Witnesses testify on roles in scheme to defraud homeowners associations | Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Ruvolo, 87, is one of four remaining defendants standing trial in federal court in the scheme, which prosecutors allege occurred between 2003 and 2009 and cost local HOAs millions of dollars. Myers, who pleaded guilty in 2012, died last year without being sentenced. The goal of the scheme, according to Lugo and other government witnesses, was to acquire properties at the larger condominium developments and then pack their HOA boards so that Benzer and Silver Lining Construction could obtain lucrative construction defect contracts. As many as 11 HOAs were targeted."
This massive corruption saga is Exhibit A that proves how fragile HOAs really are. The over-reliance on owners' resources--money, time, energy, loyalty--and the under-regulation by state and local government makes them vulnerable not just to takeover, but to other types of fraud, theft, manipulation, and mismanagement. Yet governments, and obviously developers and vendors, profit from them, so they will continue to proliferate, and so will the problems.
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