Prime member needs on a deal gone sour. Anyone in the Southwest that can help?

[Malibu Rapper]

Guys, I need some help for a fellow SoCal Prime member. He originally posted asking for some help and a lot of people mistakenly took his original request for help as a post from a troll. Before you think this story is bogus or scold the buyer for being naive, please be considerate of the fact that he is new to the US and the last thing he expected given the circumstances was to be ripped off. I think we need some NSX_Nick type of investigation here.

Basically what happened is he paid for a car he bid on eBay and the seller backed out. This was back in September, the auction ended with someone outbidding him but then the seller claims he canceled the sale with the winner and they made a deal outside of eBay. Buyer paid seller in full. Seller supposedly used the money to pay off the car and change title to him and then his wife did not want him to sell it to the buyer. Buyer felt bad for him after he told him this story so they agreed to a refund. Seller didn't refund the money but wrote a notarized contract stating that he would pay back by end of December with interest or else a parcel of land that he owns will be forfeited to buyer. Land is appraised at a value much higher than the car. Parcel number is given in the contract and is verified, via lookup service, to belong to seller, not clear as to the true value of the parcel.

Well, I have been talking to the buyer and trying to help out as much as I could. He gave me this guy's address and so I Zillow the address only to discover that the house is now on the market! Seller claims he is in Hong Kong now and I'm afraid this guy's gonna run. He has not been too responsive to emails and some of the Google hits on his name are kinda shady.

The car originally belonged to a Prime member who sold it back in 2005. Seller's home address is in Houston, TX (Lakewood) and like I said, the house is now for sale. He owes the buyer about $60k. Now in a strange twist of fate, the car belongs to another Prime member here who says he purchased it from a person with a different name. I got a Carfax and the pasted it to the bottom of this post. It doesn't look like at any point the owner purchased the car to be under his name and then transferred it to the new owner.

So is there anyone in Houston, lawyer, LEO, or well connected individual that is able to assist in this matter? I've just been able to dig up a little bit of information to help him with his cause but I've exhausted my abilities to assist. He's out close to $60,000 at this point and I'm hoping the community can help him get his money back. Your feedback is appreciated!

Purchased: 2006
Type: Lease
Where: Texas
Est. miles/year: ---
Est. length owned: 5/3/06 - 11/5/07
(1 yr. 6 mo.)

Date: Mileage: Source: Comments:
05/03/2006 Texas
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Cypress, CA
Title #10170738824160744 Title issued or updated
New owner reported
Loan or lien reported
Registered as lease vehicle

05/31/2006 16,475 John Eagle Acura
Houston, TX
281-589-0600
www.johneagleacura.com
ww.johneagleacura.c
om Vehicle serviced
Washed/detailed
Battery/charging system checked

02/01/2007 20,521 John Eagle Acura
Houston, TX
281-589-0600
www.johneagleacura.com
ww.johneagleacura.c
om Vehicle serviced
Maintenance inspection completed

03/21/2007 21,652 Texas
Inspection Station
Houston, TX Passed safety inspection
Passed emissions inspection

04/01/2007 Texas
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Houston, TX
Title #10170738824160744 Registration issued or renewed
Loan or lien reported
Registered as lease vehicle
Passed safety inspection

Purchased: 2007
Where: Texas
Est. miles/year: ---
Est. length owned: 11/5/07 - present
(2 months)

Date: Mileage: Source: Comments:
11/05/2007 24,796 Texas
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Houston, TX
Title #10173739377110614 Title issued or updated
New owner reported

11/30/2007 25,286 Texas
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Houston, TX
Title #10167439399135145 Title issued or updated

 

[RON98]

wow sorry to hear that.

i would be contacting the local police department. if he waits any longer, this guy could be gone back to where ever with his 60k.

 

[heySkippy]

Wow, I would be in contact with a lawyer right now with the goal of obtaining a lien on everything the seller owned. Then I would hire a genuine professional PI in Texas. The time for asking strangers on the internet for help is past.

 

[Dtrigg]

Wow, I would be in contact with a lawyer right now with the goal of obtaining a lien on everything the seller owned. Then I would hire a genuine professional PI in Texas. The time for asking strangers on the internet for help is past.

++1

 

[goldNSX]

+1. (I eat good fish right now and the 'wife don't want to sell it' excuse smells very fishy)

 

[Malibu Rapper]

The contract was notarized and signed in CA. Seller is in TX so should he be hiring a lawyer from Texas or CA? Can anyone recommend some lawyers? It's so hard to find a good one these days.

 

[otoro]

I thought in the initial post, we advised OP to contact a lawyer immediately.

Why hasn't he done so?

 

[Malibu Rapper]

I thought in the initial post, we advised OP to contact a lawyer immediately.

Why hasn't he done so?

He did make initial contact, there are a number of circumstances why he's in this situation today. Just understand that he needs help now and if he made contact with just a shark lawyer that doesn't really care, he might not get the help that he needs. That's why he asked for me to post on Prime and actually there's a lot of good info coming in that only this community can provide.

Thanks!

 

[RSO 34]

He needs to start a breach of contract action immediately in Texas and seek a temporary restraining order on the sale of the house pending the determination of the contractual litigation. A decent lawyer should be able to combine the initial filings with a request for injunctive relief that, with sufficient proof of the breach, may allow for an escrow of the funds in question pending resolution of the lawsuit.

And as I advised in the other thread, he should contact the local police/district attorney's office immediately to get them involved prior to the house being sold.

 

[RSO 34]

I have someone looking for a referral to a Houston attorney and will PM if I can get a name.

 

[drew]

You need to encumber the house NOW. Go ahead, file and get the action going (NOW. NOW. NOW.). The house becomes essentially unsellable and with any luck there is value to be extracted.

You only need a competent attorney, this stuff is not hard. Unfortunately, I do not believe costs are recoverable so this is going to be an exercise in throwing more money after bad.

**

You need to post all of the suspects information. Post EVERYTHING you got, hard to do any investigation without it.

**

Legal action is very inefficient and preventing exposure like this is paramount to keeping your resources.

I know situations like this evolve, overtake the inexperienced and good intentions, but you need to pull back when you are out of escrow and not getting CONCURRENT exchanges.

Concurrency is the key, if you don't have it: then get a trusted escrow service.

Drew

 

[BD]

For six grand!!! He needs to find some one who can help him, by flying down to Texas, and get hold of a police department immediately. An authority figure needs to go knock on the door and get this person to talk. If you delay any more, this guy might disappear.

 

[Osiris_x11]

Houston-area helper...

Contact wheelman, ASAP!

He can offer a lot of insight and perhaps assistance.

I did notice that he hasn't been on 'Prime since "12-20-2007", perhaps someone from the Houston NSX 'crew' can provide Malibu Rapper w/ his contact info...


(Maybe also post a thread in the South Central regional forum, the Houston-area guys are very sincere and helpful!)

 

[pvmike]

You need to encumber the house NOW. Go ahead, file and get the action going (NOW. NOW. NOW.). The house becomes essentially unsellable and with any luck there is value to be extracted.

You only need a competent attorney, this stuff is not hard. Unfortunately, I do not believe costs are recoverable so this is going to be an exercise in throwing more money after bad.

**

You need to post all of the suspects information. Post EVERYTHING you got, hard to do any investigation without it.

**

Legal action is very inefficient and preventing exposure like this is paramount to keeping your resources.

I know situations like this evolve, overtake the inexperienced and good intentions, but you need to pull back when you are out of escrow and not getting CONCURRENT exchanges.

Concurrency is the key, if you don't have it: then get a trusted escrow service.

Drew

It's my opinion that the seller never intended to repay the converted monies. I think he's trying to "sell" a piece of property that he owns to the victim in exchange for the money.

 

[Dtrigg]

Hay! When you read the news on his web site, he is building a new 8 cyl. that will out do an NSX and he is too tired of Honda trying to develop a new NSX.

Do you think I should send him a deposit so I can get in line?:biggrin:

 

[DocL]

Look at this caption about the guy. It should be easy to find him if he worked for the UN.


"...The company currently sells their wines, a Syrah and a White Rhone Blend, via their website and is negotiating with a local distributor in Houston. The owner and President of the company is a former United Nations diplomat who served in Bosnia, Kosovo and Croatia and up until 2005, with the Office of the Prosecutor of the UN Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in Belgrade..."