calliethompson

[calliethompson]

Man Guilty of Fraud Scheme Targeting Various Financial Institutions

Ira Morya Davis, 40, Irving, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Oct. 26, 2021. According to information presented in court, Davis and at least two other co-conspirators devised a fraud scheme targeting various financial institutions and real estate purchasers.  To accomplish the fraud, Davis and his co-conspirators created shell companies and […] Man Guilty of Fraud Scheme Targeting Various Financial Institutions published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

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Two Charged with Defrauding HUD Program

J. Reed Pirain, 45, and Renee Vasilko, 48, Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, on conspiracy and fraud charges. According to the Indictment, from in and around February 2018, until in and around March 2019, Pirain and Vasilko knowingly and willfully conspired to defraud the Department of […] Two Charged with Defrauding HUD Program published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

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Seven Defendants Sentenced in $10 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Carlos Rafael Castaneda Mendez, 34, Miami, Florida, Alejandro Boada Oliveros, 45, Miami, Florida, Jonnathan Jesus Gonzalez, 33, Miami, Florida, Yanjeisis Alejandra Pompa Villafane, 25, Hialeah, Florida, Lilia Rosa Morales Moreno, 45, Miami, Florida, Katherine Hansen Mendoza, 25, Miami, Florida and Isbel Rodriguez Batista, 23,  Teaneck, New Jersey were sent to federal prison for their roles […] Seven Defendants Sentenced in $10 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

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LSU buys out football coach's contract: What's $17 million among friends?

 A few days ago, LSU announced it is getting rid of Ed  Orgeron, LSU's football coach.  Orgeron coached LSU's football team to a national championship in 2019, but what has he done for us lately?

What will it cost to buy out Orgeron's contract? Almost $17 million. Orgeron gets the cash in installments, but he gets the first half a million in December.

LSU will also buy out several members of Orgeron's coaching staff. What will that cost? Another $9.5 million.

And the university is still paying for some earlier buyouts. In 2020, LSU bought out defensive coordinator Bo Pelini's contract. That cost LSU $4 million. 

It also bought out a passing game coordinator's contract. But that was chump change. It only cost LSU $1 million.

Money, money, money. LSU renovated the football team's locker room in 2019.  That cost a cool $28 million. Each player gets his own sleeping space in case he gets tired while studying for exams.

College sports is big business. Everyone understands that. But does it have anything to do with the students?

Apparently not. Every time LSU's athletic department spends a ton of money, its PR people remind us that LSU's football program is a moneymaker and that students don't have to pay a dime to support it.

I'm not sure I believe that line. LSU football wasn't a moneymaker in 2019 when the COVID pandemic virtually shut down college sports.

In any event, students probably aren't paying attention. On any given day, students walk across the LSU campus with their eyes fixated on their cellphones. Many don't bother to use the crosswalks. They just meander across the streets anywhere they choose.

Just a few days ago,  two cars collided on Highland Avenue, which runs right through campus. As you can see from the photo, one of the cars flipped over and was totaled.

The speed limit on Highland Road is 30 miles an hour. Maybe LSU should spend less money on football coaches and devote more resources to traffic control.

Look both ways before you cross the street on the LSU campus.

LSU buys out football coach's contract: What's $17 million among friends? published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

There are no cold guns: Alec Baldwin shoulda been an Oklahoma Boy Scout

 I learned about gun safety from the Boy Scouts. Every year my Scout troop went to Summer Camp at Camp George Thomas, and we kids spent one hour every day on the rifle range.

Our gun instructor was a grizzled Army sergeant on active duty at Fort Sill, and he was all business. He assigned each Scout a  bolt-action rifle and a punchboard that held ten little bullets--.22 shorts. 

Sarge gave us strict instructions to always point our rifles down-range and not shoot until he gave the order. 

And then he would boom out these majestic words:

"Ready on the right? Ready on the left? Ready on the firing line. Gentlemen, you may commence firing."

Gentlemen? He called us gentlemen! Just like we were grownups!

Our rifles could only hold one bullet--the ammo magazines had been removed. We all fired one time, ejected the tiny shell cases from our rifles, and then inserted the shell cases in the pegboards the sergeant had given us.

At the end of each exercise, the sergeant collected the pegboards and made sure no shell casing was missing. Thus, it was impossible for a bullet to go missing.

I don't recall being hectored by anyone about gun safety when I was a Scout.  We were told the two cardinal rules of gun safety and expected to follow them.

And what were those rules? 1) Every gun is loaded; 2) Never point a gun at anyone you don't intend to shoot.  That's all we needed to know to avoid a gun accident.

Poor Alec Baldwin killed a woman on a movie set a few days ago. Believing his weapon was a prop gun that shot blanks, Baldwin pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the gun was loaded with five live rounds.

I do not blame Mr. Baldwin for this tragedy, and I hope no criminal charges will be filed against him. Someone put five lethal bullets in the pistol that he fired, and someone shouted "cold gun" just before the accident--an affirmation that the gun was safe.

Nevertheless, if Alec Baldwin had been an Oklahoma Boy Scout when he was a child, I think he would have assumed the gun he was given on that New Mexico movie set was loaded with live rounds. I think he would have checked the gun himself.

The Boy Scouts have fallen on hard times. The Scouts took bankruptcy recently to get out from under a deluge of sexual abuse lawsuits.  They changed their name. They're not Boy Scouts anymore; they're just Scouts.  Girls can be Scouts too.

And that's a good thing.

But the Boy Scouts of my childhood was a noble organization. I learned to build a fire, sharpen a knife, and cook a meal over a campfire. And I learned the basic rules of gun safety.

America now has almost 400 million guns in private hands. Since there are only 330 million people in the U.S., there's a gun for everybody--even toddlers and infants.

Unfortunately, most of these gun owners weren't Boy Scouts in Oklahoma when they were children. That's a shame.

"Gentlemen, you may commence firing."

There are no cold guns: Alec Baldwin shoulda been an Oklahoma Boy Scout published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

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We're Number 1!: LSU signs deal with Caesars Sportsbook to promote sports betting

 Is it just me, or have Louisiana State University's administrators lost their friggin' minds?

Last month, LSU announced it's teaming up with Caesars Sportsbook, a big-time gambling company, to promote sports betting.

Under the deal's terms, Caesars will get the naming rights to the Skyline Club at Tiger Stadium and can put its signs up in the football stadium, the basketball arena, and the baseball field. 

Will people be allowed to bet on sports inside LSU's football stadium? We don't know yet, but it's "one of many options being considered," an LSU official revealed.

Scott Woodward, LSU's athletic director, assures us that the gambling deal was brokered with the fans in mind: "LSU has always taken pride in providing fans with unique, innovative, and world-class experiences, and our new partnership with Caesars Entertainment will do just that," Woodward explained.

What lovely bullshit! But that's what we would expect from a guy who makes $1.2 million a year.

What about the students? Should a public university promote sports betting to impressionable youngsters?

Not to worry. Caesars promises not to market to students under the age of 21 or “highlight gaming offers inside campus facilities.”

That's a relief!

And, of course, some of the revenue from this gambling deal will go to student scholarships, which makes everything OK.

What's next? Will LSU open a brothel in the Skyline Club? It would be so convenient for the fans. They could drink, gamble, and fornicate to take their minds off LSU's abysmal football season.

And that would be fine because some of the prostitution revenue would surely be reserved for student scholarships.

Not that it's relevant, but LSU dropped 19 spots in the latest survey of top universities that U.S. News and World Report released last month.  LSU now ranks next to last among colleges in the Southeastern Conference. 

Who cares? LSU is the first SEC school to promote sports gambling, and that makes it number one in my book.

Bummer! You can't bet on LSU football in the Skyline Club.

We're Number 1!: LSU signs deal with Caesars Sportsbook to promote sports betting published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

Take this student loan and shove it: Will student debtors start making payments on their student loans when the government's payment holiday ends?

When we go on vacation, most of us sleep late, basking in the luxury of rising in the morning whenever we wish.

 Then our vacation ends, and we have to set our alarm clock again. And we find it damned difficult to pop out of bed at 6 AM to get to work on time.

 Something like that will happen when the U.S. Department of Education ends its pause on student loan payments. Student debtors enjoyed a grace period on their loan obligations during the COVID pandemic. They could skip their monthly student loan payments without penalty and spend that extra cash on other things—a new car, maybe.

 Millions of student borrowers benefited from this loan-payment holiday, but nobody knows how many will start making monthly payments again when the holiday comes to an end in February.

According to Politico, Education Department officials have instructed loan services to create a "safety net" for borrowers for the first three months after payment obligations begin:

 Borrowers who miss a payment during the initial 90-day period will not take a hit on their credit reports. Those borrowers will instead be automatically placed in a forbearance and be still considered current on their loans.

Student borrowers will appreciate the safety net, but will they start making their monthly loan payments again when the government's loan-payment pause finally ends?

Even before the pandemic, the default rate on student loans was considerably higher than the default rate on credit cards and car loans.

 And this pattern makes sense. Overburdened debtors who stop making car payments lose their cars. If they quit paying on their credit card balances, their cards get canceled.

 But if student-loan debtors stop making payments on their student loans, nothing happens--at least not immediately. 

 I predict that student loan defaults will spike upward this spring. Millions of student-loan debtors got permission to stop making payments in the spring of 2020, and they will find it challenging to start writing those monthly payments again, even when they are legally obligated to do so. 

To paraphrase Johnny Paycheck, I think many college debtors will take their cue from Johnny Paycheck and tell the Department of Education to take their student loans and shove 'em.

Take this student loan and shove it: Will student debtors start making payments on their student loans when the government's payment holiday ends? published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

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Vista College chain closes its campuses and files for bankruptcy in Delaware: Bankruptcy relief for me but not for thee

 Vista College, a chain of for-profit college campuses, closed and went bankrupt a few days ago.  Most Vista campuses are in Texas, but the chain filed its bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware.

Who owns Vista College?

 Education  Futures Group (EFG), a Chicago-based private equity firm, holds a majority interest.  Jim Tolbert, Vista's CEO, owns 16.7 percent.  

EFG's website describes Vista College as "one of the most popular and recognized institutions of higher education in the south-central United States."  Yup. Right up there with Rice, Tulane, and SMU.

Apparently, however, not everyone agrees with EFG's self puffery.  A Texas law firm filed a class-action suit against Vista seeking damages on behalf of approximately 3,000 former Vista students.

Will students get any money out of Vista? I kinda doubt it. I'm sure EFG's lawyers know how to structure a bankruptcy action so that none of Vista's owners will miss any meals.

Vista College is the latest in a string of for-profit schools to go belly up in recent years. As far as I'm concerned, the more for-profits that close, the better.

America doesn't really need a for-profit college sector. We already have a surplus of public and non-profit institutions. Vista's headquarters is in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Dallas metropolitan area has 38 colleges. Vista has a campus in Beaumont, Texas, home of Lamar University. It also has a campus in El Paso, home of the University of Texas at El Paso, and a campus in College Station, home of Texas A & M.

The for-profits built a niche based on the pitch that they offered online courses for working adults, but that line of patter doesn't work anymore. Public institutions have invested heavily in online learning. Students can now get a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and even a doctoral degree from a public university without ever going on campus. So why would anyone want to enroll at a for-profit college, which will likely cost more than a similar public school?

The for-profits also tout the fact they offer vocational training, which the public universities don't provide. But publicly funded community colleges now offer vocational and technical programs, and community colleges are cheaper than for-profit schools.

Delaware is a friendly venue for corporations, and I feel sure Vista and its owners will zip right through bankruptcy.  And I'm OK with that.

But many of Vista's former students will find themselves with a mountain of student-loan debt and no credential.  Can they file for bankruptcy in Delaware and get the same cozy treatment that bankrupt corporations get?

No, they cannot. Texas students can file an adversary proceeding in a Texas bankruptcy court in an effort to get their federal student loans discharged.

But lawyers for the Department of Education or one of its debt-collection agencies will show up to fight a bankruptcy discharge of student debt.

In other words, the bankruptcy process works better for for-profit colleges than it does for their students. For a for-profit college, bankruptcy is relatively painless. But a for-profit college student will find it virtually impossible to get free of student loans that were taken out to attend a for-profit college--even one that is owned by a private equity firm and goes bust in mid-semester.

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[calliethompson]

Baylor University Loses Its Way: Low-Income Parents Take Out Loans So Their Kids Can Attend a Pricey School

Baylor University, a Baptist institution located in Waco, Texas, is a well-respected school. Over the years, it has risen steadily in the college ratings and now ranks among the top 100 American universities.

But Baylor is expensive--tuition and fees are about $50,000 a year. Low-income students can take out federal loans, but these loans are capped and do not cover the total cost of going to Baylor. 

So--according to the Wall Street Journal--Baylor has encouraged low-income families to take out Parent Plus loans. In fact, almost half the families that take out these loans are poor.

From Baylor's perspective, the Parent Plus program is a money tree. There is no cap on these loans, and Baylor gets its money upfront. If parents can't pay off these loans, that's their problem. 

As the Wall Street Journal revealed, many Baylor parents aren't paying back their Parent Plus loans. Only 28 percent paid down any of their loans after two years in repayment. In 2018 and 2019, Baylor parents collectively owed 74 percent of what they borrowed ten years after beginning repayment.

Baylor says it does not pressure families to take out Parent Plus loans. In a written statement, a Baylor spokesman said, "We have never strong-armed students to [make] a decision for/against Baylor, as we respect the significance of making a college choice." What the hell does that mean?

Linda Livingstone, Baylor's president, admits that Parent Plus loans are a problem. "My heart goes out to families that are in that situation," she said.  "We are working very, very hard to ensure that we don't see that so much going forward."

I'm not knocking Baylor. It's a fine school. But the fact remains that Baylor and many other universities are relying more and more on Parent Plus loans for their revenue. 

These loans bear a relatively high interest rate--6.28 percent, and they can be pretty large. Parents of 2018 and 2019 Baylor graduates borrowed a median amount of $59,000.  The Wall Street Journal reported that a school bus driver took out $57,000 in Parent Plus loans so her daughter could attend Baylor.

Low-income parents jeopardize their own financial security when they take out Parent Plus loans to finance their children's college education.  And Parent Plus loans, like student loans their children take out, are almost impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.

That's not right. Congress should shut down the Parent Plus program. 

Baylor president Linda Livingstone and spouse: "My heart goes out to families that are in that situation."

Baylor University Loses Its Way: Low-Income Parents Take Out Loans So Their Kids Can Attend a Pricey School published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

No reply: What to do when the corporate office won't respond to your complaint

This happened once before

When I cam to your door

No reply

They said it wasn't you

But I saw you peep through your window

                                                                                                                        The Beatles 

Have you ever tried to resolve a dispute with a corporate entity: a bank, a car rental agency, a credit card company? How did it turn out? Most times--I'm guessing--you just gave up without getting your problem solved.

A couple of years ago, Chase Bank flagged a fraudulent transfer out of my checking account.  Three thousand dollars of my money slipped into the account of a stranger through Chase's Zelle digital payment network.

Chase admitted that the transfer was unauthorized and that I was not at fault. But it refused to return my money. The word came down from on high: Once money is transferred through Zelle, it cannot be recovered.

My wife and I happened to be Chase Private Clients at the time because we had some retirement savings with Chase. Made no difference. 

I emailed the Chase broker, who was supposedly handling my money. He called me on the phone and asked me not to communicate with him by email because it could cause him problems with the SEC.

I made numerous phone calls to Chase representatives, and I spoke to a different person every time I called. No satisfaction.

Then I switched tactics. I made a phone call to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. To my surprise, someone answered my phone, took my complaint, and assured me that Chase would be notified that same day.

Then I filed a complaint with the Federal Banking Commission and the Louisiana Banking Commission. I also discovered I could file a lawsuit against Chase in a Louisiana small claims court. The cost? Only $25, and I could file it electronically from my home computer.

I was typing up my lawsuit when a Chase representative from "Corporate" called.  His voice sounded like James Earl Jones--in other words--the voice of God.

"Mr. Fossey," he intoned in a deep, stentorian voice,  "we are going to return your money."

We all know that big, multinational corporations have insulated themselves from their customers. You simply can't get through to someone who has the authority to fix your problem.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Be dignified. Don't curse, yell, or threaten the human-robot you talk with on the phone. 

2) Be patient and persistent and keep records of your communications.

3) File complaints with any federal or state agency with regulatory authority over the corporation that is stonewalling you.

4) As a last resort, sue the offending party in small claims court. 

I haven't actually had to file a small claims suit against a corporate entity. So far, I have gotten my disputes settled through persistence. But I think it can be a handy tool for confronting a recalcitrant corporation.

You can represent yourself in small claims court. You don't need a lawyer. And in Louisiana, you can sue a corporation doing business in the state through the Secretary of State's Office. Your state probably has a similar process for getting service on corporations.

Our soulless corporations get more greedy, more arrogant, and more indifferent to their customers with each passing day. If you get stiffed by one, you should fight back.

"Mr. Fossey, thou shall get thy money back."

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[calliethompson]

Storino v. New York University: 1984 comes to NYU

Marc Santonocito, Ashley Storino, and Elnaz Pourasgari--all students at New York University--did some bad, bad things! 

During the summer of 2020, they attended some parties without wearing COVID masks. Oh, the horror! The horror!

All three miscreants enrolled at NYU for the 2020 fall semester, but they were soon charged with engaging in behavior that "endanger[ed] or compromise[d] the health, safety or well-being" of the university community. 

Somehow NYU obtained evidence from social media about the trio's summer activities. A New York court summarized NYU's case against them, and I warn you, it is shocking!

Each [student]was captured in at least one photo on social media depicting them unmasked and in physical contact with other individuals who were also not wearing masks: Santonocito arm in arm with other unmasked individuals, Storino cheek to cheek with other unmasked individuals, and Pourasgari touching the face of another unmasked individual.

After appearing at virtual hearings, all three students were suspended from NYU  for the 2020 fall semester.  They sued, and a New York trial court ordered NYU to re-enroll them. 

In the trial court's opinion, NYU's actions were "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion." The trial court ruled that a university cannot impose the harsh penalty of suspension unless it gives them "clear, unambiguous and full pre-conduct notice" that their summer behavior could result in discipline.

NYU appealed, and an appellate court reversed the trial court and upheld the three students' suspension.  The appellate court ruled that the notices NYU gave the students were clear enough to put them on notice that they might be canned if they attended parties in the summer without wearing masks.

I have two problems with the appellate court's opinion:

First, I don't believe students should be suspended from their studies for attending a summer party without wearing a mask.  In my opinion, students should be free from university surveillance when they are on their summer holidays.

Second, I think NYU's penalties were too harsh. 

After all, NYU required all students to submit a negative COVID test as a condition of enrollment for the 2020 fall semester. Thus, NYU surely knew that none of the three students had contracted COVID over the summer. So why kick them out of school?

NYU is one of the most expensive universities in the world. It costs about $80,000 a year to study there. One might think its highly-paid administrators would have a decent respect for their students' privacy--at least during their summer vacations. 

The Storino case reminds me of George Orwell's 1984. In that novel, Big Brother was spying on people 24 hours a day.  Have we come to such a pass in the United States?

I acknowledge that the COVID pandemic is a serious matter. Everyone--including college students--should take precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

But universities have a responsibility to treat their students with compassion and to enforce their student-conduct rules with moderation and restraint. In my view, NYU acted arrogantly and heartlessly when it suspended Marc Santonocito, Ashley Storino, and Elnaz Pourasgari.

References

Storino v. New York University, 193 A.D.3d 436 (N.Y. App. Div. 2021).

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Millions of Americans are going to die poor: Something to talk about at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium

 About six months ago, I received a letter from the Social Security Administration informing me that it had miscalculated the amount of my monthly Security check for the past six years. I had been overpaid, the feds said, and it would not send me any more monthly checks until it collected the entire amount the government said I owed.

Meanwhile, a Baton Rouge strip club received a Payroll Protection check for more than a million dollars. And the press reported that more than a thousand Louisiana prisoners received enhanced unemployment checks totaling $6.2 million. 

I will survive the loss of a couple of Social Security checks, but not every elderly pensioner could take the hit.  For me, this incident is just another sign that our government does not care about the elderly.  

The U.S. Department of Education, for example, garnishes the Social Security checks of thousands of elderly student-loan defaulters, driving many of them below the poverty line. Congress could pass a bill to stop this cruel practice, but apparently, it is too busy to address this outrage.

A great many Americans are entering old age with no savings, no pensions, and no assets.  These people will die poor.

And it is going to get worse. Inflation is on the rise, and inflation--it is often observed--is one way the rich rob the poor, including poor people who are elderly.

Jerome Powell and Janet Yellen assure us that the recent uptick in inflation is transitory, but that's bullshit. Our national debt is $29 trillion, and yet the government keeps printing money. The price for just about everything is going up--including food. Five bucks for a loaf of bread?

In one of his plays, Tennessee Williams observed that you can be old or you can be poor, but you can't be both. Unfortunately, that's not true. America is about to see millions of impoverished old people as inflation heats up.  

How much time did the financial fat cats spend talking about poverty at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium last August?  I would guess not much.  After all, there aren't many poor people in Jackson Hole.

I have a suggestion for next year's economic summit meeting. Instead of holding it in Jackson Hole, book it in Anadarko, Oklahoma--my hometown.  Lot's of poor people there. 

But attendees should book their reservations early. The Budget Inn has only a limited number of rooms, and it would be unseemly for Paul Krugman, Janet Yellen, and Jerome Powell to bunk together.

The Anadarko Motel: Janet Yellen will love it

Millions of Americans are going to die poor: Something to talk about at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

"Only pay for what you need": College students are paying for products or services they don't need

 Perhaps the most inane car insurance commercial ever aired is one by Liberty Mutual: "Only pay for what you need." 

Apparently, Liberty Mutual wants auto drivers to believe that it is the only insurance company that allows customers to buy car insurance tailored to their needs.  But doesn't every insurer do that?

Nevertheless, the slogan makes sense. No one should be forced to purchase services they don't need.  

But college students pay for things they don't want or need every time they pay their tuition bills.  That's a significant reason why tuition has gone up more than the rate of inflation for the past 25 years.

Let's take Louisiana State University, for example. A full-time undergraduate student will pay about $4,000 in tuition to attend LSU this fall. But  LSU also tacks on various required fees that bring the total cost to almost $6000. In other words, LSU's fees represent about a third of a student's total bill. 

LSU's website lists 41 separate fees that the university charges students in addition to tuition. Of course, some of these fees only apply to graduate students.  Law students and veterinary students pay fees that don't apply to undergraduates. And some of the fees are optional.

Nevertheless, required fees amount to a considerable chunk of change. All LSU's full-time undergraduates must pay a "Student Excellence Fee" and an "Academic Excellence Fee" that total $1,500 a semester.

The days are over when college tuition basically covered the cost of academic programs and a modest administrative staff. Today, universities are as large as midsize American cities.  Major universities pay a lot of money for campus police forces, medical facilities, mental health services, diversity officers, and platoons of attorneys who handle everything from sexual assault complaints to intellectual property deals.

And the students are paying for all of this--mostly with federal student loans. Surely there is a better--and cheaper--way for America to run its colleges and universities. 

"Only pay for what you need": College students are paying for products or services they don't need published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

Nystrand v. Kingdom of Sweden: Another underemployed lawyer seeks bankruptcy relief

A common saying when I was young (in the last century) was the old adage that lawyers are people who wish to make a lot of money but are risk-averse. 

That observation certainly rang true when I went to law school in the 1970s. I graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a class of 500 students, and nearly all of us found decent jobs as lawyers.

Even better, my classmates and I finished law school with little or no debt. Tuition was only $500 a semester. Working part-time as a law clerk for the Texas Attorney General's Office, I avoided student loans. I started my legal career debt-free, and  I quickly found a good job practicing law.

But law school tuition has shot up dramatically since the days I went to law school. Tuition at UT's School of Law is now $36,000 for in-state students--36 times what I paid. 

And the job market for lawyers is terrible. Many people now leave law school with enormous debt and little prospect of finding employment in their field.

And this brings me to the case of Nystrand v. Kingdom of Sweden, filed last spring in a Tallahassee bankruptcy court. 

Anneli Nystrand, a Swedish immigrant, graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 1995. In my opinion, she did everything right. 

Nystrand attended a respectable law school and paid off her student loans, although it took her 15 years. She passed the Florida bar exam and landed a job with the Florida Department of Banking and Finance, probably a pretty good gig.

Unfortunately, as the years rolled by, Ms. Nystrand's financial situation deteriorated.  In 2013-2014, approximately 18 years after graduating from law school, she was on the job market. Although she applied for more than 200 attorney positions, she did not get a single interview.

In 2016-2017, she found a law job that paid only $39,000 a year. In 2017-2018, she worked for a law firm and made $50,000 a year.

In 2019--more than 20 years after graduating from law school-- Ms. Nystrand began accepting court-assigned cases for a flat fee. If she took a juvenile delinquency client, for example, she only received $377, which is less than the hourly rate of a corporate lawyer in a top-flight firm. 

Her total income for 2019 was only $20,000. In 2020, Nystrand did a little better, earning $46,000 before deducting expenses.

In April of this year, Ms. Nystrand filed an adversary complaint in a Florida bankruptcy court against the Kingdom of Sweden, seeking to discharge student loans owed to that Scandanavian country.

I have no idea what that is about. Nystrand's complaint does not state the amount of the debt or how it was incurred.  

Nevertheless, I am on Ms. Nystrand's side. I hope she is successful in clearing her debt to Sweden.  

Anneli Nystrand is one among hundreds of thousands of underemployed or unemployed attorneys who left law school with enormous debt. Now they are trying to build their careers in a soft job market--particularly for lawyers who attended second- or third-tier law schools. 

Florida has 11 law schools--far too many. Ms. Nystrand is forced to compete in a job market for attorneys saturated with people looking for work. 

All these unemployed or underemployed lawyers deserve reasonable access to bankruptcy courts. Senators Durbin and Cornyn's bill would allow distressed student-loan debtors to get bankruptcy relief ten years after their student loans become due.

If that bill becomes law, people like Anneli Nyastrand would immediately benefit.

But one more thing needs to be done. The American Bar Association, which allegedly regulates legal education, needs to get off its ass and close down some law schools. 

References

Nystrand v. Kingdom of Sweden, Case No. 21-400006-KKS (Bankr. N.D. Fla. Apr. 16, 2021 (adversary complaint).

  Nystrand v. Kingdom of Sweden: Another underemployed lawyer seeks bankruptcy relief published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

Man Pleads Guilty for Bank Fraud Scheme

Alireza Zamanizadeh, aka Ali Zamani, 63, Portland, Oregon pleaded guilty today for perpetrating a bank fraud scheme whereby he used a residential property he did not own as collateral for obtaining a bank loan worth more than $316,000. According to court documents, on or about February 17, 2017, Zamanizadeh filed a quitclaim deed in Deschutes […] Man Pleads Guilty for Bank Fraud Scheme published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

Man Sentenced to Prison for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Dennys Tapia, 55, Ridgefield Park, New Jersey was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud financial institutions of hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From 2015 to 2018, Tapia conspired with others to fraudulently obtain mortgage […] Man Sentenced to Prison for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme published first on https://myreviewnow.tumblr.com/

[calliethompson]

Department of Education pauses collection efforts against student-loan debtors: Guaranty agencies garnish wages anyway

In response to the COVID pandemic, the Department of Education allowed student-loan debtors to skip their monthly loan payments without penalty until September 30, 2021.  That pause was recently extended to January 30, 2022. 

Thanks to the Department's forbearance, millions of college-loan borrowers are enjoying a respite from making loan payments, knowing that DOE will not charge interest and penalties during this grace period and that their wages will not be garnished due to nonpayment. 

But guess what? Loan guaranty agencies continued garnishing the wages of student-loan borrowers despite the federal moratorium.  According to the Student Borrower Protection Center, the guarantee agencies garnished $27.2 million in May 2021 and $12.9 million in June 2021.

Will student borrowers recover these lost wages? Probably. But it will probably take a long time. After all, the Department of Education didn't forgive all student loans taken out by people who were defrauded by ITT Tech until five years after the for-profit college filed for bankruptcy.

The federal student loan program has enormous problems, and some of them will be difficult to fix. But surely, the Department of Education can require the loan guarantee agencies to abide by Department policy and the law.

But apparently, the guaranty agencies think they are above the law. In 2016, Educational Credit Management was assessed punitive damages for repeatedly garnishing the wages of a bankrupt student debtor in violation of the Bankruptcy Code. 

In an earlier case, ECMC was sanctioned for violating the Bankruptcy Code by repeatedly trying to collect on a debt discharged in bankruptcy. 

Perhaps, you might conclude, the guaranty agencies inadvertently violate the law because they don't have the infrastructure necessary to keep track of their legal obligations. But that conclusion would be incorrect. According to a report issued by the New Century Foundation in 2016, Educational Credit Management, a nonprofit corporation, had more than $1 billion in nonrestricted assets.

Congress has a lot to do to clean up the student-loan mess, but it might start by holding hearings to examine the practices of the guaranty agencies.  Congress might begin by asking why some of the guaranty agencies are so rich. It might also inquire into the agencies' attorney fees to pursue distressed student-loan debtors into the bankruptcy courts. 

Finally, Congress might determine how much the guaranty agencies are paying their senior management.  More than ten years ago, Bloomberg reported that the current CEO of ECMC was making more than $1 million a year.  What do you think the current CEO makes?  My guess--somewhere in the high seven figures. 

We don't need no stinkin' pause on student-loan collections

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