Friday March 29, 2024
SNc Channels:

Search
About Salem-News.com

 

Feb-01-2009 23:32printcomments

Groups Prepare Civil RICO Case Against Lennar Corporation for Civil Racketeering

Firms open investigation into filing civil racketeering suit against Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN), its senior management and outside counsel.

Hunters Point Naval Shipyard
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard
Courtesy: farm1.static.flickr.com

(SAN DIEGO) - Michael Boyd, long time consumer advocate and President of CAlifornian’s for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE- calfree.com/), has announced that his non-profit organization has teamed up with the Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc (see: frauddiscovery.net) in an attempt to join forces in a fight for justice through a civil racketeering action being contemplated by the two organizations.

“We have parallel interests,” said Michael Boyd, whose organization is currently in the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to recover $71 billion dollars in overcharges to California's energy rate payers who were defrauded in the year 2000-1 by deregulated energy companies like Enron.

He says Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) came on CARE's radar back in 2006 when a planned 1600 home community started development of Parcel A of the former US Naval shipyard at Hunters Point in San Francisco, site of CARE’s office, turned into a potential death trap for those in the community due to Lennar's demolition activities which disturbed naturally occurring asbestos, exposing the surrounding low-income African-American community to toxic dust on a repeated basis.

“It was not a difficult decision, after reviewing the FDI ‘Top 10 Red Flags for Fraud,’ to see that they had clearly established a pattern of behavior by Lennar over a sustained period of time that impacted and continues to impact Lennar's victims, the defenseless public all over the USA,” added Mr. Boyd.


Mr. Lynne Brown, a resident of the Bay View community and Vice-President of CARE, stated "we want to investigate Lennar and the politicians and government entities that aided and abetted them."

According to Barry Minkow, the Co-Founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc, “Michael Boyd has been a man who has dedicated his life to fighting for the underdog and usually against the well funded, bully enemy. If there was ever the perfect opponent for him to take on, it would be Lennar Corporation who devastates communities from Hutto, Texas to Hunters Point in San Francisco.”

The two organizations, having identified and agreed on legal counsel, are in the process of preparing a civil RICO case to be filed in Federal Court in San Francisco. The case will be based on the numerous predicate acts alleged in the Fraud Discovery Institute’s original report and Mr. Boyd’s supported allegations of blatant negligence by Lennar Corporation at Hunters Point. “We have also had discussions with other victims of the Lennar business practices and believe the victims are best served by uniting,” said Mr. Minkow.

Salem-News.com has been publishing articles on the former Marine air base at El Toro which is also a Lennar development; a park and homes planned to be built over extremely contaminated ground where TCE (trichloroethylene) was dumped by air crews for years who used it for cleaning jet fighters.

With the failing economy and sagging Southern California housing market, Lennar has been facing one huge obstacle after another in recent weeks. This latest effort by CARE and Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc. is another stone hurdled at a Goliath of an organization that seemed untouchable last May when our reports on El Toro began, but now seems increasingly vulnerable.

Editor's note: To set the record straight: 41-year old Barry Minkow is an American religious leader and ex-convict who turned his life around and now fights fraud using skills from his years on the other side of the law. Today he is senior pastor of the Community Bible Church in San Diego, California, having renounced his felonious acts. Minkow is recognized as an expert on fraud, and speaks on the subject to university students and the business community in an effort to prevent fraud. Minkow and his company, ZZZZ Best (pronounced "Zee Best") appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning company but collapsed in 1987, costing investors an estimated $100 million. ZZZZ Best are mentioned in Burton G. Malkiel's work A Random Walk Down Wall Street as an example of stock market bubbles. Minkow tells his story in the book, Cleaning Up: One Man's Redemptive Journey Through the Seductive World of Corporate Crime.




Comments Leave a comment on this story.
Name:

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.


[Return to Top]
©2024 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.


Articles for February 1, 2009 | Articles for February 2, 2009
Tribute to Palestine and to the incredible courage, determination and struggle of the Palestinian People. ~Dom Martin

Annual Hemp Festival & Event Calendar

Click here for all of William's articles and letters.

googlec507860f6901db00.html


Support
Salem-News.com: