Las Vegas Homeowner Association Corruption Probe: Second Defendant Found Dead

Las Vegas.

For many, homeowners associations likely conjure up images of boring meetings and lawn requirements, but some Las Vegas homeowners associations have been plagued by scandal.

An attorney named in a federal corruption investigation was found dead by hanging on Sunday night, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, less than a week after another attorney in the same investigation was found dead in her bathtub. The police are treating the deaths as suicides. (h/t Business Insider.)

David Amesbury, the 57-year-old defense lawyer that was found dead on Sunday, had agreed in October to plead guilty to charges that he had been involved in a homeowner association corruption scheme, according to the Associated Press. Amberson had been among ten defendants who took plea deals and were awaiting sentencing. Nancy Quon, a 51-year-old construction defect lawyer, was found dead in her bathtub last week before prosecutors could indict her, according to the AP and Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Defendants in the probe have admitted to taking over homeowner association boards through rigged elections and using "straw buyers" to buy homes in the Las Vegas area, according to the AP. Prosecutors claim that the co-conspirators on the homeowner association boards awarded contracts to preferred firms, the AP reports.

The body count in the scheme has now reached three. Christopher Van Cleef, a retired police officer, shot himself to death with a gun in September 2008 when his name surfaced in the investigation, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The homeowner association scheme comes in a region that has been hit particularly hard by the housing crisis. Nevada has an extremely high foreclosure rate with one out of every 278 houses receiving a foreclosure filing in February 2012, according to RealtyTrac. And all those foreclosures are likely weighing on home values. Las Vegas home prices, which were already suffering, hit new lows in January 2012, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index of home prices.

Comments

[Drecolorado]

08:09 PM on 04/18/2012

Another player to look at is Eugene Burger Management Company. They are running HOA residents into the ground.

[Nevada Hoa Fraud]

03:28 AM on 05/15/2012

@Drecolorado - Yes, I agree with you.
HOA Property Manager, Eugene J. Burger, of Eugene Burger Management Corporation was previously up on nearly 50 federal criminal counts, including kickbacks, theft of government funds. See United States v. Burger. 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22066.
When HOA victims questioned EBMC’s kickbacks to HOA board directors, extortion, embezzlement and nondisclosure of insurance and financials, dirty cops were sent (out of jurisdiction) to harass and intimidate the HOA victim. Death threats were made on HOA victims. There is audio/video evidence at nevadahoafraud.tumblr.com
Did Burger ever paid federal and state income tax on kickback “income” he admitted during his federal criminal indictments (i.e. possible tax evasion and tax fraud).
Burger is also a partner in a securities brokerage, Whitehall-Parker Securities whitehall-parker.com investorpoint.com/firm/WHITEHALL-PARKER%20SECURITIES,%20INC. I believe having any criminal history is a big no-no with the Securities Exchange Commission.
Burger also owned/managed several HUD-subsidized properties, then filed bankruptcies on several of them (bankruptcy fraud?) See In re GARDEN MANOR ASSOCIATES Bankruptcy Nos. 1-82-01412, 1-82-01413. U.S.B.C., N.Cal. EBMC is STILL managing HUD properties.
Burger has served as Special Master for the U.S. District Court and has qualified as an expert witness in some 23 bankruptcy and litigation cases. http://www.ebmc.com/Property-Services-Receiver
In Marin County, alone, there are several pages of litigation against EBMC.
Hopefully, the feds grill burger really soon!

[big tom]

07:02 AM on 03/28/2012

sounds like a paid hit.... 4 dead.... follow the money....4 people do not die all connected to the same crime by accident...

[whyus]

12:04 AM on 03/28/2012

. . . . .and I thought MY HOA was bad.

[Beernuts]

08:46 PM on 03/27/2012

Dystopia? You want a taste of dystopia?? Forget the movie, bucko, it is playing "live" in Las Vegas. Casinos are packed, offer up new games with higher and higher house percentages but still mange to "lose" money, thousands of minimum wage earners can't seem to decide if unions offer them anything, there are "casino invasion" robberies/shootouts every week and everybody and anybody is "on the take". If they treated every suspicious death as if it were the murder it seems to be they would have to call in CSI teams from every city in the country or hire actors to play the parts. You blow the whistle in Las Vegas and you end up swallowing it...and the chain...and the anchor it is attached to takes you to the bottom of the lake....errr....bathtub

[L3ftofC3nter]

05:26 PM on 03/27/2012

They are dropping like flies out here. This is actually the 4th person connected this scandal to die. Amesbury is the second one in a week.