interests, investors can participate in larger projects. Promoters promise investors stable cash flow, capital appreciation and professional property management. While the concept is great, the industry has been marred by scams and slimy promoters such as Cabot.

In a normal investment, the only thing at risk is your investment. Buy $10,000 of IBM stock and the worst that can happen is the stock goes to zero. While the market always has volatility, your losses are capped by the total money invested. That may not be so with Cabot’s tenants in common investments, however.

To acquire large projects such as shopping centers, Cabot’s investors not only invested their hard earned money, they also signed promissory notes and mortgages. According to the promotional materials, these loans were “non recourse” meaning there was no personal liability. If the project went under, the banks could only look to the real estate and value of the buildings.

Or so investors thought.

Buried in the hundreds of pages of offering documents were “springing guaranties” and personal indemnification clauses. If the stockbrokers that sold these tenants in common interests even read the fine print, they certainly didn’t inform their customers. These clauses say that the lender can go beyond the TIC and seek contribution (money) from the owners of the tenants in common. The investors.

The result with Cabot was failed projects throughout the United States and a spate of foreclosures and threats of personal guaranty litigation. The investors in the Cabot Ashtabula project are right in the thick of the mess.

Although we do not represent the Cabot Ashtabula tenants in common, we certainly follow their cases. In most of the Cabot projects, the TICs banded together and are fighting hard against the lenders. That wasn’t the case in Cabot Ashtabula, however. According to records we obtained from the clerk of courts for the Northern District of Ohio, the tenants in common on that project did not even file a response to the bank’s summary judgment motion. In laymen’s terms, they rolled over and played dead.

If that was their strategy, it didn’t work. Without any opposition filed, the court granted a foreclosure judgment to the lender. Why none of the TICs fought the foreclosure remains a mystery. For any single investor the cost of fighting the lender can be expensive but even if 3 or 4 ban together the costs become manageable.

What happened after the foreclosure was granted was tragic. According to the United States Court of Appeals, the 30 tenants in common that invested in the Ashtabula project, did not file any response or object to the lender’s motion to  foreclosure. Shortly after the bank’s summary judgment motion granting foreclosure, the TICs apparently “woke up” and filed an appeal. In that appeal the TICs  raised several great defenses. Among other things, they challenged the standing of the servicer and note holder to bring the foreclosure.

Unfortunately, the arguments were too late. The 6th Circuit ruled that “the failure to raise objections to the… evidence before the district court’s [trial court] ruling constituted a waiver of those objections. In other words, if a party fails to object before the district court to the affidavits or evidentiary materials submitted by the other party in support of its position on summary judgment, any objections to the district court’s consideration of such materials are deemed to have been waived.”

In layman’s terms, the appeals court said the 30 tenants in common waited to long. By not raising objections to the bank’s foreclosure motion, the TICs waived whatever defenses they may have once enjoyed.

The appeals court issued its ruling on March 12th. That paves the way for the lender to sell the property, in this case a mall in Ashtabula, Ohio. The mall was financed with a $40,300,000 loan. If the foreclosure doesn’t bring in enough to cover the principal, late fees, interest, receiver’s fees and legal fees, there could be a deficiency. Given the commercial real estate market in recent years, most commercial foreclosures result in a deficiency.

If the Cabot Ashtabula deal is structured like the other Cabot projects, the investors may find themselves fighting for their lives. Why? Because most of the Cabot deals contain personal guaranty language. That means if the tenants in common lose the next round, they could find themselves having to cash in savings, postpone retirement and even sell their homes to pay off the deficiency.

Suddenly the investment of a lifetime becomes a lifetime sentence.

All is not lost, however. There are defenses to these foreclosure cases and we believe that many of the lenders knew or should have known that Cabot and his cronies were crooks.

If you are a Cabot tenants in common investor, don’t wait until the 11th hour to fight and don’t believe that you are not at risk because your broker or a glossy sales brochure tells you otherwise. Find competent counsel immediately.

The fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl represent tenants in common in a wide variety of settings. We can help pursue cases against third parties who sold the investments (often insurance agents, investment advisers or stockbrokers) and can defend you against foreclosure and claims for personal guaranties. Unlike some law firms, we will gladly represent groups of investors if there is an identity of interest.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct dial).

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Want more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific topics, just click the fraud recovery tab or type in the name of a particular topic such as “TIC” in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

The post Sad Day For Cabot Tenants In Common Investors (TIC Post) appeared first on Due Diligence.

Almost 2 years ago, Floyd Landis filed a false claims act (whistleblower) suit against teammate Lance Armstrong. That complaint remained under seal for over two years while the government investigated. Several weeks ago, the government intervened and adopted the action against Armstrong. The government seeks return of some $17 million in sponsorship monies paid by the U.S. Postal Service.

The Postal Service has long been a supporter of Armstrong and the American team at the annual Tour de France bicycle race. Armstrong won a record number of Tour de France races and has been haunted by doping allegations for years. Finally he admitted in January to using performance enhancing drugs. Unknown to anyone at the time, teammate Floyd Landis had filed a whistleblower complaint against Armstrong back in June of 2010. (Whistleblower cases are filed “under seal” meaning that not even Armstrong could know of the suit until a federal judge ordered the matter unsealed.)

The federal false claims act allows ordinary citizens to file complaints on behalf of the United States. To be a whistleblower, you must have “inside”, non public information about a person or company that causes a loss to the government. Successful whistleblowers are entitled to keep a percentage of whatever is collected on behalf of the government.

In this case, Landis was a former team member and claims to have personal knowledge of the doping. The government says that by cheating and using drugs, Armstrong violated his contract with the post office. Armstrong claims there was no monetary loss to the government. That might not be enough to exonerate him from any liability, however.

The case raises very interesting legal issues. Because the jury can award triple damages, the amounts of money at issue are staggering.

Whistleblowers are important players in the battle against fraud. While Armstrong was long suspected of using steroids, there was no proof until Landis came forward. Landis’ information coupled with Armstrong’s televised confession may be enough to establish liability but the issue of damages will be more difficult to determine.

Whistleblowers typically receive 20-25% of whatever monies are collected on behalf of the government. In this case, Landis could receive millions.

If you wish to become a whistleblower or wish to know if you have a claim, give us a call. Our false claims lawyers represent whistleblowers in a wide variety of cases. For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Maine and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Want more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific topics, just click the fraud recovery tab or type in the name of a particular topic such as “whistleblower” or “false claims” in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

The post Lance Armstrong Named In Whistleblower Suit appeared first on Due Diligence.

Some call it a national embarrassment. We call it a crime. Wrongful Foreclosure. It’s happened to millions of Americans and it still happening today.

The Comptroller of Currency and the Federal Reserve say that as many as 4 million people were wrongfully foreclosed between 2009 and 2010. Some were promised a HAMP modification but lost their homes anyway, even though they made all their trial payments. Others faced foreclosure simply because the bank misdirected or lost their payment.

The banks have agreed to compensate folks who already lost their homes. Some will get a pitiful $300 in compensation. No home, credit destroyed and no ability to purchase a new home. Wrongful foreclosures have destroyed communities and families. Some folks wound up homeless. A few committed suicide. What will a few hundred or few thousand dollars do for them?

It’s impossible to dispense legal advice by blog post. Every case is unique. As a general rule, however, we believe homeowners facing wrongful foreclosure should fight back and not take a few bucks in compensation. We have recovered significant sums for homeowners, settlements that the banks want to keep quiet.

The entire independent foreclosure review process has been a disaster. Even the General Accounting Office has said so.

While almost all banks make mistakes from time to time, we believe it is America’s biggest banks that are the primary culprits. Time and time againAmerica’s “too big to fail, too big to care” banks such as Bank of America, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo have been criticized and sued by regulators. Yet the abuses continue.

With the permission of some of our clients, we will be telling their stories in future posts. Telling their stories about wrongful foreclosures before the case is resolved and a gag order imposed.

We are looking for your foreclosure fraud and wrongful foreclosure stories too. Wherever you live, if you have a story to share, send it to us. We can even keep your name anonymous if you wish.

And if you are ready to fight back, let us know too. Mahany & Ertl is not a traditional mortgage foreclosure defense firm. We believe the best defense is a good offense. If you made your payments but were still subjected to a foreclosure, let us know. We sue banks for wrongful foreclosure.

For more information, please contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com (Wisconsin cases) and attorney Anthony Dietz at adietz@mahanyertl.com (Michigan cases). Facing a wrongful foreclosure in another state? We may be able to help in select other jurisdictions.

Please note that if you are facing the imminent loss of your home, contact a mortgage foreclosure or bankruptcy lawyer in your area immediately. We sue banks for money and compensation and can’t take foreclosure cases with impending eviction or hearing dates.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Wrongful Foreclosure Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Foreclosure fraud cases in select jurisdictions nationwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information, just click the “foreclosure defense” tab or type in key words in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

The post 4 Million And Counting – People Facing Wrongful Foreclosure appeared first on Due Diligence.

We have written several times about the dangers of nontraded or thinly traded REITs. They are a popular way of investing in real estate but they can be difficult to sell or liquidate if an investor suddenly needs cash. There are other potential pitfalls as well. This week the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – FINRA – issued a stern warning to stockbrokers who sell these products.

A REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust. They are securities that invest directly in real estate or in mortgages. Some can be bought and sold on major exchanges and are thus considered “liquid.” Others, however, must often be held for a long period of kind. These nontraded REITs have no ready secondary market. Many older investors purchased these thinking they could always sell if they later needed cash. Unfortunately, they later learned that there was no ready market and that many REITs limit redemptions to a very small number per year.

FINRA reviewed the marketing materials sent to potential customers and found significant deficiencies. In addition to the inability to sell nontraded REITs, FINRA found that some promotional materials failed to reveal that distributions received by investors were often nothing more than a return of principal.

In our stockbroker fraud practice, we have found that many broker dealers and investment advisers can’t even explain how REITs work nor can they recite the redemption rules for the products they are selling.

According to an article in InvestmentNews, Ameriprise and LPL Financial are two of the larger broker dealers selling nontraded REITs. Earlier this year, LPL paid a $500,000 to settle administrative charges brought by Massachusetts over LPL’s selling practices.

You may be a able to bring a stockbroker fraud claim if a stockbroker or investment adviser recommends an unsuitable investment or fails to understand your needs and risk tolerance (“Know Your Customer” rules). Most stockbroker fraud claims are now handled by arbitration before FINRA.

If you are stuck in a REIT that you can’t sell or were not told about the REIT’s distribution process, give us a call. Most stockbroker fraud cases can be handled on a contingent fee basis meaning no legal fees unless we recover money for you.

Lost $100,000 or more because of a stockbroker, investment adviser or other financial professional? Give us a call. The investment fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl have helped many victims of get back their hard earned money. We also take cases involving other frauds including legal and accounting malpractice and Ponzi schemes.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany. Brian can be reached at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All calls are protected by the attorney – client privilege.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just use the fraud tab or type in key words such as “stockbroker” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

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