The Worst Foreclosure Fraud in U.S. History was perpetrated against
Spencer C. Young, sponsored by
Morgan Stanley, and principally executed by
Wachovia Bank and
Paragon Commercial Bank. It was coordinated by
"good ole boy" CEOs who were born, raised and educated in North Carolina -- to wit,
John Mack,
Bob Steel and
Bob Hatley, respectively.
Criminal Acts Amplified
What most underscores the criminal acts of these men and their minions is that they were insolvent and on the brink of bankruptcy. In other words, they would be defunct has-beens had they not been bailed out with taxpayer monies. Most are unaware that
Morgan Stanley received $107.3 Billion, the most of ANY bank -- $10 Billion in publicly disclosed TARP money AND another $97.3 Billion in secretly printed money by the Federal Reserve.
Wachovia was so hopelessly insolvent, it could not possibly survive as a going concern. As a result, Wells Fargo was asked to subsume what remained of Wachovia's banking operations, but could not do so because they too were insolvent. So what happened? In order to survive AND take over Wachovia,
Wells Fargo received $36 billion in bail out money -- $10 billion was what was disclosed and another $26 billion was also secretly printed by the Federal Reserve. And Paragon also received unspecified bail out moneys from the Treasury, via the printing of money out of thin air by the Federal Reserve, but backed by U.S, taxpayers.
Properties Involved
This maliciously orchestrated
foreclosure fraud involved six properties, four commercial and two residential, with five are located in North Carolina and one in New York. At the time the foreclosure fraud began in earnest during the summer of 2007 with a mind-boggling level of coordinated commercial sabotage of four commercial properties, which were in various stages of redevelopment; however, based on the then current leasing rates, the fair market value of these properties aggregated to $22 million, as summarized below.
Acq. Date
|
Loan # & Description
|
Loan Balance
|
Mortgage Lender
|
Property Value
|
Dec '04
|
|
$7,750,000
|
Dec '04
|
1. Comm. Mtge.
|
$3,905,000
|
Paragon
|
Oct. '07
|
2. Line of Cr.
|
$100,000
|
Paragon
|
Feb '05
|
|
$525,000
|
May '05
|
3. Resid. Mtge.
|
$261,000
|
Paragon
|
Jan '08
|
|
$11,760,000
|
Jan '08
|
4. Land Mtge.
|
$791,000
|
Paragon
|
Sep '05
|
|
Sep '05
|
5. Comm. Mtge.
|
$2,630,000
|
Wachovia
|
Dec '87
|
|
$1,750,000
|
May '00
|
6. Resid. Mtge.
|
$650,000
|
Morgan Stanley
|
May '06
|
7. HELOC
|
$570,000
|
Wachovia
|
SUBTOTALS
|
$8,907,000
|
LTV=41%
|
$21,785,000
|
May '08
|
Sell Residence
|
($1,220,000)
|
|
($1,750,000)
|
Divorce Pymt
|
$500,000
|
TBD
|
$438,000
|
Expand Condo
|
$438,000
|
Redevelopment
|
$1,062,000
|
TOTALS
|
$9,687,000
|
LTV=47%
|
$20,473,000
|
Note: An abbreviated version of the above table was included in the Jan. 29, 2010 Notice sent to Senior Officials for North Carolina and the Federal government, as that correspondence covered only the Paragon Commercial Bank loans.
Terms of Recapitalization
The pre-agreed upon terms of recapitalization at the end of 2007 / beginning of 2008 (each with Wachovia and Paragon) were to provide for an incremental $2.0 million to complete redevelopment of the commercial properties, provide for the addition of a new family member (Jackson Young) and incorporate a divorce settlement agreement between Spencer C. Young and his wife of 24 years, Maria A. Young, as the unrelenting stress over five years caused by the MorganStanleyGate scandal proved too much for their marriage to bear. This recapitalization also contemplated the sale of his Manhasset residence and pay-off of the aggregate $1.2 million in mortgage loan amounts to Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Bank.
After recapitalization and upon completion of the redevelopment work, Mr. Young would have had sufficient resources to then aggressively pursue the massive employment fraud Morgan Stanley had perpetrated, which had the potential of evolving into a class action lawsuit involving the criminal and civil prosecution of fraud, racketeering, extortion, sabotage and corruption.
The Reneged Upon "No-Brainer"
Keeping in mind that Mr. Young had an extensive background in commercial mortgage finance and related capital markets, and was long considered an expert in those areas, the contemplated recapitalization in banking and finance parlance was a "no-brainer" because it would have:
- Removed Uncertainty - Divorces can be financially disruptive; however, the Divorce Settlement Agreement and contemplated Recapitalization eliminated that uncertainty
- Ensured Liquidity - This guaranteed continued exemplary payment of all foreseeable debt service
- Enhanced Property Value - The completion of redevelopment would substantially boost values
- Ameliorated Sabotage - All instances of commercial sabotage would have been eliminated.
And anyone conversant in the banking and real estate industries would agree this was a sound and very low leverage financing structure, especially since the short term liquidity provided would have been 100% collateralized and the incremental financing was conditioned on an "earn-out" structure -- in other words, the properties had to generate additional stabilized income to "earn" the right for additional financing, and at a 47% loan-to-value ("LTV") threshold, it was indeed a VERY low leverage financing structure vis-a-vis most real estate transactions, which are typically done at a 75% to 80% LTV threshold.
And add to this the manner in which both Wachovia and Paragon reneged on providing the financing made it obvious their actions were entirely orchestrated.
