Deposition says HOA fraud figure was warned about FBI raids by State Supreme Court Justice Saitta | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Deposition says HOA fraud figure was warned about FBI raids by State Supreme Court Justice Saitta | Las Vegas Review-Journal



"Nevada Supreme Court Justice Nancy Saitta “tipped off” a key government target to FBI-led raids in an investigation of massive homeowners association fraud, according to a sworn deposition obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In the deposition, Lisa Kim, who ran a company that managed HOAs linked to the long-running investigation, testified that the FBI’s target, the late lawyer Nancy Quon, told her about the tip on Sept. 24, 2008, the first of two days of court-approved law enforcement searches across the valley...Saitta, who was first elected to the Supreme Court in 2006, presided over construction defect cases while she was a Clark County District Court judge. Quon often appeared before her."

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Ever since the news of this investigation broke, there were stories about alleged connections between judges and prosecutors and the HOA fraud ring, especially construction defect attorney Nancy Quon. Some stories suggested that such connections explained why the Nevada US Attorney's Office was kicked off the case, which was taken over by a special white collar crime unit from Washington, DC. All the documents on that, though, are tippy-top, hush-hush, secret.   To wit:  "The epic federal case wrapped up in January with more than 40 convictions, but the government continues to keep a lid on a super-secret investigation into the leak allegations that did not result in any criminal charges. Kim, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, said in the June 9 deposition that Quon also told her a member of the U.S. attorney’s office had tipped her to the investigation months before the raids. Quon did not identify her source at the office, which then was overseeing the high-profile prosecution...Quon told Kim she was warned by a government source to watch her back. “She said that someone in the U.S. attorney’s office had told her that there’s this big HOA thing going on and that things were going to be bad really soon … and that I don’t know what you’re doing with Benzer, but just be really careful,” Kim testified."



Jeff German of the Las Vegas Review-Journal has done an incredible job on this case for several years. This story is a blockbuster, and I strongly urge you to follow the link and read the whole thing.