Land Scam in South Florida

United States Acting Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jeffrey H. Sloman in a press release on August 25th announced the indictment of Daniel Stephen, 42, of Miami Shores; Clotilde Jean, 43, of Miramar and Patricia DePons, 53, of Miami Shores for nineteen counts of mail fraud.

Stephen, who owns First Loan Solutions and his partner Jean according to the indictment targeted the Haitian community in Miami Dade County using radio advertising, leafs and bus tours to sell parcels of land in North Florida and Georgia. Stephen and Jean told the potential buyers that they could purchase a parcel of land and build on the land individually. The land the buyers were purchasing was in fact a part of a limited liability company and the buyer could not build on lots individually. Buyers deposited funds with First Loan Solutions for the purchase of a lot that they believe was being held in an escrow account. The buyers were lead to believe that Stephen and his company owned the land they were presented when in fact Stephen and First Loan Solutions did not hold title to the land.

DePons for her involvement was the closer of the fraudulent deals. DePons conducted the closings of the land sales and collected the money from the victims of the scheme. DePons created and issued fraudulent warranty deeds to ensure the sale of the parcels.

The scheme involved over one thousand Haitians and over ten million six hundred thousand dollars. The Haitian victims of this scheme never received title to the land and have never received any refund. The three defendants if convicted are facing up to Mr. twenty years for each count.

Sloman thanked the Federal State Mortgage Fraud Strike Force for their efforts in the investigation along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation.

Sloman reaffirms that an indictment is merely an accusation and that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Assistant United States Attorney Peter A. Forand will be handling the prosecution of the case.