A Florida Bar referee has advised the disbarment of David J. Stern, the onetime foreclosure mogul and attorney charged with fraud and legal misconduct, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
His “failure to exercise care resulted in massive injury to the system,” the referee, Judge Nancy Perez, said. The lawsuit, filed in Broward County, alleged that one of Stern’s top-ranking workers at his Plantation-based home repossession company allowed her name to be signed by others and was rewarded with high pay and a new car. His company was one of the biggest so-called “foreclosure mills” in Florida before it closed in 2011. It was hit with allegations of forgery and notary fraud.
The trial began a month ago with three judges serving as witnesses, each of which had filed complaints.
Jeff Tew of Miami-based Tew Cardenas, who represents Stern, has described his client as a scapegoat, as previously reported. [South Florida Business Journal] — Mark Maurer