Rich Bobka doesn't lie, steal, or cheat

excerpt

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110609/BREAKING/110609559/2055/NEWS?p=3&tc=pg

By Michael Braga
Published: Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 11:27 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 11:27 a.m.
Page 3 of 3

According to public records filed with the Sarasota County Clerk's office, Bobka participated in at least 15 deals in which properties were bought and sold by friends and relatives from 2002 through 2007.

With each sale the price increased, allowing the buyer to borrow more.

In one of those deals, public records show Bobka bought a four-bedroom house at 1614 Anchorage St. in Sarasota for $1.1 million and sold it the next day to his sister-in-law for $1.35 million. His sister-in-law initially borrowed $945,000 and then refinanced eight months later, increasing her mortgage to $1.4 million.

In December 2005, his sister-in-law sold the house back to Bobka for $2 million. Bobka borrowed $1.5 million from Countrywide, $400,000 more than he had paid for the property 18 months earlier. A year later, Bobka added another $250,000 loan from BB&T. He defaulted on all the attached loans in 2008.

The FBI report alleges that four loans totaling $3.5 million taken out on the property were obtained fraudulently.

In an interview with the Herald-Tribune in 2008, Bobka said that all of his real estate deals were legitimate, and that if laws had been broken, it was done without his knowledge by associates he trusted.

"I don't lie, steal or cheat," he said.

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