Dad's Death Spurs Bitter Sibling Battle Involving Allegations Of Forged Mortgage, Title Transfers Of 80-Year Old Mom's Real Estate

In Perth, Western Australia, The West Australian reports:

• Perth property developer Joe Scaffidi, [...] has been accused in the Supreme Court of forging his mother’s signature to secure loans and the sale of a commercial property worth a total of $3 million. An affidavit, tendered into the court as part of a bitter family fight between Mr Scaffidi and his brother Gino, also alleges $110,000 from the disputed transactions was deposited into a company owned jointly by Joe and Lisa Scaffidi.

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• The fraud claims relate to four mortgage and land transfer documents signed between December 2005 and April 2006. The paperwork contains signatures of Joe Scaffidi and what purports to be the signature of his 80-year-old mother Maria.

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• Being fought on several fronts in the courts, the Scaffidi family feud has been escalating since the death of the brothers’ father Antonio in 2004. [...] One of the disputed transactions, a $480,000 loan taken against a [...] rental house owned by [the mother], has placed the property in jeopardy because the loan defaulted. Another transaction before the court was the $700,000 sale of an East Perth office.

For more, see Scaffidi family feud sparks forgery claim. DeedContraTheft