Lawmaker/Sale-Leaseback Peddler Slips Provision Into Pending Law Enabling Him To Recover R/E License w/out 1st Fully Paying Off Damages From Ripoffs

In Annapolis, Maryland, The Washington Post reports:

• First, a Maryland senator was put on trial for helping a grocer who paid him consulting fees. Then, another co-sponsored a bill to fund a horse-racing track where his employer helped build a casino. Now, a Maryland delegate who sells homes in the District is close to making a law that could help him more than anyone else.



• Even as ethics reform has been among the legislature’s bigger concerns this year, Del. Tony McConkey this week authored, voted for and saw passage by the House of Delegates of a measure that could help re­instate his Maryland real estate license, which he lost in 2010 after the state determined that he had preyed on homeowners in foreclosure.(1)



• McConkey, an Anne Arundel County Republican, was ordered to pay $75,000 for what an administrative law judge called “fraudulent and unethical” behavior in real estate transactions. In one instance, the state found McConkey promised to help a woman keep her home, then didn’t return her calls, bought her property in foreclosure and sought to evict her.



• Under a measure inserted into a bill this week by McConkey, he and others could enter long-term payment plans to replenish a state fund used to compensate consumers who suffer financial losses as a result of actions by Maryland real estate professionals.(2) Three of McConkey’s clients were paid a combined $75,000 from the fund in 2010, making his debt to the state fund the largest of any real estate licensee in the past five years.(3)



• The Maryland Real Estate Commission says it has no evidence McConkey has paid any of the balance due. Under an agreement with the state, his license to sell homes in Maryland was suspended for one year. But commission officials said he would need to pay the entire amount due before seeking reinstatement of his license. McConkey is still a licensed real estate broker with Re/Max Supreme Properties in the District. He has a property listed for sale in Northeast.



• In an interview Thursday — after the bill with McConkey’s little-noticed provision passed the House by a vote of 138-0 — the three-term lawmaker said he wasn’t sure if the measure would affect his case. “I don’t know if it’s retroactive or proactive or, I’m not sure,” McConkey said. “I’m not sure what the particulars are. . . . I’d have to look at it closer.”



• Asked why he added the language to the bill, McConkey said it was to make the administration of the so-called Guaranty Fund clearer. “The code doesn’t really define the operation of the fund,” he said. He said the change also was intended to “encourage people to repay the fund.” He repeatedly declined to say whether he still owes the state.



• In recent days, state lawyers testifying about other pending legislation have said that laws often apply retroactively unless stated otherwise. Given that, it is unclear if McCon­key should have voted for the measure, since it could affect how quickly he could seek to reinstate his license. “There is always an appearance of a conflict when lawmakers have dealings with legislation that affects their livelihoods,” said William G. Somerville, the legislature’s chief ethics counsel.



• Somerville said he could not comment directly on McConkey’s amendment. In general, he said, the difference between the appearance of a conflict and an actual one often comes down to whether legislation could benefit a lawmaker’s employer, or a small group of people that includes the lawmaker.



• In each of the past five years, fewer than 40 real estate professionals annually have been ordered to pay into the fund, and only three besides McConkey have been ordered to pay $25,000 or more.



• With less than four days remaining in the General Assembly session, McConkey’s amendment has complicated the path of a bill that lawmakers say must pass. Without it, the RealEstate Commission, which licenses the state’s 41,000 real estate brokers and other industry professionals, would cease to exist July 1.



• The commission opposed an earlier bill to let licensees set up repayment plans that was sponsored by one of McConkey’s Republican colleagues. Commission Executive Director Kathie Connelly said state regulators have viewed the requirement to pay debts in full before reapplying for a real estate license as a strong deterrent.



• “Those who have injured Maryland buyers and sellers and caused financial loss to them should bear the full burden of their misconduct,” she said. The bill must now go to a conference committee with the Senate. The legislature is scheduled to adjourn Monday night. The McConkey amendment came in a week when legislation that would tighten ethics requirements for lawmakers in Annapolis stagnated.(4)

Source: Delegate’s measure may help him get back real estate license.

(1) See The Annapolis Capital: Local delegate may have conflict of interest (McConkey amendment could help him pay penalty, restore real estate license).

• In 2006 and 2007, according to Maryland Real Estate Commission records, McConkey contacted three women who lived in Annapolis, Baltimore and Pasadena, and offered to help them avoid foreclosure. He ended up taking their property or their money, according to the commission.



• McConkey lost his license, which was the second time his real estate license had been revoked. He also was disbarred as an attorney in 1995.

For more specifics on the ripoffs of the three homeowners, see Maryland Real Estate Commission: Final Order - February 4, 2011.

(2) The Maryland Real Estate Commission Guaranty Fund is a special fund that, with limitations, compensates victims of ripoffs committed by Maryland-licensed real estate professionals.

(3) This is not the first time a state recovery fund covering the unscrupulous conduct of licensed real estate professionals was asked to cough up cash to compensate the victim of a sale leaseback foreclosure rescue ripoff perpetrated by a real estate agent. See: State Recovery Fund To Cough Up $116K+ To Compensate Elderly Victim Of Bogus Sale Leaseback Equity Stripping Scam Involving Licensed Real Estate Agent, where an 87-year-old woman who was cheated out of her home of 50 years was granted $116,972 from the State of Minnesota, reportedly the largest pay-out in recent memory from a fund for victims of unscrupulous real estate professionals in that state. In this case, a real estate agent licensed by the state of Minnesota played a significant role in the sale leaseback ripoff.

(4) For more on McConkey, the reportedly twice-suspended real estate agent, once-disbarred lawyer, sale leaseback peddler and current member of the Maryland state legislature (presumably in good standing), see:

• MD Lawmaker Takes 1-Year R/E License Loss To Resolve Claims Arising From Running Sale Leaseback Racket; Victims Seek Recovery From State Guaranty Fund,
• Maryland Lawmaker Accused In Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Scam Tells Jury He Was "Doing The Lord's Work",
• Maryland Lawmaker To Cough Up $109K For Violating State Law Regulating Sale Leaseback Foreclosure Rescue Scams ("You have to be remarkably self-centered - virtually delusional - to see a $109,000 judgment as a vindication," the victim's attorney Michael Morin reportedly said in response to McConkey's apparent victory declaration in this case, according to an article in the Capital Gazette),
• Maryland Lawmaker Accused Of Scamming Homeowner In Foreclosure Dodges Bullet As Unfavorable Jury Verdict Limits Liability To $11K,
• Maryland State Lawmaker's Bankruptcy Filing Stalls Completion Of Sale Leaseback, Foreclosure Rescue Court Case.