FALSE FILINGS GALORE

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office detailed Rory's acquisitions of seven properties in its case against him. In three of these acquisitions, Rory filed Notices of Lien for Payment of Property Taxes, Notices of Intent to Redeem Under Property Tax Lien, an Affidavit of Amounts Owed and a subsequent Corrected Affidavit of Additional Amounts, all falsely stating he or Sykes Real Estate Services had paid property taxes on the parcels.

In five of these acquisitions, Rory filed other Affidavits of Amounts Owed on Redemption or on the Sheriff's Certificate, which falsely claimed expenses that were never incurred, that were misstated as to type of expense (certain expenses incurred in the acquisition of a foreclosed property are allowed, others are disallowed) and/or that were grossly inflated.

In two of these acquisitions, Rory filed quitclaim deeds (QCD) conveying the properties from the owners to him after he had directly paid each of these owners $2,500 and $6,250 respectively. (A quitclaim deed transfers the owner's interest in a parcel of real estate to another with no warranties of the status of the property title.) A false statement was printed on each of these QCDs — "total consideration is less than $500" — which resulted in the minimum deed tax assessment of $1.70 rather than an accurate deed tax calculated on the actual consideration paid to the owners.

In one acquisition, Rory filed an Assignment of Sheriff's Certificate for the benefit of and on behalf of Sykes Real Estate Services, falsely stating "[t]he total consideration for this transfer of property is $500 or less," for which a deed tax of $1.70 was again assessed. This property was being foreclosed based on a default of townhome association dues of a fairly minimal amount.

In one acquisition, Rory filed a mortgage that falsely stated that it had been issued "in consideration of the sum of $5,000 to Mortgagor in hand paid by Mortgagee" rather than the accurate figure of $6,250, and filed a Notice of Intention to Redeem upon the mortgage containing the false statement. In another acquisition, Rory filed a mortgage from himself to his corporate alter ego, Sykes Real Estate Services, and a subsequent Mortgage and a Notice of Intent to Redeem from the Mortgage, signed by Rory, resulting in an issuance of a Sheriff's Certificate of Redemption to Sykes Real Estate Services.