Man aims to get back house (Identity Theft)

[shugah]

Man aims to get back house
Identity thief took Waterford home

Murray West survived the Nazis and the Russians during World War II, but nothing in life prepared the 85-year-old Waterford man for Yusef (Jimmy) Danou.

In May 2003, around the time West was hospitalized for a heart attack and stroke, Danou, 40, a white-collar criminal from West Bloomfield, forged West's name on a phony deed and took West's secondary residence on Cass Lake, authorities said.

~snip~

Though Danou offered to buy the house for $750,000, West said Danou's $27,000 down payment check bounced. West said he agreed to let Danou rent the house until he could assemble a down payment, but some of the rent checks bounced, too.

West said he realized something was amiss when he left the hospital and found that Danou was renovating the house and that Danou's contractor was driving West's pickup.

~snip~

"We're not denying that Mr. West's name was forged on the deed," said Danou's lawyer, David Steingold of Detroit. "But there's more to this case than meets the eye."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/NEWS03/602240453/1005/NEWS

[acmejack]

1. Setting the standard for chutzpah!

They would have had to rush me right back to the hospital, because there is no way my heart would have withstood that!

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. $408,000 in liens?

I wonder what the rennovations were exactly.

And I'd like to know the other side of the story. I supect there is more than meets the eye. Down payment bounced so apparently at some point there was an agreement to transfer title. There were also several rent payments - some of which bounced. So obviously there was some sort of relationship over a period that spanned at least several months.

Not defending the guy or his theft. Just curious ro know the rest of the story.

[elehhhhna]

3. they're bank liens--sounds like Daou took out some home equity

on a stolen house.

[Karmakaze]

4. This doesn't make sense...

"We're not denying that Mr. West's name was forged on the deed," said Danou's lawyer, David Steingold of Detroit. "But there's more to this case than meets the eye."

Steingold said Danou deeded the house back to West, but West's lawyer won't record it.

The lawyer, Daniel Zolkower of Southfield, said he can't record the deed until the mortgage companies lift the liens.

Now let me get this straight - the deed transfering ownership to Danou was forged, yet is somehow still valid? What kind of bull is that? In any sane world where banks didnt live by different rules to the rest of us, the banks would have to eat their losses because they loaned money to someone who defrauded them with a phony deed. I can't see how they or anyone can not accept that the transfer didn't legally take place when even Danou admits the deed was forged.

In my book forged deed means all liens are null and void because the banks had no right to place liens on a property the borrower did not own. It also means that Danou does not need to deed the house back to West, as Danou has no legal ownership of the property in the first place.

The other thing I have to wonder, is why Danou was only charged with identity theft and not defrauding the bank? If the deed was forged and Danou used it to get a loan, isn't that a clear cut case of fraud?

Something really stinks in this story...

[shugah]

5. paying more attention to the headline and article ...

i'm not even sure anything here makes any sense.

the subheading actually says danou is an identity thief and he is identified in the article as a white collar criminal (i did not know identity theft was considered a white collar crime)- not that the forged deed is and act of identity theft. i don't think it's clear if the identity theft charge is for stealing the house or a previous crime?

it is an odd story and, i think, poorly written.