Becker & Poliakoff

B&P has been the general counsel for my HOA for several years. We recently learned that our president embezzled almost $ 180,000 between 2011 and 2013. Two board members became suspicious in March 2012 and began their own investigation into the HOA finances.
To ensure the crime wasn’t discovered, the perpetrator created a fraudulent lawsuit threatening to sue the HOA and the two board members for $ 1 million if those two board members did not resign immediately. Just by coincidence, I’m sure, a B&P attorney was present at the board meeting where the fraudulent lawsuit was presented to the board. Despite the fact that the lawsuit was such a poor forgery (it looked like my 7-​year old nephew put it together), the B&P attorney said NOTHING and allowed the snow job to continue. The two board members felt intimidated, especially due to the B&P attorney’s silence, and resigned.
A month later, the fraudulent nature of the lawsuit was established, and a police report was made by the person who’s name was fraudulently used on the lawsuit. The community was justifiably outraged. Feeling the pressure, the perpetrator fell back on her friends at B&P, who mailed a letter to every home in the community declaring that there is nothing to see and we should all move along. The B&P attorney asserted that there was no financial impropriety, and homeowners should stop gossiping and mind their own business.
Fast forward to Nov. 2013. A group of homeowners obtained circumstantial evidence of the embezzlement and confronted the board. The perpetrator fell back on their old tricks, and tried to get B&P to intimidate the homeowners into submission. What they didn’t expect was that those homeowners would hire their own attorney to perform an FS 720.303(5) inspection of the HOA records. At this time, the magnitude of the theft was realized, and it could no longer be denied.
B&P’s final gift to us was calling a closed-​door meeting of the board and advising them to remove the perpetrator from office, but to otherwise keep the whole incident quiet. Do not report the crime to BSO. Do not inform the homeowners they were fleeced for $ 180,000. Nothing.
If B&P would have done their job to protect the interests of the association, rather than looking the other way to keep the HOA’s retainer agreement actively generating revenue for their firm, the embezzlement would have been stopped in mid 2012, and the HOA would be over $ 100,000 richer.
B&P is well-​known as a pro-​board, anti-​homeowner firm. If you are a board looking to have someone protect YOU rather than the association as a whole, this is the firm for you. Otherwise, if you’re a board who believes all homeowners are equal and want transparency, look for a firm whose members are not affiliated with the CAI’s (Community Associations Institute) and CALL’s (Community Association Leadership Lobby) of the world.
Keep an eye on the Sun-​Sentinel over the next couple of months. BSO and other local agencies are having a field day with all the evidence they’re collecting on the accused embezzler. Apparently, my HOA was not their only victim.

We contacted this firm about an action, and they indicated that they were interested in handling the case. We rounded up all the documents they asked us to gather and sent the documents to them. They said they would be in contact «within a day or two». That was almost two months ago and not even the courtesy of saying they are no longer interested. My emails to them since them have gone unanswered.

Becker and Poliakoff are our lawyers for our Condo Association. They have served us for over 5 years now and we couldn’t be more pleased. Their turn around time is quick, they always have the right answers and try to resolve any of your condo issues as fast as they can. They really know how to take care of their clients. I particularly love their blog for up to date condo laws. They also have free classes and seminars that you can attend.