Latest / Weekly Docket / $340M Lotto Mistake, FuboTV Sues Big Networks, Shadow Insider Trading, and the Tenant Fraud Epidemic

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$340M Lotto Mistake, FuboTV Sues Big Networks, Shadow Insider Trading, and the Tenant Fraud Epidemic · Weekly Docket

• 0:03
  Track 1: Welcome to the Silverman Law Firm's Weekly Docket.
• 0:07
  Track 1: Today is February 22nd, 2024.
• 0:11
  Track 1: My name is Phil Silverman, and I'm your host and owner of the Silverman Law Firm.
• 0:15
  Track 1: Austin Black is my co-host and he works in our Dallas office.
• 0:20
  Track 1: And we've got episode six today.
• 0:22
  Track 1: How are you doing today, Austin?
• 0:23
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I am doing fine.
• 0:24
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: How about yourself?
• 0:25
  Track 1: Doing pretty well.
• 0:26
  Track 1: What's on the docket today?
• 0:27
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: So today we're going over first a legal news segment.
• 0:30
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: We've got a$340 million lotto mistake first.
• 0:34
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And then FUBU is suing.
• 0:37
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: large sports networks in an antitrust case.
• 0:41
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And then we're gonna be talking about shadow insight or trading, which when I heard that, I thought it had to do with ninjas.
• 0:47
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: It sadly does not.
• 0:49
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And then we're gonna move on to our legal question segment.
• 0:52
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Going over things like what happens if you just.
• 0:54
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Get someonem for jury duty and you decide to not go.
• 0:57
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: What's the worst that can happen?
• 0:58
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: We'll tell you.
• 0:59
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And then recording people in Texas, can you do it?
• 1:02
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Is it legal?
• 1:03
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Do you need their consent?
• 1:04
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Things like that.
• 1:05
  Track 1: And then how.
• 1:06
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: divorce affect your will?
• 1:09
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: In Texas, does it spontaneously combust or what happens with it?
• 1:13
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: then we're gonna ranting and raving, which usually includes talking about tenant application fraud.
• 1:19
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And we have an interview with Robert Vernon from the Silverman Royalty Property Management Team who's gonna come and speak to us a little bit about that.
• 1:26
  Track 1: excited to have Robert on the show.
• 1:28
  Track 1: In full disclosure, that's a property management company that I.
• 1:31
  Track 1: Oh, but we're gonna really rant and rave about excessive tenant fraud, especially going on in the Houston area.
• 1:38
  Track 1: So let's get started with our legal news section.
• 1:41
  Track 1: First, we have us man Sues Powerball lottery after being told he's a$340 million winner.
• 1:50
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 1:51
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: His name is John Cheeks.
• 1:52
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: He is not related to Sandy, so he sponge fans.
• 1:54
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I'm sorry about that,
• 1:55
  Track 1: So this guy buys a lotto ticket, goes online to the Powerball website in Washington DC and he sees his winning numbers, And he must have been ecstatic.
• 2:06
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Probably.
• 2:07
  Track 1: So he takes his winning ticket after seeing the numbers on the website, goes to the lotto clerk or calls the lotto commissioner, and he says, Hey, I have won.
• 2:15
  Track 1: And she says, all right.
• 2:16
  Track 1: There was a mistake.
• 2:18
  Track 1: The ticket's worthless.
• 2:19
  Track 1: Throw it in the trash.
• 2:20
  Track 1: Apparently what happened is the Lotto Commissioner, hired a consulting company, and they were doing work on the website or work on their backend software, and they published his numbers as a mistake.
• 2:33
  Track 1: So he's heartbroken, obviously.
• 2:35
  Track 1: You would be devastated.
• 2:36
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Absolutely.
• 2:37
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I'm definitely the kind of person that plays the lotto quite frequently, so I would be quite devastated.
• 2:42
  Track 1: if you won$340 million, Would you resign?
• 2:46
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: No,
• 2:46
  Track 1: No.
• 2:47
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: call you to help me do what I need to do with managing money.
• 2:50
  Track 1: All right, so I'm holding you to that.
• 2:52
  Track 1: If you ever win the lottery, you're gonna stick around and you're gonna keep grinding it out as a lawyer,
• 2:56
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Absolutely.
• 2:58
  Track 1: I don't believe it, but He gets an attorney files a lawsuit for breach of contract.
• 3:03
  Track 1: Saying, Hey, I bought the lottery ticket.
• 3:05
  Track 1: We had a contract.
• 3:07
  Track 1: You published the numbers.
• 3:08
  Track 1: You owe me the money.
• 3:09
  Track 1: What do you think of that case?
• 3:10
  Track 1: Mr.
• 3:11
  Track 1: Black.
• 3:11
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I think it is a terrible case.
• 3:13
  Track 1: Really?
• 3:13
  Track 1: why don't you like it?
• 3:14
  Track 1: What are the elements of breach of contract?
• 3:16
  Track 1: We have the existence of a contract.
• 3:17
  Track 1: you walk in, you buy the lotto ticket.
• 3:19
  Track 1: If you win, you get the money.
• 3:21
  Track 1: That's the contract.
• 3:23
  Track 1: All right, so he is got a contract.
• 3:24
  Track 1: Where's the breach?
• 3:25
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: and then the breach.
• 3:28
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: is where it gets really dicey because I'm almost certain that the language of that contract, the fine print on that Lata ticket does not say if we publish your number.
• 3:40
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: our website, then we are contractually obligated to give you$340 million or much money is in the lottery at that time.
• 3:48
  Track 1: I think it's more simple than that.
• 3:50
  Track 1: The contract when you buy a auto ticket is you have to win.
• 3:54
  Track 1: And he just didn't win
• 3:56
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 3:56
  Track 1: and run of the mill, mistakes are allowed.
• 3:59
  Track 1: They don't rise to the level of contractual breach.
• 4:03
  Track 1: Although there is a lawyer somewhere running about the District of Columbia thinking that he has a case
• 4:10
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Thinking that he has an easy settlement.
• 4:12
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 4:13
  Track 1: one of the issues that came up for me was sovereign immunity because I believe the lotto up there is going to be run or owned by some type of government organization.
• 4:22
  Track 1: And the concept of sovereign immunity is you can't sue the king or the king can do no wrong.
• 4:27
  Track 1: So we have the general principle, can't sue the United States government, can't see the state unless there's some type of exception.
• 4:35
  Track 1: usually the first motion out of the gate when you sue somebody like a a public school or a lot of commission or the government is sovereign immunity.
• 4:44
  Track 1: It's hard to beat unless there's an exception.
• 4:46
  Track 1: But we'll see where that case goes.
• 4:48
  Track 1: Moving along to Fu bo tv.
• 4:51
  Track 1: FUBU is a streaming service that specializes in sports content.
• 4:57
  Track 1: I'm not a subscriber, but they do have a subscriber base.
• 5:00
  Track 1: So there was a big news story that broke, where all of the big behemoths that have all the sports content.
• 5:09
  Track 1: ESPN, Fox, Warner they have all gotten together and they've said, we're gonna combine all of our sports licensing and we're gonna offer a streaming service.
• 5:20
  Track 1: That's a big deal.
• 5:21
  Track 1: Meanwhile, that same day, fu Bo stocks crashes.
• 5:25
  Track 1: Everyone's oh my goodness.
• 5:27
  Track 1: Fu Bo, we're gonna be out of business.
• 5:28
  Track 1: No one's gonna want our service.
• 5:30
  Track 1: So the fu Bo executives, get together, talk to some lawyers and they say, Hey, we have to do something.
• 5:36
  Track 1: So they decide to bring an antitrust, anti-competitive lawsuit against the big sports players.
• 5:43
  Track 1: And let me just give you a little history on this.
• 5:45
  Track 1: The traditional cable producers like Comcast.
• 5:49
  Track 1: Dish, if they're still around or direct tv, but the traditional bundled TV watching services, it's like a sinking ship and everyone's trying to get off.
• 6:01
  Track 1: People don't want it.
• 6:02
  Track 1: People are cord cutting
• 6:03
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Sir.
• 6:04
  Track 1: and, the only thing left that's extremely valuable is broadcasting live sports.
• 6:10
  Track 1: Because men like me will pay almost anything to have live sports access.
• 6:18
  Track 1: So that was Fu Bo's deal.
• 6:20
  Track 1: But now they're like, oh no, no one's gonna pay for our service.
• 6:23
  Track 1: fu Bo's idea, they thought, okay, maybe we can still offer packages.
• 6:28
  Track 1: But the big companies out there, they basically told Fu Bo from a licensing standpoint is you can only offer.
• 6:36
  Track 1: These sporting packages, if you bind them with some really undesirable channels, and FUBU very quickly recognized they're not gonna be able to offer a competitive price compared to what the.
• 6:50
  Track 1: group of these big companies are gonna be able to offer together.
• 6:53
  Track 1: So they've come to this lawsuit, they're filing antitrust, anti-competitive violations.
• 6:57
  Track 1: They say the Justice Department plans to investigate, but there's no dispute that Disney and Warner and Fox Sports own the content.
• 7:08
  Track 1: They're in a way allowed to do what they want with it,
• 7:11
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Sure.
• 7:12
  Track 1: except they are subject to the antitrust laws.
• 7:17
  Track 1: And I would say it like this, and here's a good example Google and Microsoft and Apple could never be allowed to merge.
• 7:25
  Track 1: The federal government is not going to allow that.
• 7:28
  Track 1: You can't take the three big companies that produce the operating systems for 99.9% of all devices and say, okay, they're gonna be one company that's clearly anti-competitive.
• 7:41
  Track 1: It's an antitrust violation.
• 7:44
  Track 1: Fu Bo's argument is you can't take the three or four biggest sports companies or that have the biggest rights to sports, put them together.
• 7:53
  Track 1: Does that argument work?
• 7:55
  Track 1: I don't know.
• 7:56
  Track 1: We've got a quote from the complaint FUBU alleges that media companies have engaged in a.
• 8:02
  Track 1: Long running pattern of tying its service by engaging in alleged unfair bundling Or forcing it to carry dozens of non-sports channels as a condition of licensing.
• 8:14
  Track 1: That might be an approximation quoted from the complaint.
• 8:17
  Track 1: That could be quoted from a, another article we got somewhere.
• 8:21
  Track 1: But basically, FUBU is saying nobody's gonna want to pay for ESPN and the Hallmark channel.
• 8:29
  Track 1: we will see how that case goes.
• 8:30
  Track 1: We'll keep everybody updated.
• 8:32
  Track 1: Next case on the docket biotech executives Battle with Insider Trading Executive.
• 8:38
  Track 1: So this one executive is being accused of Shadow Insider trading.
• 8:44
  Track 1: Have you ever heard of that or do you know what that is?
• 8:46
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: As we said earlier, I thought it had to do with ninjas.
• 8:48
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: So no, I've not heard of shadow Insider trading.
• 8:51
  Track 1: I didn't know what shadow in insider trading was until I did the research, regular, traditional insider trading is harder to pin down than you might think.
• 8:59
  Track 1: There isn't actually a statutory definition of that.
• 9:04
  Track 1: We've relied on the courts generally to tell us what insider trading is.
• 9:10
  Track 1: So this case, and this is a first is there's a guy working at a pharmaceutical company and it's a relatively small pharmaceutical company.
• 9:18
  Track 1: When you're comparing it to the big ones like Merck or Pfizer, smaller or smallish pharmaceutical company.
• 9:24
  Track 1: he's an executive.
• 9:25
  Track 1: Pfizer decides they want to buy his pharmaceutical company, which is fine.
• 9:29
  Track 1: knowing that Pfizer is gonna buy it, he can't all of a sudden acquire more shares of his own company
• 9:34
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 9:35
  Track 1: and then profit from that insider information and then the second the announcement occurs, sell it Thereby getting a windfall.
• 9:43
  Track 1: That is classic insider trading.
• 9:45
  Track 1: So what his smart idea is I know if Pfizer's gonna buy my company stock is gonna shoot up, but that's also gonna make my competitor's company shoot up that does the same thing as I do because the market's gonna recognize that there's value in what I'm doing and then therefore my competitor might also be an acquisition target.
• 10:06
  Track 1: or Merck might buy that other company.
• 10:09
  Track 1: So he trades a bunch of options or he bought, actually bought the stock, whatever he did of the competing company.
• 10:15
  Track 1: And then when the Pfizer announcement hits, those option contracts go up in value or the underlying stock goes up in value.
• 10:23
  Track 1: He makes a lot of money, or at least on paper he does.
• 10:27
  Track 1: And he gets hit with an insider trading allegation or accusation, and he's gotta defend that.
• 10:34
  Track 1: That's what we're calling Shadow Insider trading.
• 10:38
  Track 1: should that be allowed loud?
• 10:39
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I feel like it tries to.
• 10:42
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Regulate the same thing that our laws against insider trading do I don't think you should be able to around the laws on insider traded by not buying stock of your own company, but just buying stock of the other company that's going to increase in value.
• 10:56
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I think it's the same thing.
• 10:57
  Track 1: I tend to agree.
• 10:58
  Track 1: you've got some insider information.
• 11:00
  Track 1: It's not inside to your organization, but it is inside.
• 11:03
  Track 1: The average person could not trade on that.
• 11:05
  Track 1: So you're going to trade on it.
• 11:07
  Track 1: And as another point, there's all this about these politicians trading on this information.
• 11:12
  Track 1: They shouldn't be allowed to do it either.
• 11:14
  Track 1: I think the politicians should all go to jail if they're on a specific committee and they know there's gonna be some favorable or unfavorable laws to certain companies.
• 11:22
  Track 1: They shouldn't be able to sit on the committee, have that knowledge and then trade on it.
• 11:26
  Track 1: But apparently they all do.
• 11:27
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I'm okay with them doing it.
• 11:29
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: If they have to get like the logo of that company stamped across the back of their suits, like nascar, that'd be, I'd be fine with it there.
• 11:37
  Track 1: That's good to know.
• 11:38
  Track 1: We'll see how that case comes out and we'll keep everyone updated.
• 11:42
  Track 1: Let's answer some legal questions.
• 11:44
  Track 1: jury duty.
• 11:45
  Track 1: Is it illegal to skip jury duty?
• 11:47
  Track 1: First of all, have you ever served on a jury, Austin?
• 11:51
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: I've been called three times.
• 11:52
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Times I was in school and then the other time they nixed me the second they found out I was an attorney.
• 11:59
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Unfortunately I've not served on a jury though.
• 12:02
  Track 1: that's usually the case if you're a lawyer and you're called to jury duty the counsel doing vo dire typically do not want an attorney on the jury because they're scared that attorney will exercise a lot of influence over the jury pool.
• 12:17
  Track 1: So if you're out there and you get called for jury duty the way it works in Texas or Harris County anyway and most places all over the country, is you just get something, regular mail.
• 12:26
  Track 1: That's the summons.
• 12:27
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yep.
• 12:28
  Track 1: the government doesn't want to pay certified mail.
• 12:30
  Track 1: The government doesn't want to subpoena hundreds and hundreds of jurors.
• 12:34
  Track 1: So you just get it.
• 12:35
  Track 1: Regular mail.
• 12:36
  Track 1: And the government sort of hopes that enough people are willing to comply with their civic duty to come in and serve as a juror.
• 12:44
  Track 1: So here's the short answer.
• 12:45
  Track 1: If you skip jury duty, it is.
• 12:49
  Track 1: Illegal You can be held in contempt of court and you can be subject to a hundred to$500 of fines and if, and being held in contempt, the judge can then choose to put you in jail between three days and six months.
• 13:05
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: and that six months is not subject to review by a higher court.
• 13:11
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: they can put you in jail for six months without having that reviewed by a higher court.
• 13:16
  Track 1: I had actually had not known that you taught me something today now, it's very rare.
• 13:20
  Track 1: it's extremely rare.
• 13:21
  Track 1: And if a judge did it for something that wasn't justified, it's highly likely that there would be some checks and balances.
• 13:28
  Track 1: But a review of that contempt order is not within that remedy.
• 13:32
  Track 1: what we're saying, is don't skip jury duty.
• 13:36
  Track 1: No one really wants to go.
• 13:38
  Track 1: A judge could get so upset that maybe he does get a little aggressive start issues, some fines, maybe hold some people in contempt.
• 13:46
  Track 1: I did hear of a judge one time that had a really weak turnout for the jury pool, and a judge had got so upset that he just subpoenaed all the jurors.
• 13:57
  Track 1: which cost the county a ton of money because he effectively, served all of them and sent officers of the law like constables or sheriffs, out to serve every subpoena and bring these jurors in.
• 14:11
  Track 1: I don't think the county government appreciated him too much for sticking the taxpayer with that kind of bill.
• 14:17
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: that was in Texas.
• 14:19
  Track 1: That was in Texas.
• 14:20
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: That's insane to me.
• 14:21
  Track 1: Let's talk about recording people in Texas.
• 14:25
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: You're being recorded right now?
• 14:26
  Track 1: Yes, we are recording.
• 14:27
  Track 1: I think this is consensual.
• 14:29
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Probably.
• 14:30
  Track 1: Yeah, Texas is known as a one party consent state,
• 14:37
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: but would you think one party consenting is means consent?
• 14:40
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Would you think that
• 14:41
  Track 1: I don't know if I want to touch that one.
• 14:43
  Track 1: We don't practice, that kinda law.
• 14:46
  Track 1: so if you're out in a public place, if you're just walking around and you're recorded by a camera, or you're in a.
• 14:52
  Track 1: A building and you get recorded by a security camera, that's okay because there's no expectation of privacy.
• 14:59
  Track 1: Now, the perverts that go to jail all the time for sticking cameras in bathrooms there, when you walk into a bathroom, there's an expectation of privacy.
• 15:07
  Track 1: But what mostly happens, especially since the advent of smartphones is some lay person thinks they're really smart and tricky.
• 15:16
  Track 1: And they're gonna record conversations.
• 15:18
  Track 1: So they have their smartphone on and they hit the record button and they record your whole conversation thinking they're somehow gonna get somebody.
• 15:25
  Track 1: And the question is that legal and Texas being a one party consent state?
• 15:29
  Track 1: The answer is yes.
• 15:30
  Track 1: If there are two people in a conversation and one party hits record, the one party that's recording has consented.
• 15:37
  Track 1: So therefore, that recording is legal.
• 15:40
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Unless they accidentally hit record and then it would be because they didn't consent.
• 15:44
  Track 1: that's an interesting hypothetical.
• 15:46
  Track 1: You've had no party's consent.
• 15:47
  Track 1: You have an accidental recording.
• 15:49
  Track 1: I'll give you an example.
• 15:50
  Track 1: I had a friend I went to law school with, I'm not gonna mention his name, and we first became lawyers and he had this bright idea that the cable company was always screwing him.
• 16:01
  Track 1: And I think it was Comcast.
• 16:02
  Track 1: So Comcast signed him up for some package and the salesman sold him this great deal and he kinda knew it sounded too good to be true.
• 16:11
  Track 1: So he hits the record button on his phone and records the whole deal being offered to him, and then accepts the deal, gets this amazing Comcast package.
• 16:20
  Track 1: And his first bill comes and it's completely opposite of what the guy on the phone sold him.
• 16:25
  Track 1: So he calls into Comcast, he says, Hey, what are you talking about?
• 16:27
  Track 1: This guy sold me this really great package, this low price, and the Comcast rep, after waiting on hold for two hours says, oh yeah, I don't know what they told you.
• 16:35
  Track 1: We're sorry.
• 16:37
  Track 1: That wasn't the deal.
• 16:37
  Track 1: You're really being charged a lot more money.
• 16:39
  Track 1: And he plays the recording for them of the Comcast salesperson.
• 16:42
  Track 1: I.
• 16:43
  Track 1: Giving'em this amazing deal.
• 16:45
  Track 1: And of course, the person on Comcast was like and they didn't know what to do.
• 16:48
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Sir.
• 16:48
  Track 1: So I don't know where it went, but he was legally able to record the Comcast sales rep because Texas is a one party state.
• 16:58
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: And those companies record all their conversations anyways, but there's no way they would disclose that information without a court order if it's against them.
• 17:05
  Track 1: All right, let's talk about our next legal question.
• 17:08
  Track 1: what happens to your will after divorce.
• 17:11
  Track 1: So we get a lot of calls at the firm
• 17:13
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: A lot.
• 17:14
  Track 1: And we get a lot of these types of calls where.
• 17:17
  Track 1: Usually married, couple husband dies first.
• 17:21
  Track 1: I think men still have somewhat of a shorter life expectancy.
• 17:24
  Track 1: So statistically speaking, we always die first.
• 17:27
  Track 1: There's the old joke, it was like Why did he die first?
• 17:30
  Track 1: Is because he wanted to.
• 17:31
  Track 1: That was'cause we want to'cause the marriage was so bad or something like that.
• 17:34
  Track 1: It's an old joke.
• 17:34
  Track 1: You may have never heard that one.
• 17:36
  Track 1: Badda joke.
• 17:37
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Marriage Great.
• 17:40
  Track 1: Did I ever tell you that story?
• 17:41
  Track 1: My, my father-in-Law is an otolaryngologist, the ear, nose, and throat doctor.
• 17:46
  Track 1: he had a husband and wife, come into his office to see him for some kind of routine thing with an ear infection or something routine.
• 17:52
  Track 1: And the guy has a heart attack in his office.
• 17:54
  Track 1: in the waiting room and the nurse comes out.
• 17:59
  Track 1: Dr.
• 17:59
  Track 1: Smith somebody has had a heart attack in the waiting room.
• 18:02
  Track 1: Come help.
• 18:03
  Track 1: So my father-in-law runs out to the waiting room and the guy on the floor having a heart attack.
• 18:08
  Track 1: And my father-in-law immediately goes into resuscitation mode.
• 18:11
  Track 1: Do you remembering CPR and being a good doctor and the wife is standing over him?
• 18:16
  Track 1: He starts saying, oh, Dr.
• 18:18
  Track 1: Smith, he's always told me he doesn't wanna be resuscitated.
• 18:22
  Track 1: And my father-in-law's man, it's way too early for that.
• 18:26
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 18:27
  Track 1: So he.
• 18:28
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: not what a do not resuscitate means.
• 18:30
  Track 1: That's another legal point on DNRs.
• 18:32
  Track 1: do not resuscitate.
• 18:33
  Track 1: So if someone calls us up and hires us to, if they, we call'em physicians' directive.
• 18:38
  Track 1: Some people call a living will.
• 18:40
  Track 1: If you've got something in your physician's directive do not resuscitate if you are having a heart attack and we can save you.
• 18:48
  Track 1: We're gonna try to save you despite what your wife wants.
• 18:51
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: that shifts from a living will to a dying will at that point.
• 18:54
  Track 1: So all that to say is sometimes you have some friction, between spouses and we get all kinds of crazy calls.
• 19:01
  Track 1: But in this case, the caller is usually the female in the relationship, that had her.
• 19:08
  Track 1: Husband die.
• 19:09
  Track 1: Her ex-husband died because they did a will together, husband and wife do a will together and husband leaves everything to wife and the will.
• 19:18
  Track 1: And then they get divorced.
• 19:20
  Track 1: Husband forgets to update the will and The ex-wife calls up and says, Hey, my ex-husband that I was married to, 10 years ago just died and I still have his will that says I get everything.
• 19:34
  Track 1: And yeah, he never did a new will.
• 19:37
  Track 1: But the state of Texas, says if your husband did a will or if a spouse does a will and you get divorced automatically, the law assumes that spouse is struck from the will.
• 19:51
  Track 1: You're your now ex-spouse doesn't take under the will.
• 19:55
  Track 1: do you like that law in Texas?
• 19:57
  Track 1: You think we ought to have a law?
• 19:58
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: if you're going through a divorce.
• 19:59
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Usually they're not thinking about things like updating their will sometimes, but usually they're not.
• 20:04
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: They're not usually all, all there in their head space, and so to have this sort of provision to protect against that in case that's not who you'd want it to go to, I think it's good.
• 20:12
  Track 1: I agree with the law too.
• 20:12
  Track 1: So we we have to tell a lot of ex widows.
• 20:15
  Track 1: We're sorry.
• 20:15
  Track 1: After the divorce, the state of Texas takes you out of the will automatically even, and he, even though he never did a new will,
• 20:23
  austin_3_02-22-2024_132933: Yeah.
• 20:25
  Track 1: one of the attorneys at our firm, said that they actually got a call this week where.
• 20:30
  Track 1: they started to go into the whole thing.
• 20:31
  Track 1: We're sorry, ma'am, the state of Texas.
• 20:33
  Track 1: And she was like, oh, that's too bad.
• 20:36
  Track 1: And she asked, she was a smart lady, she said, even though he did the will after we were divorced The attorney at the civil law firm was like, really?
• 20:44
  Track 1: Yeah, we were great friends.
• 20:46
  Track 1: We got divorced, but We had a wonderful relationship and.
• 20:49
  Track 1: He wanted me to get everything anyway, and the attorney said, that's wonderful news in a way.
• 20:54
  Track 1: We're sorry for the loss of your ex-husband.
• 20:56
  Track 1: That was your great friend.
• 20:58
  Track 1: But good news is you do take under the will because He did a new will after the divorce, so clearly his intention was to leave everything to you.
• 21:06
  Track 1: let's move on to our rants and raves.
• 21:08
  Track 1: We have a guest coming onto Rant and Rave, and we're gonna bring him on shortly.
• 21:12
  Track 1: His name's Robert.
• 21:14
  Track 1: Vernon and he's a realtor with a property management company that I own called Silverman Realty.
• 21:19
  Track 1: And that company manages a lot of single family houses and there's this absolute just epidemic of tenant fraud, especially in the Houston area.
• 21:32
  Track 1: Robert's gonna talk to us about just some absolute crazy fraud stuff.
• 21:37
  Track 1: Go to prison, steal identities.
• 21:40
  Track 1: Like we have never seen this level of fraud going on.
• 21:45
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Welcome to the show, Robert.
• 21:46
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: How are you doing today?
• 21:48
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Doing great.
• 21:48
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: How are you doing?
• 21:49
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Thanks for coming on.
• 21:50
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And just to let the listeners know, you're a realtor with a property management company that I own by the name of Silberman Realty.
• 21:58
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for Silberman Realty.
• 22:02
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: I'm a real estate agent.
• 22:03
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: I've been doing it for probably 13 years here now.
• 22:06
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Mostly leasing properties, dealing with investors property management stuff,
• 22:11
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: a big part of what you do is property management and you take a rental property.
• 22:16
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: You put it up for lease and tenants start submitting applications, right?
• 22:23
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: We take in the applications after they see the property, run their background checks, go through their credit profile and make sure everything matches.
• 22:31
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And something you told me today, I was just absolutely shocked.
• 22:35
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: We're talking about tenant fraud here.
• 22:38
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Tell us, seeing in the market that these tenants are doing?
• 22:43
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Applications that are coming in through types of software they look like they pass to the naked eye.
• 22:48
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: You look at everything, Zillow's giving it a pass whatever information that they inputted into that system got through their software checks and says that everything is.
• 22:59
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: And they have good credit, their history is all lining up, and I don't know how they're doing it in that regard, but when I start taking the information that they provided to them, and I start going through it myself, I can start seeing the discrepancies.
• 23:18
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: I think what they're trying to do is find an unsuspecting landlord who's got maybe one house and doesn't really know how to do their own background checks.
• 23:26
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: And trying to get through them that way.
• 23:29
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Okay, so they want to go to Zillow, they want to put their information in, it's probably false information,
• 23:35
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Yeah.
• 23:35
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: I make them turn around and do our application on our website because it is more thorough and I don't know what systems that Zillow is using.
• 23:44
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So if you have a fraudster out there, they're looking for the unsuspecting amateur landlord.
• 23:49
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: that's not going to run that independent application.
• 23:52
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: That's just going to take the Zillow application because that application is fraudulent.
• 23:57
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So they're not going to get any independent verification.
• 23:59
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: of the time they're going to.
• 24:01
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Just take it at face value at what they're giving them, you know They'll give them a landlord name and number and email to contact and they can do all the verification checks if you were just to do it You know, your normal way of doing things.
• 24:14
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: But if you look at the name and you have to cross reference it with the tax record to make sure that these landlords are actually the same people and not just a friend and same with employment verifications, because they're falsifying these pay stubs quite often.
• 24:30
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: And we've gotten really good at it.
• 24:31
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Now they look, everything looks legit.
• 24:33
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: It'll have the perfect stamps in different places.
• 24:36
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: But when you go to verify it.
• 24:38
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: there's no web presence and it doesn't really make any sense.
• 24:41
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: So what I'll do is I'll call the companies online if I can find them to verify if these people really work there I can't take information that tenants give me at face value It's usually a lot of people that are moving from out of state.
• 24:54
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So are these real people
• 24:57
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: They are real people.
• 24:58
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: that have bad credit, that have maybe criminal history they've taken or bought some kind of stolen identity on the dark web
• 25:08
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Correct.
• 25:09
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: they're using that information to submit applications to companies, maybe Zillow, to us or another landlord in hopes that the landlord isn't going to vet it and do independent verification.
• 25:24
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So that they will slide through and be approved And then what so let's assume they get through on this fraudulent information on a, basically just so we're clear to, to people out there listening.
• 25:36
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: This is identity theft.
• 25:39
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And that is criminal.
• 25:40
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: This is likely some type of wire fraud or mail fraud.
• 25:44
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: You often see those federal charges.
• 25:47
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And in the state of Texas, this is also a type of criminal forgery, a type of criminal fraud.
• 25:53
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: That's regulated by 32 of the Texas Penal Code.
• 25:58
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: What they're doing is criminal.
• 25:59
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: I'm not sure if they know that or they realize that or they connect that.
• 26:03
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: But I want to hear from you what happens.
• 26:06
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Let's say they get into the property.
• 26:08
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: So they have them through times.
• 26:12
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Cause it's very difficult to stop
• 26:14
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: you're getting inundated with these things, and you think that percentage of applications that you're getting that are fraudulent, I'm not, no one's going to hold you to this, but if you just, your qualitative non data driven estimate, what percentage would you
• 26:27
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Oh, it's well over 50%.
• 26:29
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: The ones that have come through in the past that I've seen, they'll get in and they're usually trying to get in for somebody else to live in the property.
• 26:38
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: That person's fronting up their deposit, the first month's rent to pay to get the keys.
• 26:43
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: And then once they're in, they give that key to whoever was putting them behind this.
• 26:48
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: And they stay there until the eviction warrants its way out, which sometimes can take four months or so, but it gives that person whatever they're needing that place for that time that gives them a place to live for free.
• 27:01
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: they're using somebody else's information.
• 27:03
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So the shocking number that I'm hearing is 50 percent of all the applications that we're receiving are potentially
• 27:10
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: not 50 percent of what we get through our Silverman website, I would say 50 percent overall, you can tell if they're going to be targeted because you start getting a whole lot of submissions really fast
• 27:23
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: it's rampant on these third party sites like Zillow, Which is shocking and then once they're in you're telling me what they're doing the game or the racket is They pay the first month's rent They pay the security deposit to get in the property and then after that they don't pay anything else
• 27:40
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: that's what we've seen.
• 27:41
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Yeah.
• 27:41
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And they know these fraudsters are sophisticated enough to know that the eviction process is going to take Maybe two months best case scenario and if they appeal it they get a lawyer to keep them in there.
• 27:55
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: That eviction through appeal, could take 3, months
• 27:59
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Yeah, pretty much.
• 28:00
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And Meanwhile, the owner has no rental income for 6 months because the fraudster has been put in the property It's still a win for the fraudster.
• 28:06
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: They come to Texas, they pay two months of rent and get on average five, six months.
• 28:11
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: That's a terrible deal for the owner, landlord, good deal for the fraudster.
• 28:16
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And I'm just going to emphasize again, what the fraudster is doing is criminal.
• 28:20
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: They're violating Texas Penal Code.
• 28:21
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: They're violating, federal criminal statutes and that, that's a problem.
• 28:26
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: I don't know.
• 28:27
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: I don't know if the district attorney's offices in Texas is, actively prosecuting this now.
• 28:34
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: I don't know if the federal prosecutors are aware of what's going on, or if this is something the FBI needs to take a look at.
• 28:42
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: The percentages that you're sharing are just absolutely shocking.
• 28:46
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Is there an area in Texas you're noticing that this is happening more so than not?
• 28:50
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: The houston area is probably by far the worst I get it way more there than anywhere else.
• 28:56
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: unreal to think about the problems we've got going on and the level of crime.
• 29:02
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: we've got here.
• 29:03
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Alright, Robert, thank you for coming on the We appreciate the fact that you're willing to do this and just educate people what's really going on because these are just some ridiculous, shocking and numbers.
• 29:15
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: And the rant and rave here is the district attorney or the feds or the FBI, whoever.
• 29:21
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Prosecutes this thing needs to know how prevalent this is and they need to do something.
• 29:27
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: We have to start Prosecuting this type of tenant fraud because it's a big Real cost to our economy and it's it's doing damage This is at least a state jail felony in Texas, or some type of other felony.
• 29:41
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: So not a good thing.
• 29:43
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: If you're a tenant considering this and listening to this, it needs to stop.
• 29:47
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: Thank you for coming on the show, Robert.
• 29:49
  philip-silberman_5_02-22-2024_143030: We appreciate you.
• 29:50
  robert_2_02-22-2024_143026: Absolutely.
• 29:51
  That brings our show to a close.
• 29:53
  Thank you for listening to our podcast, The Weekly Docket, and that puts a wrap on episode six.
• 30:00
  We appreciate you listening.
• 30:02
  Please like us, follow us, subscribe to us, leave us reviews wherever you listen to your podcast.
• 30:09
  this is your host, Phil Silberman signing off.