Crooked Gwinnett Developers and Their Lawyers Who Help 'Make Off With The Loot'

GDO Report

The first mistake they made was that they trusted the developer's closing attorney to look out for their best interest.  They assumed that since they were paying his fees, he would most certainly be obligated to look out for the Martin family's best interest.  He looked out for it all right.  And when he saw it, he secured it and delivered it to his real client - the crooked property developer.

In fact, the Martin's soon discovered that land developers would probably not be nearly as profitable if they didn't have their attorneys at bay, guiding their way and even getting their hands dirty when duty calls.  It seems that the prize isn't so sweet when developers have to be governed by the same laws that everyone else has to - so they don't.  And they have their trusted attorneys to thank - their 'partners in crime' so to speak.

In June of this year, Rick Badie of the AJC wrote an article called "What happens in Vegas sure does reek in Gwinnett."  It describes how Gwinnett County Commissioner Kevin Kennerly took a week long trip to Las Vegas with his family, some friends and who else?  You got it!  He brought along his trusted attorney.  And you'll never guess who one Earth Mr. Kennerly happened to run into while vacationing in Vegas.  Right again!  The exact same developers who just happened to have projects before Mr. Kennerly for his support and approval.  In fact, there is video of them all gambling at the same table.

Now out of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, where is the one place that politicians and developers can meet with piles of money stacked before them and it not be questionable?  A Las Vegas gaming table perhaps?  Bingo!  What a great coincidence!  So off to Vegas they all just happen to meet – coincidentally, of course.

Rick Badie points out that when a politician goes on a gambling trip with businesses that need their support, "Participating still shows poor judgment, arrogance and abuse of a privilege bestowed upon the office-holders whom we elect." 

And we should point out that while the Gwinnett commissioner was on his gambling trip, whether they coincidentally bumped into each other at the same table or actually planned to meet - we are not asserting that a single penny ever changed hands.  If it did, no one could ever prove it, because legal representation was present - thank God!

Unfortunately for the Martin's, the attorney they were faced with in 2004 was a great deal more brazen.  He completed the closing documents for the sale of their land in a manner whereby the Martin's were forced into paying the developer's future property taxes for some time to come, totaling something in the five figure range.  And he did so in a manner by which his client still to this day has not paid property taxes on the land.  Even though the Martin's sold the land in June of 2004, they still had to pay the property taxes for the rest of that year AND 2005.

In fact, the Martin's had a grand daughter just yesterday.  It's Mr. Martin’s son's first child, so they're moving the happy couple back to their home so they can all help in the child's early days.  Unfortunately, foreclosure proceedings begin on the Martin's home Thursday November 2nd, thanks to the closing attorney's actions back in 2004. 

Normally, the Martin's keep plenty of money aside for emergencies such as this, but they used most of those funds in building a home on their property for the new young family - and this entire mess was first presented to them last week.  The time bomb was well crafted.

It was Paul Martin who first discovered what the attorney had done, and brought it to the attention of their mortgage company and Gwinnett County around a year ago.  He thought it had been taken care of since then.  Much to his surprise, he was notified last  week that the county decided to keep the money the mortgage company had sent on the Martin's behalf and used it to pay the developer's property taxes.  That way the developer wouldn't have to pay their 2004 or 2005 property taxes on the land. 

What Mr. Martin also found out last week is that the mortgage company is holding the Martin's responsible for their loss and effectively forcing a foreclosure if the Martin's don't come up with thousands of dollars by November 2nd. 

Mr. Martin has since pleaded with the county to return the money that doesn't belong to them and force the development company to pay their own taxes.  This is a ridiculous notion according to the tax commissioner's office.  It's completely against policy and shall not even be considered, according to representatives at the tax commissioner's office.

According to CountryWide, they were invited by Gwinnett's Tax Commissioner's Office to try to recover their money from Premier Planning & Development directly.   The problem there is that Premier is arguably Gwinnett County's most crooked land developers and there's little to no chance of them doing the right thing.

But CountryWide has been trying since February 15th and after eight months have come to realize what the Martin's realized over two years ago.