Marine Returns From Okinawa to Find Her Bungalow Already Sold
“But Emily paid eighty-eight thousand,” I said.
“Correct,” Vance said. “Benson kept the first contract in his drawer and never recorded it with the county. Instead, he drew up a second contract showing a sale from you directly to Emily for eighty-eight thousand.”
“And the sixty-four thousand on the deed?” I asked.
“He filed a fraudulent deed with the county listing sixty-four thousand as the sale price,” Vance said. “That matches the limit on the forged power of attorney form he used. He did that to keep the county clerks from looking too closely at the transfer tax.”
“So where did the money go?” I asked.
“Benson took eighty-eight thousand from Emily,” Vance said. “He sent sixty-four thousand of that directly to Chad’s offshore creditors to cover the debt. He kept twenty-four thousand as his personal fee.”
“Can we use this to get the deed back?” I asked.
“Yes,” Vance said. “But it is going to be a mess. A double-contract flip with a forged power of attorney means the original transaction to Oak Glen Holdings is completely void. And if that sale is void, Benson had no legal right to sell the property to Emily.”
