The Government VS Joe Kaiser. Post 127

Foreclosure guru hit with $3.2 million penalty

seattlepi.com Thursday, May 7, 2009   Levi Pulkkinen

“I’m the Tiger Woods of foreclosure rescue” accused man cries out.

To state lawyers, Joseph Kaiser is a swindler, preying on homeowners facing tax foreclosure who don’t know their options.

To one King County judge, he’s a purveyor dealing in “grossly unfair” rescue schemes. To another judge, he’s a debtor owning his hundreds of former clients millions of dollars.

But to Kaiser, he’s the victim of a state “witch hunt” demonized for trying to help homeowners.

“I’m the Tiger Woods of foreclosure rescue – I’m really good at this,” Kaiser said Thursday. “In reality, no one has ever been harmed by anything we’ve done.”

Attorneys with the state Attorney General’s Office [WA.] disagree, as has King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson, who on Wednesday ordered that the Tacoma man repay $3.2 million in restitution and penalties.

Attorneys with the state agency assert that Kaiser, creator of Fiscal Dynamics, Inc., Cumulative, LLC, and other companies, used his background as a real estate investor to scam unsophisticated homeowners into transferring ownership of their properties to him as part of a fake foreclosure-rescue scheme.

“I don’t want to be bothered with anything less than a real steal deal,” Kaiser said in his teaching materials, the state alleged.

Through direct mail and telemarketing, Kaiser contacted homeowners in danger of tax foreclosure, State attorneys contend.

In some cases, he would then offer to “rescue” their home through an arrangement in which one of Kaiser’s companies would become the owner of the property, Assistant Attorney General Jim Sugarman said. Former owners would then essentially become renters in their own homes, paying rent to Kaiser until he could force the tenant out.

Sugarman said that in other cases, Kaiser would offer false incentives to owners in danger of losing their homes in order to get them to sign away any excess money that was made when the home was sold at auction.

Sugarman said that Kaiser tricked homeowners into signing legal agreements that passed that excess money to him.

“One of the most galling things about this is a lot of these people were either elderly or disabled or low income and there are tons of programs out there for people who are elderly, disabled or low income,”Sugarman said.

Kaiser entered transactions with more than 300 property owners, an Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman said in a statement. None, the Attorney General’s Office claims, successfully regained their home from Kaiser.

Speaking to SeattlePI.com, Kaiser portrayed himself as a do-gooder who happened to be making a profit. He denied every allegation of wrongdoing, contending instead that the Attorney General’s Office was out to get him because county government could otherwise collect the excess payments if the former homeowner didn’t come forward.

“It’s just so bizarre to be involved in this and to hear what comes out of their mouths,” Kaiser said. “What has essentially happened is that the Attorney General’s office has determined that people in foreclosure cannot be helped.

“These people have problems. They have situations. And they appreciate that they have someone to put out fires for them.”

Kaiser’s arguments, though, have failed to persuade two King County judges in separate actions

Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey called Kaiser’s contracts “grossly unfair.”

“No fully informed person, not acting under compulsion, would enter a transaction with such onerous terms,”Trickey said in a ruling.

Late Wednesday, King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson signed a restitution order requiring that Kaiser repay $3.2 million in restitution to his former clients as well as additional penalties and fees to the state. Including settlements reached by other defendants in the case, a total of $4.2 million in fines and restitution has been assessed against Kaiser and his associates.

Robinson ordered that Kaiser repay the full $3.2 million assessed against him within 30 days. He (Joe Kaiser) said he’s considering his appeal options, but is essentially bankrupt and unable to continue to defend himself.

See the entire article: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/405975_foreclosure07.html

********************

Coach Mitch’s REFLECTIONS™

Don’t let truth stand in the way of a conviction

I don’t know most of the story about the case against Joe Kaiser, but I do know about some of the motivations of the government.

The sad truth is that government, at all levels, is not ashamed to grab monies from any source and in any amount. Government is under great pressure to find new sources of revenue and squeeze out any monies that it can. And they are serious.

The government is very protective of its money pipelines. Tax monies are the lifeblood of government. Without sufficient monies, some of the empire building may have to slow down or stop altogether.

“Get your hands off my money!”

Joe Kaiser is guilty of intruding onto what is quickly becoming a government turf – the tax auction over bids.

The law allows a property to be taken because the owner has not paid its property taxes. That is bad enough.  At a tax sale auction, the property may fetch a good amount, as property prices have climbed significantly, especially during the last eight years.

Any amount bid over the taxes owed is called an over bid. These monies rightly belong to the former owners. They owed the taxes, the property was the collateral; the collateral was sold and brought in more than the taxes that were owed. The previous owner has lost his property; he should at least get the excess proceeds of the sale. For the government to take the excess proceeds is “unseemly” according to a federal judge in a Vermont case. But, it seems that fairness is not part of the government’s standards.

The tax sale overbids is what this trial is all about

The states and counties, in the last ten years, have maneuvered the law and created procedures so that the government can now claim the overages and legally steal them from the previous owner. There is a lot of money at stake and the governments want it.

Joe Kaiser was a thorn because he was getting the overages and the government saw this as a slap in their face and a deliberate attempt to take “their money.” The attorneys were told to stop the leakage, and they did, no matter the cost.

Joe’s tale

Go to Joe Kaiser’s blog, http://www.pushedtoshove.com/ and read his side of the story.

• Joe claims to have done 400 transactions, the state says 300. Joe claims that 30 families he helped are still in their homes, the state says Joe helped no one.

• The state says that Joe took advantage of people, committing fraud, yet none of Joe’s clients has ever filed a complaint, even after they lost their property.

• Judge Trickey, in his ruling, says that “No fully informed person, not acting under compulsion, would enter a transaction with such onerous terms.”

That may be accurate – but it is not up to the state to overturn a contract, freely entered into. The judge is saying that no agreement can be made unless all parties are fully informed and that no one is under stress. That is nonsensical standard.

Where is this judges logic?

Of course, no one would give up their home unless they were under immense stress.  That is exactly the point.  These folks are desperate, felt that they had no other choices, and the government put them in that condition.

Well, pardon me, but we all know that being fully informed and without stress or compulsion is not a standard that can be achieved in the real world, nor should it be. For one, do we now go to court on each deal so that Judge Trickey can determine what it means to be “fully informed?” Free people are free to make any kind of deal they want or feel that they need too; even a bad deal.

I have another solution

Many are under foreclosure pressure and to relieve the stress, and so that there is no longer any compulsion, the judge should eliminate the power of the state to tax property! That is a more logical solution than the cock-a-mamie logic of this judge.

The state was angry that old folks and cripples were put out on the street because they could not pay their property taxes. Well, there is a very easy fix; government should spend less, tax less, and eliminate the entire property tax taking system.

Additionally, the state should fully inform harried taxpayers about any programs that can help their situation. To not do so seems negligent, perhaps even criminally negligent, because it is easy to see that it is in the state’s interest to NOT inform the harried taxpayer about any help that may be available.

The state claimed that Joe took advantage of people when they were vulnerable. The state has no problem taking the home away from these people and kicking these same people out onto the street. The state even passes laws that make it so that no one can help these people in their dire need; and all the while the state beats its chest proudly and says that it is doing good by protecting citizens from hucksters. The state does all this just to get its hands on the over bid monies.

What a racket

The state went after Joe because he took advantage of his specialized knowledge and offered people under stress, an alternative. Four hundred of Joe’s clients thought that he had created a “win-win” situation. I thought that’s what we are supposed to do in these United States?

See Coach Mitch’s “Ridiculously Simple System…”™ for details.
I wish you well Joe –