By: FREETONYVIOLA.COM:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, County Land Bank divert $15 million in Crime Victim Funds, Improperly Seize Real Estate from Citizens
- Disbursement ledger details misappropriation of crime victim funds
- Land Bank gains ownership of properties at no cost, without compensation to former owners and without forfeiture orders
- Federal lawsuit seeks independent investigation of Land Bank
- County Auditor claims it is “inhibited” from conducting a forensic accounting
December 14, 2022 – Cleveland, Ohio – FreeTonyViola.com announced today that an investigation into the collection and disbursement of restitution in criminal cases established that the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office collected over $15 million in restitution, but never remitted any of funds to crime victims listed on court orders.
Instead, a disbursement ledger confirms the Prosecutor’s Office utilized funds collected in mortgage fraud cases to pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms, laptop computers for prosecutors and made payments to current Senior Assistant Ohio Attorney General Daniel Kasaris, listed as “KasDan” on the ledger.
At the same time restitution was being diverted from crime victims, the Cuyahoga County Land Bank obtained millions of dollars in real estate, often without any court orders or written agreements from former property owners following demands by the County Prosecutor that individuals surrender real estate to the Land Bank in order to have criminal cases dismissed.
For over a decade, the Prosecutor’s Office and the County Land Bank worked together to secure federal grants to fund a multi-jurisdictional Mortgage Fraud Task Force, Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant # 2009-SC – B9-0080, often using criminal charges to compel defendants to forfeit properties to the Land Bank.
On multiple occasions, the Land Bank ended up with free houses — including Tony Viola’s personal home at 3048 Meadowbrook Blvd. in Cleveland Heights – without paying any compensation and without any court order allowing the seizure of property. Viola was tried twice, exonerated at a second trial, never pled guilty to any charges, never agreed to forfeit any property, and was never ordered to forfeit any property by any court. He later filed suit to demand an investigation into how the Land Bank obtained ownership and possession of his house at no cost, which Viola claims was an unconstitutional seizure of property without compensation, Viola v. Cuyahoga County Land Bank, et. al., Case Number 1:21-cv-1196, N.D. Ohio, Court of Appeals Number 21-4139.
Multiple criminal defendants who have paid restitution for a decade recently contacted “victims” listed on restitution orders and were informed by these entities that they have never received any payments from the Prosecutor’s Office. Several victims added that they were unaware they were listed as victims in court cases and stated they were not owed money. An investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concluded that no bank in Tony Viola’s criminal case has ever received any restitution. But prosecutors in mortgage fraud cases claimed that banks were innocent victims of fraud schemes, entitled to restitution, and argued that long prison sentences were justified because of significant “loss amounts.”
In the summer of 2022, The FreeTonyViola.com Investigative Team submitted all of the documents, the restitution disbursement ledger and federal grant applications to the Cuyahoga County Internal Auditor, and requested a forensic accounting of funds collected by the Prosecutor’s Office, pursuant to Section 11:03 of the Cuyahoga County charter, which states:
The County Audit Committee shall provide internal auditing to assist the County Executive, Fiscal Officer, the Council, and other county officers and departments, institutions, boards, commissions, authorities, organizations, and agencies of the County government funded in whole or in part by County funds in providing taxpayers of the County with efficient and effective services.
In December, 2022, Cuyahoga County Internal Auditor Monica Houston stated that the Auditor’s Office did not have the authority to audit accounts maintained by the County Prosecutor’s Office, adding that “Unfortunately, our ability to carry out what we believe is the ultimate responsibility of our department as desired and voted on by Cuyahoga County residents, the upholding and preservation of taxpayer trust through the provision of independent, objective audit services, is currently being inhibited.”
“Mortgage fraud prosecutions in Cuyahoga County were nothing more than a ‘prosecution for profit’ scheme,” said Tony Viola. “These cases were marred by serious prosecutorial misconduct, an affair between Prosecutor Dan Kasaris and government witness Kathryn Clover, the suppression of exculpatory evidence and the death of whistleblower Dawn Pasela, who was scheduled to testify about misconduct committed by Prosecutors Dan Kasaris and Mark Bennett. It turns out that the Prosecutor’s Office is actually running $15 million money laundering scheme, and using criminal prosecutions as a tool to expropriate properties from local owners to benefit their cronies at the Land Bank. Don’t take my word for it, all of the documents and Land Bank lawsuit referenced in this press release have been uploaded to the FreeTonyViola.com Evidence Locker for your review.”
“Our investigation into stolen restitution and improper dealings at the Land Bank is continuing,” Viola added. “We welcome the assistance of the public, especially anyone paying restitution to the Prosecutor’s Office. If you have any information to share, please contact me at MrTonyViola@ICloud.com. As part of our efforts, we are reaching out to elected officials and have retained Attorney Kimberly Kendall Corral to review our findings. After Ms. Corral concludes her review of this matter, she may take further action.”
ABOUT FREETONYVIOLA.COM: FreeTonyViola.com’s mission is to shine a bright spotlight on the ‘win at all costs’ tactics, prosecutorial overreach and misconduct the United States Department of Justice employs when prosecuting American citizens. Tony Viola was investigated by the Cuyahoga County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional task force comprised of state, local and federal agencies, and prosecuted in parallel federal and state cases. He lost the federal case but won the subsequent state trial. The website, originally created to solicit leads for Tony’s investigative team, has evolved into a tool to keep the public informed about critical developments in his case, and to share information that could potentially assist others who have been wrongfully ensnared by our criminal justice system. For additional information, visit http://www.FreeTonyViola.com; friend us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tony.viola.9212; or follow us on Twitter @TonyViola.
ABOUT ATTORNEY KIMBERLY KENDALL CORRAL: Additional information about Attorney Kimberly Corral’s law practice and recent accomplishments can be found on her website, www.kimlawcrimlaw.com.
*****
*****
Categories: Free Speech Zone, Uncategorized