Complaint Review: Todd Teal - Walter A. Smith - Snuffy Smith - Nationwide

Let's take these one at a time, Snuffy: Libel: A FALSE publication that damages a person's reputation. Slander: A FALSE defamation (expressed in spoken words, signs, or gestures) which injures the character or reputation of the person defamed; distinguished from libel. 1) The articles below speak for themselves so I won't even address this silliness. 2) Anyone with any law education will realize from this article that the state of Florida is not losing, as you will eventually find out. 3) Right, you didn't lose the lawsuit suit against me, you just folded like a bad poker hand when I decided your attempts to get me to pay you to take the cloud off my title did not intimidate me & I decided to go after you instead. By the way people, after hiring any attorney & informing Snuffy HE would be sued, he took the cloud is off my title in less than 2 weeks. 4) Wrong. The state I am speaking of did say your actions were illegal & I still have time to file a suit against you for 3 times the damages. 5) What I said was I filed complaints with these agencies, which is true. Hopefully, something will materialize from some of these complaints. In fact, I know of one agency (I'll let you guess which one) that is conducting an investigation. And I'm sure I will never see you in court as all you do is hide out. I imagine your mom in Plano is so proud of you. I hope Belen has smartened up & moved on. I will not be carrying on an on-going conversation with you. I think I will call my attorney & give him the info that you are still threatening me with frivolous lawsuits. I'm sure her first instruction will be don't communicate with you as I might decide to file a suit against you in the state concerned since what you did IS illegal in that state. ********************* Man accused of delaying land sales By JONI JAMES Published July 29, 2005 It's a made-to-order plot in Florida's runaway real estate market. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Leon County Circuit Court, Attorney General Charlie Crist accuses a 61-year-old Singapore resident named Todd Teal of masterminding a multistate land-buying scheme that trapped at least 150 Florida property owners so they couldn't sell their property to anyone else. "God bless anyone who makes a profit. A lot of people are doing that in this market," Crist said. "But you have to operate in a fair fashion." Teal, having successfully persuaded out-of-state owners to sell their Florida property, would use an ambiguity in the contract to delay paying earnest money and stall the contract's closing until he found a buyer willing to pay much more, the suit claims. When Teal couldn't find a buyer quickly and the original owners tried to extricate themselves from the deal months later, Teal would file affidavits to the court clerk asserting his claim on the property, the suit claims. That would "cloud" the title to the property and prevent the owners from selling to anyone else. Teal would then threaten litigation, the lawsuit claims. The result was Teal had a binding claim on the property for which he never paid a cent, the attorney general said. And the threat to keep the property tied up indefinitely breaks the law, Crist said. Teal is believed to be operating the scheme on properties in at least eight other states, according to the attorney general's office. But no other actions are pending against Teal, who uses the names Walter A. Smith and Snuffy Smith, the name of the cartoon character. Crist's office said it hasn't identified an attorney for Teal, who could not be reached for comment. Crist's suit seeks to block Teal from buying property in Florida and to erase the affidavits he has filed in Florida courts. It also seeks penalties against Teal under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Act of up to $10,000 for each violation or $15,000 if the violation was against a person older than 60. ***************** Real-estate scams come knocking by: DUANE MARSTELLER Miami Herald, October 2, 2005 Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said the affidavit was part of a scheme Teal ran in Florida and at least eight other states through a Marco Island drop box. Crist's office has sued Teal, 61, accusing him of unfair and deceptive trade practices by filing fraudulent affidavits that prevented landowners from selling to anyone but him. The suit accuses Teal, an American living in Singapore, of using the Internet to find Florida property mostly held by elderly, out-of-state owners. Teal made purchase offers and held properties under contract until he could sell the land to someone else for more money and pocket the difference. Teal also threatened owners with lawsuits and filed affidavits that put a cloud on the land's title and prevented owners from selling to anyone else, the suit said. Crist said Teal has done this hundreds of times, profiting more than $1 million. "These actions victimized hundreds of unsuspecting landowners, many of them elderly, in order to turn a quick buck," Crist said in a July news release announcing the lawsuit filed in Leon County. ************** Florida sues Singapore man, accuses him of land fraud 08/01/05 By MIKE HOYEM [email protected] Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist is suing a man he says used a Marco Island address, fraud and threats to profit from hundreds of vacant lots owned by others. Crist filed suit in Leon Circuit Court Thursday against Todd Teal, 61, of Singapore, who ran the scam out of a mail drop box on Marco Island. According to Crist, Teal - who is also known as Walter A. Smith and "Snuffy" Smith - made more than $1 million in profit and is running the same scam in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Numerous land scams have hit Southwest Florida the last couple years in response to skyrocketing property values. According to the suit, Teal used the Internet to locate his victims, who usually lived in other states and often were elderly. Teal would send his victims offers for their land and if they responded, he'd mail them a contract. The suit says the documents Teal and the owners signed required Teal to deposit money into escrow to execute the contract. But Teal never deposited the money, so the contracts were never executed. Teal, the suit says, would then sell the property to someone else for more money and pocket the difference. The suit says if Teal failed to quickly find a buyer, he'd file a fraudulent affidavit at the clerk of court's office saying he'd bought the land, which put a "cloud" on the title, preventing the real owner from selling it. The suit accuses Teal of putting a fraudulent cloud on the titles to more than 150 parcels of land. When owners tried to get out of their contracts, the suit says, Teal would threaten them with lawsuits and send them letters making false claims about the success of his lawsuits. Putting a cloud on the titles, the suit says, would give Teal unlimited time to find buyers for the land, which he sold under the real owners' names, not his. The suit says Teal's actions violate Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which prohibits unfair, deceptive and unconscionable practices in trade and commerce. Crist is asking the court to award damages on behalf of those injured by Teal and to fine Teal $10,000 for each of the more than 150 violations of the law. Crist also is asking that Teal's fraudulent affidavits be removed from the official records. "These actions victimized hundreds of unsuspecting landowners, many of them elderly, in order to turn a quick buck," Crist said. "This scheme took advantage of trusting individuals. The Attorney General's Office will continue to work to protect citizens against such deceptive tactics."

"3. I have not lost any lawsuits that I went to court for that I can remember. I have lost some cases that I didn't fight which is normal. 4. No state has ever said that my dealings are illegal. In fact many times I have been investigated and never has any state proved that I have done anything wrong." What a guy. Just reading this gives me the willies. Your defense is just embarrassing. I hope you are not representing yourself. You'll get the "chair". I've never been sued, and your argument is you've lost the ones you didn't fight. No s**t Sherlock. Of course, you didn't show up because you knew you'd lose. If 150 people sue you and you don't show up, you'll lose 150 lawsuits against you. If you NEVER show up, you'll always be able to say you didn't lose any you showed up for. What a guy! As for being illegal to "cloud" a title, maybe not. That's being changed smartguy. I think Crist is about to show you did something wrong. The article you link to is just as bad as your argument here. Just curious...you list your location as Florida, but you actually reside in Indonesia. I think it's due to lack of extradition treaties.

S. K. Smith will some day have a Libel and Slander lawsuit to deal with. A list of the things that is not true and Libelous: 1. I don't have 150 lawsuits pending against me. Nor does the AG of Florida have 150 charges against me. 2. Yes the AG of Florida has filed a civil case against me that he is losing very badly since all people have the capacity to file a lawsuits and the AG can't find one person who lost money because of my actions. See the Naples Newspaper article at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/29/clouded_titles_land_investor_headed_trial/ 3. I have not lost any lawsuits that I went to court for that I can remember. I have lost some cases that I didn't fight which is normal. 4. No state has ever said that my dealings are illegal. In fact many times I have been investigated and never has any state proved that I have done anything wrong. 5. No charges for mail fraud have ever been filed against me since it are not the case. Todd Teal

S. K. Smith will some day have a Libel and Slander lawsuit to deal with. A list of the things that is not true and Libelous: 1. I don't have 150 lawsuits pending against me. Nor does the AG of Florida have 150 charges against me. 2. Yes the AG of Florida has filed a civil case against me that he is losing very badly since all people have the capacity to file a lawsuits and the AG can't find one person who lost money because of my actions. See the Naples Newspaper article at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/29/clouded_titles_land_investor_headed_trial/ 3. I have not lost any lawsuits that I went to court for that I can remember. I have lost some cases that I didn't fight which is normal. 4. No state has ever said that my dealings are illegal. In fact many times I have been investigated and never has any state proved that I have done anything wrong. 5. No charges for mail fraud have ever been filed against me since it are not the case. Todd Teal

S. K. Smith will some day have a Libel and Slander lawsuit to deal with. A list of the things that is not true and Libelous: 1. I don't have 150 lawsuits pending against me. Nor does the AG of Florida have 150 charges against me. 2. Yes the AG of Florida has filed a civil case against me that he is losing very badly since all people have the capacity to file a lawsuits and the AG can't find one person who lost money because of my actions. See the Naples Newspaper article at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/29/clouded_titles_land_investor_headed_trial/ 3. I have not lost any lawsuits that I went to court for that I can remember. I have lost some cases that I didn't fight which is normal. 4. No state has ever said that my dealings are illegal. In fact many times I have been investigated and never has any state proved that I have done anything wrong. 5. No charges for mail fraud have ever been filed against me since it are not the case. Todd Teal

S. K. Smith will some day have a Libel and Slander lawsuit to deal with. A list of the things that is not true and Libelous: 1. I don't have 150 lawsuits pending against me. Nor does the AG of Florida have 150 charges against me. 2. Yes the AG of Florida has filed a civil case against me that he is losing very badly since all people have the capacity to file a lawsuits and the AG can't find one person who lost money because of my actions. See the Naples Newspaper article at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/29/clouded_titles_land_investor_headed_trial/ 3. I have not lost any lawsuits that I went to court for that I can remember. I have lost some cases that I didn't fight which is normal. 4. No state has ever said that my dealings are illegal. In fact many times I have been investigated and never has any state proved that I have done anything wrong. 5. No charges for mail fraud have ever been filed against me since it are not the case. Todd Teal