http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/12/02/2008-12-02_it_took_90_minutes_for_daily_news_to_ste.html

Quote :

"In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News "stole" the $2 billion Empire State Building. And it wasn't that hard. The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property. Some of the information was laughable: Original "King Kong" star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton. The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city's system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions. The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn't require clerks to verify the information. Less than 90 minutes after the bogus documents were submitted on Monday, the agency rubber-stamped the transfer from Empire State Land Associates to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is "stolen" spelled backward. (The News returned the property Tuesday.) "Crooks go where the money is. That's why Willie Sutton robbed banks, and this is the new bank robbery," said Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Richard Farrell, who is prosecuting several deed fraud cases. Of course, stealing the Empire State Building wouldn't go unnoticed for long, but it shows how easy it is for con artists to swipe more modest buildings right out from under their owners. Armed with a fraudulent deed, they can take out big mortgages and disappear, leaving a mess for property owners, banks and bureaucrats. "Once you have the deed, it's easy to obtain a mortgage," Farrell said. Many crooks have done just that:"

[Edited on December 3, 2008 at 10:03 AM. Reason : .]

12/3/2008 10:02:44 AM

The state expects mortgage lenders to verify the government issued title and yet the government sets the rules so that in the event of fraud the bank gets to foreclose on the property? What incentive do they have to verify the title? They got most if not all of their money back, only the original owners lose everything.

It would seem to me the best rule would be to require mortgage lenders to verify the sale of the property with the last verified long term owner of the property.

Or, as the paper says, the state should verify friggin' property transactions beyond "is it stamped". I know, that would be tens of thousands of phone calls a year; get a call center in bangalore to do it.

12/3/2008 10:13:07 AM

12/3/2008 10:14:05 AM

I'm disappointed TWW didn't think of this first and deed it to NYC PWNT or something.

12/3/2008 10:17:02 AM

you can only tell people something for so long - sometimes eventually you just have to show them

gg daily news

we should definitely give the government more control

12/3/2008 10:49:24 AM

this thread -- er, NY Daily News -- brought the funny.

gg.

12/3/2008 1:48:52 PM