‘I feel abandoned’ says bank customer after $50,000 disappeared from her account – and it was not her fault
By Olivia Salamone,17 hours ago
A WOMAN allegedly lost $50,000 to a check-washing scheme and she wasn’t the only one.
Multiple Florida residents, including business owners, were victims of check fraud.
A Boynton Beach resident was subject to check fraud while making IRS payments Credit: WPTVMany people in the Florida area have been experiencing issues with washed checks. Credit: WPTV
NBC affiliate station WPTV spoke with several business owners about their recent experience with check fraud.
Their money was allegedly stolen from the mail and the checks were washed.
The latest victim allegedly lost $50,000 in the crime.
“Normally when I make my IRS payments, I write a check. I put it in the mail and I make my payments,” Lorna Swartz said.
“I called the police. I called the bank and indeed it was confirmed that it was a fraudulent check, that someone else other than the IRS had cashed it,” the Boynton Beach resident recalled.
She showed WPTV the original $50,000 check and the washed check.
“Forged my signature, left the amount,” Swartz said.
“The entities that I’ve contacted include the fraud department of the bank, the police department, the post office.”
Swartz said that the post office is investigating, however, her bank allegedly said there is nothing they can do.
“I feel abandoned.
“I would say I do not write checks at all anymore and I would use my credit card because there is much better protection,” Swartz said.
Other businesses in the Florida area have experienced similar fraud.
“I was just astonished that the bank never caught it. It was the same check number but made out to different names,” Andre Weliky, owner of the Boca Car Wash, said.
Another business allegedly lost almost $20,000.
“The big, the mother one, was Feb. 2 for $18,500,” Greg Cope, who operates a linen distribution company in Palm Beach Gardens, said.
“They were able to change, you know, the name to the amount that’s on the check, and, you know, it just became a really big hassle.”
Early this year, the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs wrote a letter to the president and CEO of the American Bankers Association expressing their concerns about the rising check-washing crimes.
“In 2022, banks saw an 84% increase in check fraud, costing consumers an estimated $815 million,” the committee wrote.
Florida insurance regulators heard arguments for a double-digit rate hike on customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s “insurer of last resort,” whose policies are still expected to soar through the end of the year.
The state-backed company asked Thursday for a statewide average increase of 13.1% for primary residences with multiperil policies. The average increase specific to homeowners for this type of coverage would be 12.6%, and 10.8% for condo owners.
But if you live in your Citizens-insured domicile less than nine months out of the year, your rate increase is likely to be a lot higher.
That’s because a bill passed during a special session in December allowed Citizens to raise rates for “non-primary residences” by up to 50%. The bill also said that new or renewed “non-primary” policies written after November cannot be lower than the previous year.
“The public, I think, just needs to understand all these parts of the filing, that the end result … that there’s quite a bit of range of effect,” said Robert Lee, an actuary with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. “Not everybody gets 12%. Some get more, some get less. And not everybody gets 50% on the nonprimary.”
Citizens will rely on its agents to determine whether a residence is primary or non-primary. Policyholders will be notified during the renewal process.
When asked whether policyholders would be able to appeal a residence that was misclassified as non-primary, Citizens Chief Operating Officer Kelly Booten said, “We’re erring on the side of proving your primary residence.” Types of proof could include a homestead exemption, a driver’s license or a lease agreement, she said.
Citizens officials laud parts of bill passed in December
Officials with Citizens lauded some immediate impacts they saw with the passage of Senate Bill 2A, the December special session bill. It eliminated one-way attorneys fees and prevented homeowners from signing over insurance benefits to a third party, among other things.
Citizens’ projected costs were reduced by $900 million due to the bill, said Tim Cerio, the company’s president and CEO. Even so, the company has an estimated shortfall of $1.3 billion.
Citizens rates on average are 58.6% below actuarially sound levels. But, had the bill not passed, that percentage would be 88.3%.
Citizens cannot raise its rates like private insurers can. For just over a decade, state law prevented Citizens from increasing its rates by more than 10% each year. The cap went into effect in 2010, after then-Gov. Charlie Crist signed it into law following a three-year rate freeze for Citizens.
In a sweeping property insurance bill that passed in 2021, lawmakers allowed the cap to increase by 1% each year through 2026, where the largest increase Citizens could request is 15%.
Number of those insured by Citizens doubles in 2 years
Florida lawmakers have stepped in repeatedly over the past year with legislation trying to attract more private carriers to the state known for its costly storms, as well as to help Citizens shed policies.
Citizens soared to 1.3 million customers at the end of May, more than double what it was two years earlier as more Floridians unable to obtain private property insurance seek coverage from the government-backed company. Cerio said it could reach 1.7 million policyholders by the end of the year.
During two special sessions in the past year, the Republican-controlled Legislature steered $3 billion in taxpayer money into reinsurance accounts the industry could tap. Lawmakers also have added barriers preventing customers from suing their insurance companies when unsatisfied with claim outcomes.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican leaders in the Legislature were quick to embrace claims by industry officials that lawsuit abuse is driving rates and keeping many companies out of the Florida market.
DeSantis drew heat from outnumbered Democrats in Florida for his approach.
Trump vs. DeSantis on property insurance
But even former President Donald Trump, who polls show clearly leads the field for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination DeSantis also is seeking, blasted the Florida governor for what he called on social media, “the biggest industry BAILOUT to Globalist Insurance Companies, in HISTORY.”
Such attacks caught the governor’s attention, and helped prompt Republican leaders in the Legislature this spring to approve an insurer accountability bill that would increase fines for poor claims-handling by companies and add some consumer safeguards. DeSantis signed the measure last month.
Steps also have been taken by lawmakers to force customers out of Citizens and into private coverage if they get an offer less than 20% more expensive. Citizens policyholders are now required to get flood insurance, regardless of whether they live in a FEMA-designated flood zone.
“The best way, and the most long-term successful way for Citizens to wind up depopulating, is through what I would call the organic or natural growth of the recovery of the private market,” said Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky. “That will take time.”
Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.
Do you think you do not need condominium insurance because your condominium association has it? You would be so very wrong if you do! It has happened more times than I can count—the supply line that feeds the toilet ruptures in the upstairs unit while the owner of the unit is out of town, the upstairs unit owner forgot that he or she started to fill the tub and it overflows, or the upstairs unit owner ignores a broken toilet, all of which result in water flowing down into the unit below. Next thing you know, the remediation workers arrive and start ripping out the soaked, damaged drywall in the units below and after cutting holes in the drywall use their industrial-sized blowers to dry things out to prevent mold.Meanwhile, the downstairs unit owners want to have a “word” with the upstairs unit owner to discuss who is going to pay for the repairs. They demand a copy of the upstairs unit owner’s insurance policy. The owner of the upstairs unit where the leak occurred smiles and explains, “The condominium association has insurance. They’ll take care of it.” Right? Wrong! Even if the condominium association has the duty of repair to portions of the damaged property, typically the damaged common elements, the upstairs unit owner is not off the hook because both the condominium association and its insurance company can often “subrogate” their financial damages against the upstairs unit owner and so, too, can the downstairs unit owners and their insurance companies. At the end of the day, the upstairs owner who caused the damages could have significant financial liability. (In plain English, to “subrogate” a claim means that one party goes after the other for their financial damages for having caused the damage in the first place.)So, now that I have your attention, most especially if you are a unit owner who does not have insurance for your unit—in the example described above, not only can the upstairs unit owner bear significant financial liability, but even their condominium unit is at risk of being foreclosed to satisfy a judgment against them—and there is no homestead protection! Because the upstairs unit owner decided not to purchase insurance, he could actually lose his unit in a foreclosure. The following explanation is why:By way of oversimplification, the Condominium Act, more specifically, §718.111(11)(f), Florida Statutes, requires the condominium association to insure everything that the unit owner is not responsible to insure. The unit owner is responsible to insure
… all personal property within the unit or limited common elements, and floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments, including curtains, drapes, blinds, hardware, and similar window treatment components, or replacements of any of the foregoing which are located within the boundaries of the unit and serve only such unit… the association is not obligated to pay for any reconstruction or repair expenses due to property loss to any improvements installed by a current or former owner of the unit or by the developer if the improvement benefits only the unit for which it was installed and is not part of the standard improvements installed by the developer on all units as part of original construction, whether or not such improvement is located within the unit.
But, however, the unit owner’s insurance policy, typically referred to as an “HO-6 policy,” not only includes coverage for the items set forth above plus other personal items, but also includes liability coverage for having caused damages to the condominium property.§718.111(11)(j)1–2, Florida Statutes, makes patently clear that
A unit owner is responsible for the costs of repair or replacement of any portion of the condominium property not paid by insurance proceeds if such damage is caused by intentional conduct, negligence, or failure to comply with the terms of the declaration or the rules of the association by a unit owner, the members of his or her family, unit occupants, tenants, guests, or invitees, without compromise of the subrogation rights of the insurer.The provisions… regarding the financial responsibility of a unit owner for the costs of repairing or replacing other portions of the condominium property also apply to the costs of repair or replacement of personal property of other unit owners or the association, as well as other property, whether real or personal, which the unit owners are required to insure. (emphasis added.)
Furthermore, also pursuant to §718.111(11)(g)2, Florida Statutes,
…unit owners are responsible for the cost of reconstruction of any portions of the condominium property for which the unit owner is required to carry property insurance [set out above], or for which the unit owner is responsible, and the cost of any such reconstruction work undertaken by the association is chargeable to the unit owner and enforceable as an assessment and may be collected in the manner provided for the collection of assessments pursuant to § 718.116, Fla. Stat. (emphasis added.)
§718.116, Florida Statutes, is the unit fore-closure section of the Condominium Act which explains the steps necessary to foreclose against an owner’s unit for failing to pay assessments.In condominium living, the general rule is that the party who has the duty of purchasing insurance for a particular portion of the condominium property also has the primary duty to repair the damages to such portion regardless of fault (unless the condominium association has opted out of that regime by a vote of the unit owners, which is a rarity). But, simply because the condominium association has insurance and may have that primary duty of repair after the insurable casualty event, that does not mean that the negligent unit owner that caused the damage will not be the primary target for reimbursement for expenses incurred by the condominium association’s insurance company or by the condominium association for its deductible and related expenses. The same concept applies for the downstairs unit owners, who could seek reimbursement from the upstairs unit owner for any necessary expense incurred because the upstairs unit owner was negligent.There are typically two parts to the HO-6 insurance policy, the primary coverage for personal losses and the other for liability coverage. Condominium associations should consider amending their declaration to require every unit owner to have both personal and liability coverage, and at a minimum, liability coverage. Your condominium association should discuss this requirement with the condominium association’s insurance agent as well as review the possibility of amending the declaration of condominium with legal counsel.Anytime a condominium association experiences a casualty event, in addition to reporting the claim to the insurance carrier, usually through the condominium association’s insurance agent, the condominium association should be in touch with its legal counsel to explore all the different aspects necessary to both repair and reimburse the condominium association for its financial losses. At the end of the day, owning a condominium unit and not having purchased insurance is similar to taking a rowboat out on a rough sea day without life preservers.
The $38 million facility, which closed for 17 months to make way for a top-to-bottom renovation, reopened with much fanfare on Nov. 1, 2021.
Twelve months later, the marina remains a huge draw for boaters from around the country and overseas.
Its first-year annual and seasonal leases surpassed the budget projections of $8.8 million generated with revenues totaling $9.4 million, Assistant Town Manager Carolyn Stone said.
Additionally, the facility’s transient lease revenue of $1.7 million exceeded the $1 million projection for this fiscal year.
“Because we followed the process so closely, we have a successful end product,” Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore said.
Stone was at the marina last November to welcome the first vessels as they docked.
By the end of the day, nearly 30 had done so.
“It was kind of surreal out there,” Stone told the Daily News that day. “Everybody’s very excited. We’ve had a team of consultants, engineers and contractors working on this. There’s been a lot of anticipation. As I talked to captains when they arrived this morning in the dark, they were all really happy to be there, and the staff was elated to be doing what we do, which is service our customers.”
The marina closed in May 2020 ahead of a major renovation in which all facilities were upgraded.
Work included the expansion of 84 slips to allow larger boats, the replacement of stationary docks with floating docks, a new security system, and upgraded technology that includes high-speed Wi-Fi and enhanced shore electrical power.
The project also included the addition of a fourth dock at the north end of the marina, which was built in the 1940s and most recently renovated in 1998.
The 240-foot Palm Way Dock joined the classic Australian, Brazilian, and Peruvian docks, which were built in segments at Bellingham Marine in Jacksonville and then shipped to Palm Beach.
The marina welcomes vessels from 60 to 294 feet.
Moore, who was involved in early discussions about renovating the marina when she was a member of the Recreation Commission more than a decade ago, said she was proud to play a role in the effort to upgrade the facility, which is currently taking annual and transient reservations.
She also noted the marina’s beneficial effect on the town, particularly along nearby Worth Avenue.
“The marina has been everything that I think the town was hoping a new and modern marina would be,” Moore said. “The customers are happy, I think the residents are happy, and it’s been interesting to see the positive impact the marina has had on Worth Avenue, the restaurants and the general business of the island.
“People who are living on their boats in the marina go to Worth Avenue for dinner. They shop on Worth Avenue, and that’s a very positive, unintended consequence.”
While the marina’s first year has been a successful one, the town continues to address a handful of issues related to the facility.
The damage caught town staff by surprise, as the marina was built to withstand a Category 1 hurricane, Dock Master Mike Horn said. Palm Beach County was experiencing tropical storm force winds at the time of landfall.
Crews from Bellingham Marine reattached the 30-foot ”finger pier” Oct. 7, but the town continues to look at options for replacing it, Public Works Director Paul Brazil said.
“The finger pier damage was more than what we would have expected,” he said. “That has been temporarily repaired, and we have met with the designers to discuss the design of the replacement pier and a schedule for permanent replacement.”
As the marina moves into its second year of operation, its staff will continue to provide a high level of service to customers, Horn said.
“We will provide the same kind of white-glove service to the yacht owners who dock at our marina,” he said. “And we will continue to pay attention to the details — booking, supporting, and safety — for everyone, so that using the marina remains a terrific experience.”
Police are looking for two suspects they say attacked and seriously injured a man at a shopping center parking lot in West Palm Beach Wednesday afternoon.
The incident occurred just before 4 p.m. near the Publix parking lot at the Southdale Shopping Center located in the 800 block of Southern Boulevard.
The 49-year-old victim was stabbed, cut with a machete and beaten with a baseball bat, according to West Palm Beach police spokesman Mike Jachles.
Yes please everyone make your voices heard as now we are discovering the current BOD has not had our best interest in mind and lacking the determination to save us hard earned money. We know other like buildings are not spending on ELSS and fire watch regarding this matter so basing decisions via fear based tactics is not appropriate. Read the link I provided below.
Also in the upcoming state elections vote NO on the housing referendum that the county is introducing on behalf of special interest groups like developers and builders. ELSS in case you did not know was also pushed through by special interest groups!.
ELSS: read to the end listen to what the fire Marshall says, contact the numbers provided to ask that this be tabled or abolished altogether.
That Boca condo board that won a $395,554 judgment against a single mom now faces a skeptical judge
By Ron Hurtibise, South Florida Sun-Sentinel,1 day ago
Boca View Condominium Association, which secured a $395,554 legal judgment against one of its unit owners, Eileen Breitkreutz, pictured, last spring, is back in court fighting another unit owner who claims the associations board violated condo record access laws. Susan Stocker / South Florida/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS
Is it OK for members of a condominium board to interpret record access laws as it wishes if it decides that unit owners making the requests are working against it?
That’s one of the questions that will be answered by a Palm Beach County circuit judge in a contentious trial underway between the longtime officers of the Boca View Condominium Association and unit owners Eleanor and Edward Lepselter over a request to inspect how money is spent at the four-story, 72-unit complex, located just a few blocks west of the beach in Boca Raton.
It’s the same association that secured a $395,554 judgment last spring against another unit owner, Eileen Breitkreutz, a single mother it sued over her 2016 record request.
The trial, which started Thursday in a West Palm Beach courtroom, stems from a Feb. 6, 2019, request by Eleanor Lepselter, also signed by Edward, appointing attorney Jonathan Yellin’s law firm, Backer Aboud Poliakoff & Foelster as their representative authorized to conduct a record request on their behalf.
On the same day, Yellin, one of the firm’s attorneys, sent his own letter advising that he was representing Eleanor Lepselter and planned to conduct a “forensic audit” of the association’s financial records. His letter said the couple planned to file a petition for arbitration with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation if the board failed to make the records available.
The state’s Condominium Act obligates condo boards to provide records access “to an association member (unit owner) or the authorized representative of such member.”
On Feb. 22, 2019, the association’s property manager, Eric Estabanez, emailed Eleanor Lepselter, setting the following Monday as the date that the records would be made available. The email stated that only Eleanor, and not Yellin, would be allowed to inspect the records.
When Eleanor Lepselter showed up at the property manager’s office with Yellin at the appointed time, Estabanez said that only she would be allowed into the room where the records were assembled.
Yellin protested, telling treasurer Giuseppe Marcigliano, who was also present, that state law required access for unit members or their authorized representatives.
Eleanor Lepselter and Yellin testified at the trial that Marcigliano told them, “That’s your law. Not my law. I don’t give a s— about your law.”
When asked about the statement in court, Marcigliano told the Lepselters’ attorney, Christopher Salavar, “You’re a liar.”
But then Marcigilano said, “I said that to terminate the conversation. I didn’t want to talk to [Yellin] anymore. He’s obnoxious.”
Much ado about ‘or’
Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes isolated the dispute over what “or” means in the condo record-access language of state law as one of the primary issues that will determine his ruling in the case.
The association’s legal position, the judge said, is that it’s the association’s choice — and not a unit owner’s — to provide records to a unit owner or an authorized representative. “You can look at them and he can’t,” he said. “That’s the dispute.”
Kastrenakes’ ruling could set a legal precedent that could affect how associations treat similar record requests by its members.
The lawsuit, which has generated more than 300 court filings, is the latest skirmish in an exhaustive series of legal conflicts involving the association, including civil lawsuits and arbitration cases before the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Condominiums, Time Shares and Mobile Homes.
In those actions, Boca View’s president, Diana Kuka, and members of the governing board have accused the Lepselters, Breitkreutz and another couple, David and Dganit Shefets, of working together to try to oust the board members.
Since its conversion from an apartment complex in 2004, the association has been the subject of 27 complaints to DBPR, Kuka said Friday.
The association leveled similar allegations in documents filed in the lawsuit currently at trial. Addressing the Lepselters’ attorneys, Andrew Schwartz and Christopher Salavar, board treasurer Giuseppe Marcigilano said on the witness stand, “You guys represent all of the troublemakers in the building.”
Simmering conflict
The conflict goes back nearly a decade, when the Shefets transferred ownership of their two condo units to a limited liability corporation they formed, Cool Spaze LLC, for the purpose of renting out the units. The Shefets sued in 2015 after the association refused to process lease applications, stating that the Shefets did not seek board approval for the transfers. That case is still pending.
Around the same time, a once-cordial relationship between the Lepselters, who work as real estate agents, and Kuka soured.
The animosity led to a pair of 2013 suits filed by Edward Lepselter. The first claimed Kuka spit on him and called him “white trash” during a board meeting. That complaint was later dropped. The second suit, filed in small claims court, sought $1,364 for damage to the couple’s unit that Lepselter said was caused by a broken water pipe that the board failed to maintain.
The association prevailed and litigated so heavily that it originally sought $120,000 in legal fees from the couple. The judge in that case reduced the debt to $32,900 and accused the association’s law firm, Becker, then called Becker & Poliakoff, of compiling time records that were “duplicative, unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive.”
The Shefets filed their request to inspect the board’s financial records in 2016 but the association denied it, saying that the couple were no longer association members because they had transferred ownership to their company.
Yellin’s partner Ryan Poliakoff later acknowledged in a deposition that after the Shefets’ request was denied, the law firm looked for “other concerned owners” to seek access to the association’s records. And Breitkreutz acknowledged in a deposition that the Shefets agreed to pay legal fees incurred in her 2016 record request. Yellin represented Breitkreutz, who lost the case when a judge ruled that the association complied with the law despite the short inspection notice.
On the stand Friday, Eleanor Lepselter said the Shefets loaned the couple $15,000 to help pay the $32,900 legal bill ordered in the small claims case. But she said all of that money had been repaid since 2014 or 2015, and that the couple owed no money to the Shefets when they filed their record request in 2019.
Owner wins non-binding ruling
After Yellin was denied access to the records, Eleanor Lepselter filed a complaint for non-binding arbitration by the DBPR.
The arbitrator agreed with Lepselter, stating that the language in the statute requiring access to records be provided to association members or the authorized representative of the member was “directly contrary” to how the association interpreted it.
“The Association does not get to make the choice of who will be the member’s authorized representative,” the arbitrator’s ruling determined. Further, it said that use of the word “or” is inclusive because “it is anticipated that the member and the member’s attorney “would review the records together.”
The arbitrator’s ruling required the association to make all records available and to pay $500 in damages.
Instead, the association sued Eleanor Lepselter, in what is essentially an appeal of the arbitrator’s decision.
On Friday, Kuka acknowledged that one of the reasons the association denied Yellin access to the records is that officers were concerned that Yellin would give copies to the Shefets.
She recounted numerous conflicts with the Lepselters, including calls for police service, election recall efforts, conflicts over planned repairs, and complaints to the city of Boca Raton about alleged code violations.
At several points during the two days of hearings, Kastrenakis cautioned the Boca View witnesses and their attorneys — Adam Cervera and JoAnn Burnette — not to veer off into issues not cited in the complaint or other evidence not filed in the case.
Among numerous arguments, the association’s suit alleges that the Lepselters’ request violated a provision of a separate state law governing access to nonprofit organizations’ financials. The statute says that nonprofits — and homeowner associations fall into this group — must provide access to members if requests are made in “good faith and for a proper purpose.”
In its complaint, the association stated, “There is not doubt that the Lepselters’ request for documents was made in ‘bad faith’ because it was made on behalf of the Shefets, and/or Cool Spaze.”
Kastrenakis said on Thursday that the association waived its right to use the bad faith argument to deny release of the records — because it had previously agreed to provide them to Eleanor Lepselter.
The judge has set Tuesday morning for final arguments in the case, likely to be followed by his ruling, which the association would be entitled to appeal.
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com .
I was very happy to receive the first email from Lucia about investigation of issues facing our building now being handled by our board and manager exclusively. She and a few other owners decided to look into alternatives and information that would be helpful to the board for them to have more information than they had.
Besides the email alert she was in the audience of the recent board meeting and voiced her concerns and the information she had found. I know as I was on the phone listening and was happy that everyone was aware of what needed to happen to go forward.
But I just received the latest email this morning of how the manager and board do not want any advice or help from condo owners that are concerned.
“Jack Buyarski contacted the consultant with FFPS to assist in scheduling the meeting with Greg, Robert and himself, then notified Greg and Robert of an available date and time. Jack was then advised by Robert ‘It is inappropriate for you to contact vendors regarding association business or commitments as you are not a director nor an employee of the Association’.”
This group of condo owners now has a facebook page
I did go on it and was greeted with our dear doorman’s face but it has turned into a place for real estate ads. I have never liked Facebook but if that’s what everyone wants I’ll go along but this is a blog that I can give over or monitor that is much more private and could be centered on our issues only.
Just letting you know this option. I will be coming down to the building mid Nov so unfortunately I will miss the meeting on 10/17. If someone wants to take notes and add it to this blog that would be great.
I thank Lucia and Jack for all their hard work and I want to be as much help as I can.
Good Monday morning.The daily rundown— Between Saturday and Sunday, the number of Florida coronavirus cases increased by 10,105 (nearly 1.2 percent), to 885,201; active hospitalizations went down by 34 (nearly 1.1 percent), to 3,118; deaths rose by 29 (nearly 0.2 percent), to 17,518.
Portofino South 3800 