Ben-ezra & Katz Fired, Then Sanctioned, Under Investigation - Now Sued by Lenders
FOR RECENT EVENTS REGARDING THIS ARTICLE SEE http://takeyourhomeback.com/?p=208
March 28, 2011- The Ben-Ezra “saga” continues, now being sued in Federal Court by the Lenders, see http://www.scribd.com/doc/51767002/Https-Ecf-flsd-Uscourts-gov-Cgi-bin-Show-Temp-pl-File-Merged-0-163427937115681-1-1301359998#source:facebook
Feb 23, 2011- Fort Lauderdale, FL- Florida Attorney General starts investigation of Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A.. Below are the actual AG investigation notice
The case file cited below relates to a civil — not a criminal — investigation. The existence of an investigation does not constitute proof of any violation of law.
| Case Number: | L11-3-1012 |
| Subject of investigation: | Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A. and Marc A. Ben-Ezra, Individually and Marvin Katz, Individually |
| Subject’s address: | 2901 STIRLING ROAD SUITE 300 FT. LAUDERDALE FL 33312 US |
| Subject’s business: | law firm/using deceptive paperwork to foreclose; obtain attorney’s fees which become the ultimate responsibility of the homeowner/defendant and calculate the indebtness of the homeowner/defendant. |
|
Allegation or issue being investigated: In apparent violation of Florida Statute 501 Part II, appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases. These documents have been presented in court before judges as actual assignments of mortgages and properly prepared affidavits that have later been shown to be legally inadequate and/or insufficient. Presenting and preparing faulty paperwork to use to foreclose; to collect attorney fees and to create affidavits of indebtness. |
|
| AG unit handling case: | Economic Crimes Division in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
Feb 15, 2011- Miami, FL- Attorneys from Ben-Ezra & Katz P.A. failed to appear for hearings, did not accept Judge’s phone calls, or file the proper pleadings advising the Court that U.S. Bank terminated the firm.
Feb 14, 2011, Fort Lauderdale, FL- A Hollywood law firm that processes thousands of foreclosures for major lenders laid off almost half of its 568 employees Monday, days after the government-owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae pulled its files from the practice.
Ben-Ezra & Katz, in a memo released by a company spokesman, said the firm was “forced to take this action after Fannie Mae surprisingly terminated its relationship with the firm.” In a notice sent five days ago, Fannie Mae officials said all exisiting foreclosures, mediations and bankruptcies needed to be transferred to other loan servicers by Tuesday, citing “document execution” issues.
Ben-Ezra officials issued a statement last week, saying the question was whether correct original documents were attached to each foreclosure filing. The law firm said it already had notified Fannie of the “technical paperwork issues” and had created a plan to mediate them, but the mortgage backer suddenly decided to cut ties.
AS PER SUN-SENTINEL- FEB 14, 2011 http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-02-14/business/fl-foreclosure-contempt-20110214_1_fannie-mae-djsp-enterprises-freddie-mac
Fraud on the Court, Ben-Ezra & Katz style
CLICK ON BLUE HIGHLIGHTED WORDS FOR MORE INFORMATION
Federal mortgage giant Fannie Mae has cut ties with a second South Florida law firm handling its foreclosure cases, requiring an immediate transfer of those files to other attorneys and likely causing more turmoil in the state’s foreclosure courts.Bear in mind, the fraud must be really bad for Fannie Mae to terminate Ben-Ezra, and this is undoubtedly just one example as described below.
The termination of its relationship with the Fort Lauderdale firm of Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A. was announced in a notice to loan servicers. The notice says payments to the firm should be stopped immediately and gives servicers a Feb. 15 deadline to find new firms to handle the Ben-Ezra & Katz files.
“Fannie Mae has become aware of certain document execution issues at the Ben-Ezra law firm regarding its processing of foreclosure cases on our behalf,” said Fannie Mae spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus.
“It is our expectation that law firms will handle matters in strict compliance with proper procedures, ethical codes of conduct and legal requirements.”
Ben-Ezra & Katz has represented banks in 508 Palm Beach County foreclosure cases in the past two years where the homes were ordered to auction.
In a statement, Ben-Ezra & Katz said it was disappointed and surprised by Fannie Mae’s decision, and that the issues Fannie Mae is referring to were technical paperwork problems that the firm is correcting. Who are you kidding. The case described below is typical for Ben-Ezra & Katz, not the exception.
“When problems of foreclosure files surfaced last fall, we hired an outside law firm to conduct an audit of our processes and procedures,” the statement said. “It is ironic that in trying to make sure we were doing everything correctly, we reached this position with Fannie Mae.”
The move by Fannie Mae follows its November firing of David J. Stern’s Plantation-based law firm, which is one of four so-called “foreclosure mills” under investigation by the Florida attorney general’s office.
Ben-Ezra & Katz is not one of those firms, nor was it included in a more recent attorney general query of three additional firms regarding their foreclosure practices.
It was just a matter of time that the Courts were going to recognize the Law Firm of Ben-Ezra & Katz for its ongoing and systemic fraud on the courts, per Fannie Mae, which fired the foreclosure mill. Today, I got some insight into the fraud, and it’s not pretty. To illustrate, read this Order to Show Cause. I promise – it’s a whopper.
Apparently, Ben-Ezra filed a foreclosure suit with a lost note count, then filed an “original” note signed by an entirely different defendant on an entirely different property, along with a fraudulent assignment of mortgage. The Court entered summary judgment, then, upon realizing the fraud, directed Ben-Ezra & Katz to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court. In one case I saw, they were still using Stern’s paperwork and assignments.
Judge Maxine Cohen Lando conducted the show-cause hearing. No representatives from Ben-Ezra & Katz appeared for the Court Ordered hearing. She held Ben-Ezra & Katz in contempt, vacated the foreclosure judgment, dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, and referred the lawyers to The Florida Bar.
FINALLY! A sanction for fraud. I applaud Judge Lando for this ruling and hope other judges follow suit. Better yet, I encourage all judges to realize the extent of the fraud and take stock of it before signing foreclosure judgments. .
It’s worth noting that Ben-Ezra’s young associate was also held in contempt by the Court. This is ironic, as I was just having a conversation about this issue the other day with a young associate at a foreclosure mill, about how just because his bosses tell him to “follow procedure” by doing something unethical doesn’t mean he should oblige. After all, it’s his name on the signature line of court filings, and when push comes to shove, if there is misconduct, he’ll be the one who has to answer for it. Suffice it to say this is something for all the young lawyers at the foreclosure mills to think about. Yes, the economy is bad and yes, we all need to earn a living, but it’s not worth committing ethical violations, even if that is “procedure” at the foreclosure mill. Maybe you’ll get away with it once, maybe ten times, or maybe even a hundred, but eventually you will get caught, and, as Judge Lando has shown, the sanction when you get caught is (and should be) extreme. Kiss your Bar Card good-bye.
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
Thanks for the summary write up. However, I was actually present in the show-cause hearing (Friday Feb 11, 2011), and Mr. Ben-Ezra along with the associate and a few other representatives from the Firm WERE also present.
The hearing went on for about an hour – and was nothing but brutal, embarrassing, and unrelenting for Ben-Ezra. It really appeared that they (Mr. Ben Ezra and the Associate) were not prepared for the hearing in the least, still did not know that facts of the case, and (in my opinion) were condescending to the Judge. Mr. Ben Ezra said directly to the judge, “I know the Court is Upset” about 4 times… never helps to tell the Judge she is upset in any hearing, let alone where your Bar license may be on the line! Even even offered a defense that he “was a nice guy”. Jeez.
Another defense Mr. Ben-Ezra continually tried was that the Firm NOW had implemented new procedures and policies to be sure this kind of thing did not happen again in the future. But the Judge kept taking him back the this case, and would not him steer away from it (BRAVO and good for her).
At the end of the hour, Judge Lando stated she was the Cannons of Judicial Ethics required her to simply state the facts of this case to the Florida Bar in Tallahassee, and that the Bar would make the ultimate decision on Mr. Ben-Ezra and the Associate’s fate.
Feb 23, 2011- Fort Lauderdale, FL- Florida Attorney General starts investigation of Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A.. Below are the actual AG investigation notice
The case file cited below relates to a civil — not a criminal — investigation. The existence of an investigation does not constitute proof of any violation of law.
Case Number: L11-3-1012
Subject of investigation: Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A. and Marc A. Ben-Ezra, Individually and Marvin Katz, Individually
Subject’s address: 2901 STIRLING ROAD SUITE 300 FT. LAUDERDALE FL 33312 US
Subject’s business: law firm/using deceptive paperwork to foreclose; obtain attorney’s fees which become the ultimate responsibility of the homeowner/defendant and calculate the indebtness of the homeowner/defendant.
Allegation or issue being investigated:
In apparent violation of Florida Statute 501 Part II, appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases. These documents have been presented in court before judges as actual assignments of mortgages and properly prepared affidavits that have later been shown to be legally inadequate and/or insufficient. Presenting and preparing faulty paperwork to use to foreclose; to collect attorney fees and to create affidavits of indebtness.
AG unit handling case: Economic Crimes Division in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Feb 15, 2011- Miami, FL- Attorneys from Ben-Ezra & Katz P.A. failed to appear for hearings, did not accept Judge’s phone calls, or file the proper pleadings advising the Court that U.S. Bank terminated the firm.
Feb 14, 2011, Fort Lauderdale, FL- A Hollywood law firm that processes thousands of foreclosures for major lenders laid off almost half of its 568 employees Monday, days after the government-owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae pulled its files from the practice.
Ben-Ezra & Katz, in a memo released by a company spokesman, said the firm was “forced to take this action after Fannie Mae surprisingly terminated its relationship with the firm.” In a notice sent five days ago, Fannie Mae officials said all exisiting foreclosures, mediations and bankruptcies needed to be transferred to other loan servicers by Tuesday, citing “document execution” issues.
Ben-Ezra officials issued a statement last week, saying the question was whether correct original documents were attached to each foreclosure filing. The law firm said it already had notified Fannie of the “technical paperwork issues” and had created a plan to mediate them, but the mortgage backer suddenly decided to cut ties.
AS PER SUN-SENTINEL- FEB 14, 2011 http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-02-14/business/fl-foreclosure-contempt-20110214_1_fannie-mae-djsp-enterprises-freddie-mac