Well, it’s (almost) over. We settled - just waiting for a check. Full restitution, almost $19,000. Other organization is pissed as they aren’t getting 100%, but that has not a thing to do with me.
The settlement we have is that we won’t pursue prosecution, but of course this isn’t binding upon the State, so if we just so happened to get subpoenaed because the DA wants to make a case out of this… well, that’s the breaks. We still get our $19k regardless.
Had a meeting with their attorneys at my house a few weeks ago - it was pretty funny, their reactions to some things. Also had a general meeting with the membership to discuss the situation - no problem, was even able to engineer a general vote of confidence in our actions so far, which was a relief.
But now we got all our money back, our few (like, 2) creditors have been notified they’ll be made whole soon (a total of $300 owed, but still…), and I’m thinking hard about turning this thing into a charitable trust.
Yay on the reimbursement. Isn’t any organization going to press charges though? Otherwise these clowns will get away with it with nothing on their record that would tip off some other organization :(.
Also, I assume they still live in the neighborhood, right? Have they gotten any backlash from their neighbors, or have they moved out?
Any update on what Wells Fargo did to you? I assume this was related to their “open an account, any account, just to meet the quotas” practice; were you actually out money as a result of it?
The DA and the other aggrieved party can prosecute this case and subpoena us, where we can openly testify, but we cannot press charges ourselves.
They cannot promote their association with the TRA, including job applications, resume’s, social media, etc for the rest of their lives or they violate the agreement. They are selling their house and moving to the country, to be with other Trump supporters.
Wells Fargo is a completely different issue, no I wasn’t out any money because of it. Thanks for remembering!
Really, I got a book of drama in my life. I should start a poll thread and tell the story of the top-3 winners. I’ve got some doozies. This one was pretty straight-forward, to tell the truth. When the priest quits 11 hours before your father’s funeral because he hates your stepmother? Resolving that takes some tap-dancing!
On pressing charges: this is more of a general question, but if you (your HOA that is), being the aggrieved party, choose not to prosecute, why can the DA prosecute for the same crimes? I definitely know nothing about that whole process. I do hope someone prosecutes them, as otherwise there’s nothing on the public record that would prevent some other group from hiring them on in the future.
What about the statute of limitations on the crime: could the thieves later start to list the HOA on their resumes, after the statute expires? At that point you couldn’t do much to them, could you?
Financial crimes work a little different than basic property crimes, assaults, etc, in that the amount of work involved in proving the crime for a jury is so voluminous, that the DA will only want to pursue cases in which they are guaranteed either (a) a win, or (b), TV coverage. Therefore, our cooperation is needed for the DA to begin to think about prosecuting this case. Remember: There is a chance that, if we went ahead with prosecution, the DA might say “eh, not worth my while”… and in that case, they not only get off, we don’t have anything to hold over their head to get our money back.
Our agreement does not bind the DA from pursuing this case as he represents the people of Bexar County, not just the membership of our little HOA.
