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Fidelity Land Trust, Ed Cherry, Larry Diodato, Paul Gallenbeck, and Others Named in Florida AG Suit to Shut Them Down

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The Palm Beach post today is reporting the Florida Attorney General has filed a 45 page suit against some familiar names to readers of this site. The defendants include Edward Cherry, August Belmont & Company, Lawrence Diodato, Fidelity land Trust, Shane Frankovic, Anthony Pintsopoulos, Click Media Consulting, Florida Home Rescue Mission, Esquire Litigation Support, Growth Capital Funding, Sunshine State Land Trust, Zion Partners Irrevocable Trust. – Source

“Tuesday’s complaint, which includes an asset freeze on all defendants and an injunction against continued operations, says the land trusts induce consumers to transfer title to their homes for no consideration and to pay the firms thousands of dollars in fees for services they can’t deliver.”

“According to the 45-page complaint, the defendants misrepresent to homeowners that an assignment of mortgage is not good or effectual and that the mortgage is not enforceable. At the same time the trusts allegedly tell homeowners they will replace their underwater mortgage with a new affordable mortgage that has a lower principal and lower monthly payments.”

You can read the Palm Beach Post story by Kimberly Miller, here.

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Steve Rhode
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Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.
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39 thoughts on “Fidelity Land Trust, Ed Cherry, Larry Diodato, Paul Gallenbeck, and Others Named in Florida AG Suit to Shut Them Down”

  1. By the way, you guys are all scumbag pieces of shit going to hell!!! Including the retard that developed this site!! Get a life! Hey gellenbecker, 20 $200,000 notes and who brings in that business for you, and how much do you pocket for your boats and hoes? You will go down if you do not change your ways.

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  2. Well, all these accusations of scams are untrue. This company has a very large and happy clientel. The proof is in public records and articles across the web. The only negative aspect of their services is how much they charge each client. It is a rediculous amount for many cases so one would hope that Gellenback is compensating his squad for their work. From an anonymous source he is not even close. He is more concerned with taking care of himself and scumbags like Eric Martinez of la playa title…some people need help, more importantly the leaders of Fidelity and its subsidiaries..

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    • Larry Diodato was released from the asset freeze, as were his entities August Belmont & Co and Esquire Litigation Support under the condition they do not participate in any activity involving land trusts or the cancelling of mortgage debt. I am sure Larry will cooperate fully. He is an honorable guy. Both of those companies have been issued an “F” rating by the BBB. Yet, they seem to keep rolling right along . The AG’s office is as hapless as the consumers who get duped by these operations.

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    • What you might find interesting is that Larry was forced to cough up all information to the AG regarding this scam including how much revenue they made. Larry claims he knew nothing about Fidelity Land Trust yet I got my hands on the Ed Cherry bankruptcy deposition and he clearly stated in it that the beneficial owners of Fidelity Land Trust Partners were none other than Larry Diodato and his wife. Cherry also claimed that he worked for Larry in that same deposition. Sounds like these morons are walking right into a well baited trap after all. We shall see.

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  4. I am a Fidelity client and I am worried.  However, I cannot understand many issues.  Why does everyone on here seem so confident this company is a Fraud? 

    I can tell you that in my experience everything that was told to me couldnt have been a more polar opposite of what is being reported in the paper.  I was never guaranteed anything, in fact I was told by them that they were sure that they would lose sometimes. 

    I have also spoke with the AG’s office about this and they told me that things are fluid and that Fidelity is currently being looked at because of their association with other indiviuals that have been barred from this type of business and that they are prepared to release them from the suit if they discover that what I have said is true.  Call them , they will tell you the same thing.  So, if it a scam then it’s a scam but as a real client I can tell you again that I was leveled with from day one.

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  5. I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF WHATS GOING ON HERE . MR RHODE WONT SAY IT BECAUSE HE IS A JOURNALIST  AND WANTS TO REMAIN NEUTRAL.  SO I’LL SAY IT. WHAT HE HAS DONE HERE IS EXPOSED ANOTHER RIP OFF FIRM. WHO WOULD HAVE PROBABLY CHEATED 100S OF MORE PEOPLE IF THEY WEREN’T STOPPED BY THE FEDS.
    GREAT REPORTING MR RHODE

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  6. By the way quiet title is not only real but is everyone’s right! Here is more information http://mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/2011/01/wow-homeowners-win-quiet-title-suit-mortgagee-stripped/

    The way they stop this madness is to give us all homeowners a $250,000 discount on our mortgages and stop the madness, these guys at Fidelity will not stop here, I am sure they were ready for this, anytime you go against the FEDS you best be ready to fight. This lawsuit is nothing more than a reason for the goverment to freeze their assets so they can’t pay the lawyers to go to court and the banks win…..what a scam

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    • Andy..In reading your posts I can only conclude that you are :
      A) a moron
      B) a sucker
      C) a liar
      D) all of the above

      First off, the AG is empowered to protect the rights of consumers (you) against fraud. Your “conspiracy theory” leads me to believe you are not a client but an employee of one of these firms.
      Secondly, if you were a client why would you be posting on a blog defending these scumbags when you should be frantically calling them and the AG to get your money back ?
      Thirdly, quiet title has been a scam for years and proven to NOT work. If you really are a client then you apparently did not do your homework.
      I guess this makes you D) then, all of the above.

      P.S.- If you really are a client why not stop crying you are a victim of a mortgage you evidently willingly signed for and pay it like most homeowners. I am sick and tired of people claiming they were scammed by the bank on their mortgage when they probably refinanced several times, siphoned out all of the equity then, when the music stopped and the property value went down, cry foul !   

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      • Dear Ed 
        You had me until the P.S.

        If you believe the banks did not scam people in this mes then you are:
        A) a moronB) a suckerC) a liarD) all of the above

        You cant say the 1st thing is true and the say it’s impossible for the second.is not 
        Maybe you work for BoA

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        • How is it the banks “scammed” people on their mortgages ? By selling them into the secondary market ? By assigning them to another lender ? That is NOT a scam my friend. That is how the mortgage business works for your edification. Mortgage banks do that 100% of the time. Lenders use their own money or warehouse facilities to fund loans. They then sell those loans, hopefully for a profit (not a four letter word) and recoup their monies to lend once again. What, because property values decline and some homeowners owe more than their property is worth it is a scam ? What is you basis for this argument ? Sure there are robosigning issues out there but that does not change the fact that the borrower knowingly and willingly signed for that mortgage and knew and understood the terms. I just bought a car and when I drove it out of the showroom it decreased in value. Should I call the bank and tell them they screwed me because I now owe more than it is worth ? Provide a factual basis for your argument if you have one.

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          • “Sure there are robosigning issues”  Sure they broke the law a little bit. you say.Like it;’s OK.  Keep drinking the Kool Aide. Have you ever heard of selling the note into Multiple Trusts. Is that just breaking the law a little bit?If you borrowed the money you owe it. I agree. But if your saying that banks can sell the note multiple time, collect on the default insurance, collect from bailouts , and then sell it to some #rd party debt Collector who says theory are the new owner and you owe them full amount ,plus costs and the homeowner has no recourse, Obviously your head is up your a–. There is new appellate court decisions  every day turning over these cases.  Washington State, Massachusetts, ect ect.. One thing dosent have to do with the other, although they are connected .
            “Sure there are robosigning issues” Your comment just shows how UN-educated you are on the issues

          • I understand your argument but is that related to the quiet title actions alleged in Florida in this article?

            I’m trying to understand if your issue is banking in general or this article.

          • We got off on this tangent because DN is reinforcing the notion that “if I have a mortgage I was scammed” which is the very basis of the sales pitch for these land trust scams ! Allow me to educate you, though you seem to think you know how the selling and securitizing of mortgages work (which you clearly do not). Banks do not sell notes multiple times, DN. Notes can be sold multiple times and oftern are but not by the same bank. They are sold by subsequent purchasers of the note as they trade on a secondary market. Secondly, they are not sold into trusts, they are sold into securitizations which are mortgage backed bond issues. Those were sometimes chopped up and sold multiple times if that is where you were going with that. That, in and of itself does not affect the terms, payment, rate, principal owed etc., so how does this constitute a scam ? How was the borrower adveresely affected ?  With that being said, DN and I are on the same page that these land trusts scammed consumers here. Where we disagree is on this notion that the majority of consumers with a mortgage were scammed. 

          • BTW, you are a bit off base thinking that mortgages get sold off to a 3rd party debt collector. That does not occur. Ever. Also, no banks had default insurance. Thise were structured by Wall St on the securitizations (and not all mortgages are securitized fyi). Also, with respect to the robosigning, a borrower would never even know this took place unless they went into foreclosure and their attorney did due dilligence on who truly owns the note. Did that happen. Sure did. A lot ? Yup. Lenders got lazy and they deserve to get b*tch slapped for that practice. However, the borrower is NOT a victim in those cases. They are actually a BENEFICIARY as their mortgage can be forgiven by the court if the wrong party foreclosed or attempted to. It was not the reason they went into foreclosure but it is like finding the winning lottery ticket in the trash. This is the exact premise companies like Fidelity Land Trust used to dupe consumers into paying them fees and deeding over their property.

          • Well said, Ed. I did not hear anyone screaming “scam” while property values increased 10-12% annually in some states, people refinanced 3 or 4 times and pulled out all of their equity, sellers had multiple bidders and investors were flipping properties for profits .The same borrowers yelling “scam” were getting 100% financing with NO documentation. Mortgages were being given out freely. Then, the bottom drops out of the housing market and you gotta blame someone so blame the banks for blowing up the real estate market, right ? Wrong. It was the Wall St firms who had a feeding frenzy on mortgages then issued exotic financial instruments to profit further and insure against losses and BOOM!! DN your anger is misguided and misplaced. I do not work for a bank. I just pay my mortgage and taxes as I am obligated to. Know the facts and enough with this “I got screwed” mantra when it is simply not true.

      • Hi steve,
        My comments had to do with Ed blaming the homeowner  and calling them a sucker or a liar. It’s not fair to the homeowner. Ed seemed to bring up the subject . I’m defending the homeowner.
        This is what happens often in these issues a scum bag is busted for ripping off homeowners and thats a great story. But every time someone like Ed comes out and says to the homeowner  YOU DESERVE IT. Its not right and I thank you for letting me voice my opinion.

        Again Steve Great job on helping the homeowner in the Cherry case 

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        • DN,

          Thanks. Just wanted to clarify the issue there.

          I agree that consumers do have responsibility to make sure they understand what they are signing and that the bank is not responsible for loss in property values.

          I also agree that the go-go mortgage producing days created quite a mess. But robo-signing isn’t limited to just mortgages, it’s a problem in debt sold and credit card debt as well.

          It certainly appears the banks took some silly chances with processes and procedures that really made no sense.

          It’s going to take years to work through this mess and in the end, I doubt many will be happy on either side.

          The focus of this action by Florida appears to be the sale of land trusts and quiet title actions as a way to trick the banks. Before this we had mass joinder schemes that were shut down in California.

          But simply making the consumer the “victim” of the big bad banks seems to lull people into buying the next magic solution that gets pitched to them for an advance fee in an effort to “make the banks pay.”

          Oh yea, least we not forget the whole loan audit twist and scheme as well.

          It’s complicated.

          Reply

  7. Ok so we read the lawsuit against them AGAIN and what they claim they did and what is in their contracts and website are totally opposite, obviously some bank(s) are feeling the sting and they came up with this senseless way to try to shut these guys down, the biggest lie in this lawsuit is the upfront money we paid, we paid for a service, a land trust to protect our property from creditors, we paid $3,500.00 for that and the recording of the new deed (TOTALLY WORTH IT, NOT THE CHEAPEST LAND TRUST SERVICE OUT THERE BUT REASONABLE), the paperwork at the closing and the filing of the lawsuit, now we pay the trustee to protect the property and find out if we have any legal means to keep it away from foreclosure. If we don’t pay for this who is supposed to? Are we missing something? last time I checked this is a country where everyone’s case must be heard and it costs money to get anyone out of bed…

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  8.  

    Interesting, no customer complaints, most cases are actually
    defaulted against the bank (as they said) and no damage to any homeowners but
    it seems like the pissed the wrong bank off and you can beat the crooked banks
    and government so they make an example out of them, I guarantee you they drop
    these lawsuit (after they make them spend 1 million dollars in litigation, it
    is always about the money, these banks have been found guilty of fraud and
    charged billions in fines but these lawsuits make them look like the good guys
    )

    I have my property with Fidelity and they have done 100% everything they said
    they would, I had no option but to try this route because my lender would not
    work with me and they are the biggest crooks BOA. It is said in this society
    you can’t take a stand against anyone without having the FEDS shut you up with
    a lawsuit like this.

    This lawsuit does nothing more than delay time so that banks have a chance to
    make a move on these lawsuits, meanwhile clients like me suffer because they
    take their ability to complete the lawsuit pending. This is an indirect way of
    trying to stop something bigger than most people understand and I hope they
    show the courts that.

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    • If you felt your bank did something wrong in generating your mortgage why don’t you just sue the bank directly instead?

      No lender is required to modify the terms of any agreement if they don’t want to. Your car lender isn’t, etc.

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        • I bet you are not only NOT a lawyer but you are also NOT a client. Prove it by sending in Steve a copy of your agreement. Anyone who would justify working with these guys knowing full well they are convicted felons, embezzlers, etc. cannot possibly be desperate or worse stupid enough to argue on their behalf. And, you are blogging not only here about it but on the Palm Beach Post website as well. Fishy. Very fishy. If I were a client, I would be far more concerned about what happens in court, not in the court of public opinion .

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      • They are suing their bank directly. Homeowners relied on Foreclosure defense attorneys for the past 10 years and got absolutely nowhere Are you all really this simple minded ???? Being a defendant DOES NOT WORK ! This is very basic principals of any business. A good offense is the best defense. This Blog is a Joke

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        • You are the joke. Your misguided scam has already caused the Florida AG to file charges against you. This concept of “if you have a mortgage you are a victim of fraud” is the very same bullshit your buddy Ed Cherry used with Hess/Kennedy, The Center For Legal Justice and August Belmont & Co for credit card debt .That scams premise is ” if you have credit card debt then you are a victim of violations of consumer protection laws”. That scam worked out real well, huh ? The irony is NONE of these consumers were ever hurt by the bank. Did a robo signing of an assignment raise their rate ? Cause them to stop making payments ? Change the terms of their note ? No. They are in default due to their own actions, not those of the bank. And what do you do ? You throw what appears to be the last possible lifeline to a drowning man who , of course, will take it. You are the worst form of scumbag, preying on the desperate. If you are Paul Gallenback, what the f*ck do you know about the law having never been a lawyer and selling used cars for most of your life ? What great credentials you bring to the table. Now that is a f*cking joke .

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    • Word on the street is contempt charges are imminent for these clowns as they have continued to charge clients monthly even after the freeze and being shut down. Stay tuned…

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      • You should really get your hands on a copy of Larry Diodato’s AG deposition taken in February. It is the perfect blend of stupidy and outright lying . He puts it all on Ed Cherry and even drags his wife into this mess too, who he vehemently denied was involved and defended in previous posts by screaming at you, paying her through this scheme to the tune of 7K week ! He flat out lied in an affadavit, whether it was the one to the judge or the one to the Fl AG .He pulled a Sargeant Schultz from Hogans Heroes on this one…I know nothing…I see nothing…I hear nothing. Comical. He basically describes himself as the least involved, dumb and oblivious owner in the history of the world . If he does not get slapped with perjury and contempt charges I would be shocked.

        Reply

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