The King of All Vegas Real Estate Scams

I read an article on Bloomberg Businessweek about HOA fraud in several Las Vegas neighborhood, which is really eye opening to me. After reading that article, I decided that I will stay away from property with HOA as far as I can.

Long story short, a bunch of LV lawyers and construction companies conspired together to manipulate election of HOA board members (faking election ballots from property investors who live out of state). These board members then made decisions of hiring the construction companies to make repairs for the neighborhood and law firms to suit developers. Tens of millions of dollars were paid to these lawers and construction companies "legally" as a result.

Eventually, b/c the perseverance of several residents, FBI started to investigate and indited several lawyers and contractors.

It is a very interesting article. Link is here.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-king-of-all-vegas-real-estate-scams-12082011.html