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Ex-lawyer jailed in flip scheme
By all accounts, Vishnu (Joey) Rajendra Poonai was a successful and generous man who helped his family and friends financially and spiritually and was admired by many of his colleagues. But the former Brampton real estate lawyer was also a fraud artist. "It's a great tragedy many cases of fraud deal with educated people, first-time offenders of previously good character and reputation, who hold important positions," Justice John Murray said Thursday before sending Poonai to prison for 3 1/2 years for his role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage flip scheme. Poonai was convicted Dec. 22 of four counts of fraud over $5,000 and pleaded guilty March 30 to another count of fraud over $5,000. The frauds related to his role as the lawyer who registered a series of illegal transactions, known as mortgage flips, for 18 properties with inflated prices totalling nearly $4 million in 2002 and 2003.
Mintz Levin Expands New York Real Estate Practice
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., a full-service, 480-lawyer AmLaw 100 firm with offices throughout the U.S. and in the U.K., announced that Jeffrey M. Schwartz, a veteran real estate attorney, has joined the firm's New York office as a member practicing in the Real Estate Section. Prior to joining Mintz Levin, Mr. Schwartz was a partner at the law firm of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman and Herz, LLP. Over the course of his career, Mr. Schwartz's practice has focused on transactional matters in both the commercial and residential real estate industries. His wide-ranging experience includes dealing with issues such as the financing, leasing, acquisition and sale of commercial properties, as well as the operation, conversion, development and sale of residential properties.
Will from Internet lacks in-depth estate assessment
Q: My husband and I have two children who are adults. Our assets are simple and include a house, car, certificate of deposit and life insurance. Can we use a will form from the Web? A: Sure, but why would you want to do that? The Web puts out a lot of information and much of it is quite good, but you still have to know how to use and interpret it. Be careful when trying to play lawyer. Why? Well, yes you can use a will from the Web if you have a plain vanilla estate. Plain vanilla is one where you own almost nothing except for maybe a CD, a checking account or a car. Simple means really basic. Not everyone needs complex estate planning, but most of us need some help in recognizing the who, what, where, why and how of passing your property to someone else at the time of death in a safe, efficient and sure method.
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