Mortgage Fraud: DCCA ‘Findings of Fact’ Expose Dubin Financial

by Andrew Walden

Hawaii foreclosure attorney Gary V Dubin and ex-Governor John Waihee III are going all-out in an effort to rustle up more foreclosure clients for the Dubin Law Firm—even as state disciplinary proceedings threaten Dubin’s law license. TV commercials, a website and The Foreclosure Hour weekly radio program are keeping both of them in the public eye.

But there’s a different story to be found deep in the files of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

On July 28, 2018, Hawai’i Free Press reported:

The Hawaii DCCA June 9, 2011, revoked Dubin’s mortgage license and another mortgage license held by Dubin Financial, LLC , after discovering Dubin omitted his federal criminal conviction from his mortgage solicitor’s application. Dubin appealed the revocations all the way to the Intermediate Court of Appeals and lost in a 2015 decision .

Dubin got off easy compared to his underling, Sara Paikai-Sylva.

A March, 2012, DCCA press release announces the revocation of Dubin’s mortgage licenses and $1000 fines for Dubin personally and for Dubin Financial LLC. The same release also announces revocation for Paikai-Sylva and a $25,000 fine.

Not mentioned: Paikai-Sylva was a mortgage solicitor working with Dubin Financial and that with her help, Dubin Financial had engineered fraudulent mortgages on a house owned by a Mililani woman and a Waipahu home owned by her daughter.

As part of the scam, Paikai-Sylva’s personal home was mortgaged to Dubin Financial and later foreclosed upon. The Paikai-Sylva house was quickly transferred from Dubin Financial to “JV Recovery,” a company registered with DCCA in 2008 and administratively terminated in 2012. According to DCCA, the sole “manager” of “JV Recovery” was Dubin associate Jeff Dunster.

Hawai’i Free Press has now obtained the February 2, 2012, DCCA “Hearing Officer’s Findings of Fact … in the matter of the Mortgage Solicitor’s License of Sara Paikai-Sylva.” We are using only the first names of victims Jasmina and her mother, Gladys. Here are the details:

2. ln 2005, Jasmina and her mother, Gladys, approached Sara Paikai-Sylva (Respondent) about refinancing their mortgage on property owned by Jasmina, located REDACTED (“Waipahu Property").

3. Both Jasmina and Gladys had worked with Respondent successfully in prior mortgage loan transactions when Respondent was affiliated with Wells Fargo Bank.

4. In 2005, Gladys was the owner of property located at REDACTED (“Mililani Property").

5. In or about October 2006, Respondent directed Gladys and Jasmina to stop paying the mortgage on the Waipahu Property because Respondent was going through lenders to refinance their mortgage on the Waipahu Property.

6. Respondent assured Gladys and Jasmina not to worry about the statements and calls from the mortgagor for the Waipahu Property that their mortgage payments were late; that Jasmina had up to a year to not pay her mortgage loan because the lender would not foreclose on the property; and that Gladys and Jasmina did not need to return calls from the lender as Respondent was in contact with them and had notified them that she was working on a refinancing plan.

7. When they were unable to secure a loan for the Waipahu Property, Gladys and Jasmina grew desperate and feared that they would lose the property.

8. On or about June 29, 2007, Respondent contacted Gladys and Jasmina and asked for their help in refinancing Respondent's own mortgage.

9. Respondent informed Gladys and Jasmina that Respondent's mortgage lender was foreclosing on Respondent's home.

10. Respondent told Gladys and Jasmina that Respondent would help them refinance both the Waipahu and Mililani Properties to lower their monthly payments provided they agree to help Respondent out of the impending foreclosure of her property. Respondent told Gladys and Jasmina that her situation was urgent and that she needed them to go to Dubin Financial, LLC ("DFL") right away.

11. Respondent told Gladys and Jasmina that Respondent intended to refinance her loan with DFL.

12. Respondent told Gladys and Jasmina that the only way DFL would loan Respondent the money was if Gladys and Jasmina’s properties were used as "insurance" for Respondent's loan.

13. Respondent informed Gladys and Jasmina that they would execute quitclaim deeds to their respective properties to DFL but that DFL would not record the deeds and would hold the deeds until Respondent could refinance with another lender.

14. On or about June 29, 2007, Gladys and Jasmina and Respondent met with two representatives of DFL, Richard Lindberg ("Lindberg") and Jason Hoopai ("Hoopai") at the offices of DFL to discuss the terms of Respondent's loan.

15. Lindberg and/or Hoopai presented Gladys and Jasmina with a one page document entitled, "Term Sheet", dated June 29, 2007, that listed the terms of the $600,000.00 loan from DFL to Respondent.

16. Hoopai, Gladys and Jasmina and Respondent went to the offices of First American Title Company, Inc. ("First") later that day, where Gladys and Jasmina signed promissory notes, mortgages and quitclaim deeds establishing that Gladys and Jasmina had borrowed money from DFL.

17. The promissory notes and mortgages signed by Gladys and Jasmina indicated that Gladys and Jasmina were each borrowing $150,000.00 from DFL.

18. Neither Gladys and Jasmina received any monies from this transaction.

19. In or about June 2007, Gladys and Jasmina were informed by the lender for their Waipahu Property that their account had gone into foreclosure.

20. On or about July 5, 2007, Respondent informed Gladys and Jasmina that they would need to re-execute the DFL mortgage documents and notes to reflect a name change by Jasmina and a new date to pay off the amounts that Respondent owed under her loan.

21. Respondent informed Gladys and Jasmina that if they did not re-execute the documents that day, Respondent's house would be foreclosed upon. Respondent and her husband drove Gladys and Jasmina to First that day.

22. At First, as Gladys and Jasmina attempted to review the documents, Respondent informed them that they did not need to review the documents as they were the same documents that they signed on June 29, 2007 except for the name change and change in pay-off date.

23. Neither Gladys and Jasmina was provided with copies of the documents they signed on July 5, 2007.

24. Unbeknownst to Gladys and Jasmina, the terms of the loan as contained in the mortgages and/or promissory notes they signed on July 5, 2007 changed the amounts that Gladys and Jasmina were borrowing from DFL from $150,000.00 each to $600,000.00.

25. At no time did Respondent disclose this change to Gladys and Jasmina.

26. After signing the documents on July 5, 2007, Gladys and Jasmina spoke a few times with Respondent but Respondent took no action to assist them in refinancing the loans on their properties. Respondent told Gladys and Jasmina that the DFL loan was now their problem. Respondent subsequently disappeared.

27. Respondent subsequently defaulted on her loan from DFL.

28. As a result of Respondent's default, a quitclaim deed that had been signed by Respondent and her husband on July 5, 2007 deeding property located at REDACTED to DFL was recorded by DFL with the State of Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances on or about March 20, 2008.

29. On or about June 20, 2008, DFL transferred by deed the property located at REDACTED to a third party.

Hawaii Land Court records show that ‘third party’ was Jeff Dunster’s JV Recovery, LLC. Hawaii Land Court and Oahu TMK records show that the Paikai property was a condominium in Mililani Gardens 2.

Sara Paikai-Sylva is now incarcerated in a Nevada State penitentiary after being convicted on Nevada State charges relating to identity theft and credit card fraud.

---30---

PDF: Hearing Officer’s Findings of Fact

BREG: JV Recovery