NEW ORLEANS — A self-proclaimed real estate investor who claims to be helping people save their distressed properties appeared for the first time Thursday at a court hearing in a case in which he is accused of stealing a home from a deceased woman’s bankruptcy estate. appeared.
At least seven property owners in the New Orleans area have accused Jonathan Baden of trying to take their homes out of their basements by submitting false deeds or tricking them into signing documents.
These allegations have been detailed in a WWL investigation called “Un-Real Estate” since May. But Baden did not respond to the station’s request for comment. He has repeatedly missed court hearings and failed to attend a hearing when he accused his opponent’s attorney of “stalking” him on social media.
He recently hired a new attorney, Pius Obioha, and filed papers in his bankruptcy case last week, and Baden remained silent about the charges against him until WWL Louisiana reported that a judge had issued a warrant for Baden’s arrest. He claimed he did not know. After attempting to search for Baden, U.S. Marshals considered him a “fugitive” all week until he appeared in court Thursday afternoon with his attorney.
Baden appeared wearing a black hoodie, crutches and a surgical mask. Obioha appeared before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill and challenged the judge’s $26,800 penalty. Mr. Obioha argued that Mr. Baden was not properly served with notice of the lawsuit. But in Baden’s own affidavit filed in court last week, he said he attended at least one court hearing in the case in June.
Grabill was arrested in Baden after he was found to have violated a court order by claiming ownership of a Central City fourplex owned by Lorraine Robinson after the latter filed for bankruptcy in 2020. fined him. Baden said in his affidavit that Robinson sold the house to him for $9,500 in 2019, before the bankruptcy. But he didn’t file the transfer with the land records until more than two years after Mr. Robinson died in January of this year and the house became part of the bankruptcy estate.
Ms. Grabill said most of the fines she imposed were for rent payments collected from Mr. Robinson’s tenants since January, and that the money the judge ruled was transferred to Ms. Robinson’s heir, her brother Johnny, from bankruptcy debts. said he should have been paid to pay.
“He got the money,” Johnny Robinson said after Thursday’s hearing. “And now he wants to act like he’s hurt. You know, God doesn’t like ugly things.”
Mr. Obioha asked Mr. Grabill for leniency, arguing that even though Mr. Burden had been properly notified of the lawsuit, he was not “sophisticated” and did not understand bankruptcy court. . But Baden once made money representing debtors in bankruptcy court. A U.S. bankruptcy trustee representing the U.S. Department of Justice found that Baden defrauded 11 property owners into paying the costs of processing their bankruptcy cases, even though he lacked the authority to do so.
The court fined Baden for the offense in 2020.
Obioha also said the WWL report was having a negative impact on Baden’s business and reduced the penalty even after Grabill agreed to lower the penalty from $26,800 to $15,000. I asked.
“$15,000 is tough,” Obioha said. “He has no funds. He has been suspended from business. He walks with crutches and has not worked for a long time.”
Up until the start of the WWL series, Baden frequently boasted about his real estate “hustle” on social media, posting videos of himself convincing people to sign real estate documents that he claimed would be used as “collateral.” In one video post, he stood outside a widow’s home facing foreclosure and said: Look at the master’s work. ”He then filmed himself trying to convince Kathryn Stewart, a widow who owed $400,000 on a reverse mortgage, to sign the papers.
Baden said in a text message that he would buy the home for $700,000 if the pending offer of $1.1 million falls through, calling it a “preliminary offer.” But then he submitted the document to the land records, clouding his title. He boasted on Instagram, “It took 4 hours and 42 minutes in certain circumstances to land this $1 million and whale for minimal cost!!!” He then agreed to withdraw the document from the record and allow Stewart to proceed with the $1.1 million sale, but only if Stewart paid $85,000 to walk away.
But now it appears social media is working against him. His popular Instagram account @nolastreets_history, which has over 87,000 followers, posted about the WWL story. Mr. Obioha asked Judge Grabill to issue a gag order on the case because of the media attention, but the court refused, saying it was a public forum.
After Baden appeared in court, Grabill withdrew the arrest warrant. But she also gave Baden until Dec. 21 to pay $15,000 in certified funds to the court clerk, then argued in January whether Baden was properly notified of the matter. I ordered.
Mr. Obioha assured Grabile that his client would comply with her orders and attend all hearings from now on. However, several other alleged victims claim Baden had made such promises before, but only to avoid punishment by switching lawyers.
For example, Derrick reports that Baden used a forged deed signed by Breston’s late mother to take ownership of Breston’s property on the Bywater River, which he sold the same day for a profit of $100,000. He has never responded to Breston’s claims.
Breaston and Clarence Roby Jr., an attorney representing another of Baden’s alleged victims, are asking the FBI or New Orleans police to arrest Baden.
“The authorities have to step in and do something about this gentleman because he’s cocky and he’s going to keep doing it,” Breaston said. “So they need to do something with him. Just get him, get him.”
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