Aeon Financial Tax Lien THIEVES / Attorney General - Washington DC Court of Appeals rules AGAINST Aeon Financial LLC

Submitted by Gone Fishin on Thu, 02/06/2014 - 18:03.

Office of the Attorney General

  

February 6, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

D.C. COURT OF APPEALS RULES FOR DISTRICT HOMEOWNERS ON REDEEMING PROPERTIES
SUBJECT TO FORECLOSURE
 

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Upholding the arguments of the D.C. Attorney General’s office and rejecting those of an out-of-town wholesale tax sale purchaser, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled today in a way that protects District homeowners whose properties are subject to foreclosure and requires tax sale purchasers to dismiss foreclosure actions before they may be reimbursed for their purchases, announced D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan.

 

The court ruled in a case involving Aeon Financial, LLC, which was a high-volume purchaser at several tax sales held by the District.  In hundreds of its cases, Aeon argued that because the District did not collect interest from homeowners that should have accrued between the date on which the homeowner paid  taxes and the date on which the homeowner reimbursed Aeon for its reasonable legal expenses, the homeowners had not redeemed their properties and Aeon was entitled to foreclose unless the additional interest and any newly-arising legal expenses were paid by the homeowner or until the District cancelled the sales. Sale cancellation would have required the District to pay Aeon millions of dollars in additional interest and legal fees.

 

In a unanimous decision of a three-judge panel, written by Judge Roy McLeese,  the court rejected Aeon’s arguments, holding that taxes are considered paid for tax sale redemption purposes when the homeowner in good faith pays all amounts billed by the District, even if the District makes a mistake in calculating the tax amount.  Therefore, the court concluded, a homeowner redeems property when all taxes billed by the District are paid and, if a foreclosure complaint has been filed, the homeowner has fully reimbursed the tax sale purchaser for its reasonable legal expenses. 

 

The court also upheld the District’s practice of absorbing any additional interest that accrues if there is a delay in paying legal expenses, and rejected Aeon’s argument that the properties are not redeemed until the District collected this small amount of additional interest from homeowners.  

 

Mayor  Vincent C. Gray said, “I am delighted that today’s court ruling protects the interests of home-owning District taxpayers against the unscrupulous practices of some tax lien purchasers. I applaud the Attorney General and the attorneys in his office for their work on this case.” 

 

Attorney General Nathan said that the opinion “reinforces that tax sale purchasers may not use hyper-technical readings of the statute to put District homeowners at risk of foreclosure or to obtain refund payments from the District in excess of what the statute reasonably allows.  The decision upholds the District’s administrative practices dealing with tax sales and provides certainty to homeowners who seek to redeem their properties.”

 

The Attorney General commended James McKay of the Office of the Solicitor General for his handling of the appeal in this matter and OAG attorneys David Bradley and Eli Wood for their handling of this matter in the Superior Court.

 

 

 

Ted Gest

Public Information Officer

Office of Attorney General

441 4th Street, NW, Suite 1100S

Washington, DC  20001



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Axis Capital Management, Inc. (owned by Mark A. Schwartz - and its President/CEO) is the SOLE MEMBER of Aeon Financial LLC, and  both are held by Axis Investment Holdings Trust, with Mark A. Schwartz the Trustee and Beneficiary of the Trust.  He is also the owner and sole equity partner of the Tax Lien Law Group.
 
The DC Court opinion discusses that property owners are paying the taxes and legal fees to Schwartz - in his capacity as owner of Aeon and owner of the Tax Lien Law Group.  Yet no one is telling the property owners that the Tax Lien Law Group is NOT an outside law firm - but it is Mark A. Schwartz hiding behind Axis and Aeon.  All those legally fees should be refunded to property owners, and the AG Nathan should be seeking that on behalf of innocent taxpayers.
 
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*** NOTE  -   AXIS CAPITAL - Sole Member   ****
 
The Bar Associations across the country (or at least the 11 states where Mark Schwartz is admitted) should be investigating for conflicts of interest.

 

Ohio's Attorney General should intervene on behalf of tens of thousands of victims in Ohio.

 

 
 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
Nos. 12-CV-695, 12-CV-696, 12-CV-1013,
12-CV-1241, 12-CV-1278, & 12-CV-1348
 
AEON FINANCIAL, LLC, APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE,
V.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT

 

Appeals from the Superior Court
of the District of Columbia
(CA-1472-09, CA-1487-09, & CA-3938-10)
(Hon. Joseph E. Beshouri, Magistrate Judge)
(Hon. Melvin R. Wright, Reviewing Judge)
(Argued January 31, 2013 Decided February 6, 2014)
Malik J. Tuma for appellant/cross-appellee.
James C. McKay, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, with whom Irvin B. Nathan, Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Todd S. Kim, Solicitor General, and Donna M. Murasky, Deputy Solicitor General, were on the brief, for appellee/cross-appellant.
Vanessa A. Buchko filed a brief on behalf of Legal Counsel for the Elderly as amicus curiae in support of appellee.
Before BLACKBURNE-RIGSBY and MCLEESE, Associate Judges, and STEADMAN, Senior Judge.

 

 



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