The Most Reviled Law Firm in Florida and The "Unowned Mortgage Loans" Scheme By: LYNN SZYMONIAK, ESQ.
The Most Reviled Law Firm in Florida and The "Unowned Mortgage Loans" Scheme By: LYNN SZYMONIAK, ESQ.
Stern has likely profited more than most any other Florida lawyer from
the nation’s foreclosure crisis. The Law Offices of David J. Stern
represent most major banks in foreclosures and bankruptcies. Stern’s
firm is one of the largest working for Lender Processing Services, Inc.,
the Jacksonville-based company that specializes in “default
management.” According to an article in the Tampa Tribune, the firm’s
revenues grew to $260 million as a result of its foreclosure work.
In addition to his law firm, Stern also heads DJSP Enterprises, Inc., a
publicly-traded corporation formed in early 2008.ii According to DJSP
Enterprises, the company is the largest provider of processing
servicesiii for the mortgage and real estate industries in Florida and
one of the largest in the United States. “Processing services” sounds
like a benign activity, but an examination of some of the documents
prepared by Stern’s businesses shows otherwise.
No one has ever asked who paid the taxes on the income from these
mortgages during the years of unknown ownership. Who claimed
these mortgages and loans as assets on their financial statements in
order to attract and keep investors? What mortgage servicing
companies charged fees for “servicing” mortgages and loans that were
“UNOWNED” for several years? What pension funds and investor
groups paid fees to mortgage servicing companies to service
“UNOWNED” loans?
2
In Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Rose Harris, Index No.
35549/07 Supreme Court of NY (Brooklyn) February 5, 2008, the
Honorable Arthur Schack wrote: “Further, the Court requires an
explanation from an officer of plaintiff DEUTSCHE BANK as to why, in
the middle of our national subprime mortgage financial crisis,
DEUTSCHE BANK would purchase a non-performing loan from
INDYMAC…” In HSBC Bank v. Valentin, 21 Misc. 3d 1124 [A]: Judge
Schack wrote:
The Law Offices of David Stern became the leader in providing services
– and documents.
Cheryl Samons, an office manager for the Law Offices of David Stern,
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has signed more mortgage assignments than any other Stern
employee. She has admitted in depositions that she has no personal
knowledge of the facts recited on the mortgage assignments.
• HSBC Bank, as trustee for Trusts that closed in 2005 and 2006,
acquired thousands of mortgages in 2008, 2009 and 2010 from MERS
including such acquisitions for:
• U.S. Bank, N.A., as trustee for Trusts that closed in 2005 and 2006,
acquired thousands of mortgages in 2008, 2009 and 2010 from MERS,
including such acquisitions for:
4
Bear Stearns Asset-Backed Securities 1 Trust 2006-IM1
When the Florida Supreme Court amended the rules of civil procedure
effective February 11, 2010, to require that all foreclosure complaints
be verified, the Stern lawyers ignored the new rule and continued to
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file hundreds of non-verified foreclosure complaints.
On July 26, 2010, a civil RICO class action lawsuit was filed against
David Stern, individually, The Law Offices of David Stern, P.A. and
MERSCORP. See, Figueroa v. Merscorp, Inc., et al., Case No. 0:10-cv-
61296-CMA, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida,
Ft. Lauderdale Division. The lawsuit focuses on the fraudulent
assignments signed by Cheryl Samons. The plaintiffs are represented
by Fort Lauderdale attorney Kenneth Eric Trent.
The class action RICO lawsuit came just six days after David Stern,
DJSP Enterprises and Kumar Ahaney were named as defendants in a
class action lawsuit for violation of securities laws also filed in the
Southern District of Florida. The securities’ lawsuit seeks damages for
investors who purchased stock in DJSP Enterprises between March 16,
2010 and May 27, 2010. The lawsuit alleges that DJSP Enterprises
generates a significant amount of its revenue from flat fees earned
within the first month of a referral and that any significant decrease in
the number of referrals would materially and adversely affect its
revenues. DJSP Enterprises experienced a substantial decrease in the
number of referrals in April and May, 2010, but did not publicly
disclose the substantial slowdown until May 27, 2010. When the
substantial decrease in referrals was disclosed, the price per share of
DJSP Enterprises fell from $8.87 per share to $6.33 per share, causing
a substantial loss to shareholders.
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i
Stern’s other autos include a 2010 silver Ferrari convertible, a 2009 red Ferrari
coupe, a 2009 black Ferrari coupe, four Porsches, a 2010 white Cadillac
Escalade, a 2011 Mercedes Benz coupe, a 2008 Bentley, a 2009 Rolls Royce, a
2008 Aston Martin Vantage, a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte, as well as BMWs,
Hummers and Land Rovers.
ii
Shares in DJSP Enterprises traded in January, 2010 for $13.65; at
the close of business of July 30, 2010, shares traded for $3.73.
iii
According to DJSP materials: “The Company provides a wide range of
processing services in connection with mortgages, mortgage defaults,
title searches and abstracts, REO (bank-owned) properties, loan
modifications, title insurance, loss mitigation, bankruptcy, related
litigation and other services. The Company's principal customer is the
Law Offices of David J. Stern, P.A., whose clients include all of the top
10 and 17 of the top 20 mortgage servicers in the United States, many
of which have been customers of the Law Firm for more than 10 years.
The Company has approximately 1,000 employees and is
headquartered in Plantation, Florida, with additional operations in
Louisville, Kentucky, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Company's U.S.
operations are supported by a scalable, low-cost back office operation
in Manila, the Philippines, that provides data entry and document
preparation support for the U.S. operation.”
iv
See File #3281725, Assignment of Mortgage of Ernesto Diaz, Saint
Lucie County, Florida; see, also File # 107994571, Assignment of
Mortgage, Andrea Sylvester, Broward County, Florida.
v
See File #3349080, Assignment of Mortgage of Neil Pettihomme,
Saint Lucie County, Florida.