Good evening,
 
We just received some discouraging news from Leticia James’ office. The State Attorney General will not intervene in Mr. Cortez’s case.

The primary reasons given were that:

• The statute of limitations on the fraud case had expired (while Wilson Calle committed this fraud in 2006, in 2021 he filed a claim to get his hands on the surplus funds left over from the foreclosure sale. It is our understanding that by doing so Wilson Calle “restarted” the statute of limitations by trying to continue to profit from his 2006 crime).
• In a previous court decision, the developer who bought Mr. Cortez’s home through Wells Fargo’s foreclosure sale, had been determined to be the “bona fide purchaser”. The attorneys representing Mr. Cortez quickly filed an appeal and that determination was expunged from the record in 2023, so that is no longer the case.

It goes without saying that we are extremely disappointed with the State Attorney General Office’s decision especially since it took so long to hear from them. The original Deed Theft complaint was filed back in June 2022. We’re not sure why it took over TWO YEARS to get a decision or comment from them.

One of the reasons we are so disappointed with this decision is because Leticia James promised to make Deed Theft one of the main issues her office would be tackling. When RPAPL Section 756-A was passed last year (https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-announces-new-protections-against-deed-theft) it gave her office broad powers to issue a stay on an eviction while a party’s claim in regards to Deed Theft was investigated.
 
We’re still holding hope that at some point the AG’s Office will reconsider their decision and look into Mr. Cortez’s tragic situation (the truth of the matter is, they could if they wanted to).

In the meantime, there is still a TRO in place from the Appellate Division blocking the eviction case from moving forward while the Brooklyn Supreme Court’s decision is appealed.

Thank you all for your continued support and interest. With your help we’re still fighting to correct this unbelievable injustice.