FROM OUR READERS: Investors get no satisfaction in court

To the editor:

Your article by A.D. Hopkins, “Investors lose again in lending scheme,” (Review-Journal, June 17) described in great detail the reason for my frustration as a “victim” of the scheme, and my disappointment in the justice system of Clark County.

I, along with 123 other investors, was misled by convicted felon John Keilly regarding a secured loan of $8.5 million supposedly made to Saxton Inc. when, in fact, the loan was made to a Nevada corporation wholly owned by John Keilly (U.S. Mortgage Corp.). Keilly, acting in the capacity of a mortgage broker, collected many additional millions of dollars from private investors on other loans even though he had no license. Keilly never informed us that he was running an illegal brokerage or that he was a convicted felon.

Larry Bertsch, a state examiner examining the Saxton bankruptcy, concluded that the $8.5 million loan funds were “diverted to other uses than what the investors were led to believe.”

The state of Nevada “slapped Keilly’s hand” with a $50,000 fine for illegally collecting millions of dollars without a license.

One of our co-victims, Leonard Torrealba, a criminal prosecutor specializing in fraud prosecutions, was shocked by the treatment given to our group of investors by District Judge David Wall.

Leonard noted that he now understands the scathing criticism written by the Los Angeles Times about the justice system in Clark County (reprinted in the Review-Journal last year).

We petitioned to disqualify Judge Wall from hearing our case. Our request was denied.

On May 3, Judge Wall ruled that we could proceed only against U.S. Mortgage Corp. (a corporation with no assets). He dismissed our claims against John Keilly, et al., taking away our only chance for recovery.

On May 13, Judge Wall scheduled our trial to commence on May 29. On that day he was made aware that our attorney had abandoned us and we had no representation in court. We asked to continue the trial to give us more time to find a new attorney and properly prepare for trial. Judge Wall refused to continue our trial to July, refused to change his calendar to accommodate us, and refused to transfer the case to another court.

So on May 18, Judge Wall, knowing we did not have a lawyer of our choosing to represent us, ruled that our trial would start on May 29 (11 days later).

Under the above circumstances, we had no choice but to agree to settle the case. Our “day in court” before Judge Wall was a heartless miscarriage of justice; many innocent victims will be big losers. His decisions favored a convicted, unlicensed felon over many innocent law-abiding investors.

Around election time, we will give Judge David Wall his day in our court and will remind the public about their “public servant” — Judge David Wall.

JERRY ENGEL

LAS VEGAS