Firm bilked Boynton church, lawsuit alleges
22.05.12
The Haitian Bethel Baptist Church had a growing sordid of parishioners in the
fall of 2009 when Pastor Jean Bilbalo Joint resolute to expand his humble
Boynton Beach facility - no more than a house, really - to equip the
flock.
He entered an agreement with Boca Raton-based Nationwide Mortgage Bankers
Corp., book checks totaling $321,222 to Interstate Title Services and
Escrow for what he says he bit was a deposit to secure a $1 million loan.
But according to a lawsuit filed in Parade, no loan was ever secured nor was
the $321,222 returned.
The church contacted The Palm Seashore Post this week after reading its
coverage Sunday about other real estate-akin lawsuits involving
Nationwide-associated companies and Guilfort Dieuvil - president of several
of the firms.
The kick filed by the church says Nationwide and Dieuvil never intended
to secure a advance and instead defrauded the church in a "civil conspiracy"
that complicated the title agency and Nationwide Financial Consultants - a
company Dieuvil also led, ceremonial records show.
Dieuvil says the church's money was to pay consultation fees to Nationwide
Economic Consultants, and not for a deposit to secure a loan, according to
the lawsuit.
The suit further states that Dieuvil testified there is a written covenant
between the church and Nationwide Consultants.
The church knows of no such agreement, and neither Dieuvil nor any
symbolic of Nationwide has provided a copy of the agreement, according
to the lawsuit.
"They're very wild," said Boca Raton-based attorney Jeffrey
Galvan, who is representing the church. "It took them years and years
and years to bail someone out up this money, and now it's gone."
Specific charges in the 46-page lawsuit file fraudulent misrepresentation,
breach of contract and civil conspiracy.
The church's allegations of authentic estate wrongdoing by Dieuvil and associated
companies - the title firm's registered factor is listed in state records as
vice president for Nationwide Mortgage Bankers Corp. - add to at least five
lawsuits filed by homeowners who say they were wronged by another of
Dieuvil's enterprises, Nationwide Investment Unshaken.
Those lawsuits describe variations of short sale abuses, but mostly revolve
around a business dummy that includes having the homeowner quitclaim-deed
his or her home to the firm.
While Nationwide Investment Sturdy negotiates a short sale on the home, often
with the intent to buy the property itself, the homeowner is shuffled into
another Nationwide attribute where he or she puts 20 percent down to enter
into a rent-to-own style contract.
Deerfield Strand attorney S. Tracy Long, who filed three of the lawsuits
against Nationwide Investment Unbending, said the company targets Haitian
immigrants, "specifically potential homebuyers of odd descent (who
are not proficient in the English language)."
Nationwide representatives, and the immovable's Hollywood-based attorney Kevin
Fabrikant, said there is nothing illegal about the unshaken's real estate
business and that clients are well aware of the specifics of the deals.
"There's no arcane fonts; the contracts are in bold, large lettering,"
Fabrikant told The Palm Run aground Post last week. "I feel confident we can
show the court that the plaintiffs in these cases are unsound."
The Haitian Bethel Baptist Church lawsuit is different in that it involves a
allowance allegedly offered by Dieuvil's mortgage company to the church for $1
million.
Dieuvil's mortgage New Zealand was licensed by the Florida Office of Financial
Regulation until Dec. 31, when the license expired. It continues as an
sprightly company, according to records with the Florida Department of State's
Division of Corporations.
The partition shows that Interstate Title Services and Escrow Corp. is inactive
as of September 2010. It was incorporated Oct. 8, 2009 - 21 days before the
Oct. 29, 2009, church checks were written to it.
Nationwide Monetary Consultants, which Dieuvil says in the lawsuit was paid
the $321,222 for consulting fees, also is listed in regal records as
inactive as of September 2010. It was incorporated in February 2009.
The church's lawsuit is seeking a judgment of more than $320,000 against the
defendants.
For now, its 250 members take care of in shifts in their small musty building on High
Ridge Road as a new church is built next door.
They pay by fits for construction, collecting tithings each week that go to
a contractor willing to do what he can with each donation.
"They have a half-built church and cannot be relevant a loan because they have
no money to put down," Galvan said. "Most of these people are
manage-income families, and they are giving large parts of their salaries
to finish construction.
Source: Palm Beach Post