Implicated home mortgage firm raises campaign funds for Mich. Sec. of State Johnson
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson took home a load of campaign cash last week from a fundraiser held by Linda Orlans, owner of Orlans Associates Law Firm, which has been implicated in robo-signing fraud in Michigan and Massachusetts.
The event was touted as a “special reception to honor Secretary of State Ruth Johnson” according to a copy of the invitation. Former Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser was also in attendance. Attendees at the event, held in Orlans’ home, were asked to pay $250 to $3,400 to Johnson’s campaign fund.
Michigan Messenger reported earlier this year that Orlans’ attorney Marshall Isaacs had been placed on a robo-signing list by a county clerk in Massachusetts.
Kevin Harvey, first assistant clerk for the Southern Essex District Register of Deeds in Massachusetts, says a private mortgage fraud investigator brought the robo-signing to the attention of his boss, John O’Brien. That investigator, Steve Dibert, runs MFI-Miami, which has offices in Florida as well as Traverse City.
“Steve [Diberts]’s work on Marshall Isaacs was confirmed by our certified mortgage fraud examiner Marie McDonnell here in Massachusetts and his name is on our registry’s robo-signers list,” Harvey told the Michigan Messenger.
Those revelations resulted in lawmakers and activists alike calling on Johnson to conduct an investigation of Orlans Associates.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics shows that in the 2010 cycle, Linda Orlans gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans. She donated $25,000 to the state party, as well as maxing out in donations to Secretary of State Ruth Johnson with a $3,400 donation. She gave Gov. Rick Snyder’s campaign $2,600 and Attorney General Bill Schuette’s campaign $2,100.
The group’s records also show that between 2006 and 2010, other officials with the company also gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates.
Steve Dibert, of MFI-Miami, slammed Johnson for her relationship with Orlans.
“„Last year, when she ran for Michigan Secretary of State, Ruth Johnson vigorously campaigned for opening up government and for more government integrity. Yet, Ruth Johnson pals around with and has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a woman whose law firm is currently under criminal investigation in two states for filing fraudulent documents on the public record. Recently, Orlans Associates was sued for illegally foreclosing on a Michigan National Guardsman while he was fighting in Iraq. Orlans Associates has also been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by several Michigan counties because their clients failed to pay millions of dollars in unpaid Michigan Real Estate Transfer Taxes.”
“„During Ruth Johnson’s tenure as Oakland County Register of Deeds, Linda Orlans’ firm filed hundreds of documents with fraudulent attorney and notary signatures in Oakland County. Yet, when approached about these signatures in December of 2009 and again in the Spring of 2010 by me and other people, Ruth Johnson did nothing. Even now my staff has alerted the Michigan Secretary of State’s office to the fraudulent notary signatures on mortgage assignments filed by Orlans Associates in dozens of counties in Michigan and Massachusetts. Ruth Johnson responds by raking in an estimated $25,000 of dirty money from Linda Orlans and her friends who are hell bent on committing financial genocide against middle class families across America.”
Shortly after that story appeared, Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr. referred Isaacs to Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette for criminal investigation in a series of robo-signed documents he had discovered in county records.
Orlans issued a blanket denial against the allegations two weeks after the stories about Isaacs first broke.
This news comes on the heels of a revelation last week that robo-signed documents have now been linked to Trott and Trott, the state’s largest foreclosure law firm. Dibert writes on his blog that Trott attorney Kenneth Kurel is alleged to have robo-signed at least eight deeds on file with Register of Deeds offices across the state. Two days later, Dibert reported that Ellen Coon, another Trott attorney, was allegedly involved in robo-signing at least four such documents.
Trott is another GOP donor with deep pockets. David Trott, owner of Trott and Trott, came under fire in 2008 when he leased space to the presidential campaign of Republican candidate John McCain.
