Orlando mayoral
candidate Edward M.
Lopes faces several
lawsuits over his
business dealings by
companies that say he
cheated them, records
show.
The candidate also has
accumulated court
judgments totaling more
than $100,000 that were
entered after he failed
to respond to two other
lawsuits, according to
court records.
Five
lawsuits have been filed
in Orlando against Lopes
or his debt-collection
agency, LV Financial, in
the past nine months,
including one from a
bank that says it is
owed more than $450,000.
Lopes, who filed an
affidavit saying it
would be a financial
hardship to pay the full
qualifying fee to run
for office in the May 3
election, did not return
repeated phone calls to
his home and office.
Lopes' attorney said his
client never tried to
defraud anyone and the
legal troubles stem from
a business deal that
went sour.
"Ed took it on the
chin," attorney Richard
Douglas Sierra said. "It
put LV out of business,
but Ed is going to do
his best to get them
their money back."
But others, including
companies from
California to New Jersey
that have dealt with
Lopes, say he has
cheated them and ignored
their recent attempts to
contact him.
"We've heard an array of
different stories. It's
a joke," said Dana
Koprowski, vice
president of Shekinah
Inc. in Huntington
Beach, Calif.
Lopes is one of five
candidates on the ballot
for the special election
to replace suspended
Mayor Buddy Dyer.
Lopes and LV Financial
borrowed $452,029 from
New York-based Sterling
National Bank in June,
according to Sierra and
court records. A
contract required the
money to be used to buy
hundreds of bad
credit-card accounts. LV
Financial would try to
collect the overdue
accounts and share the
proceeds with the bank.
In a lawsuit filed in
U.S. District Court in
Orlando on Feb. 14, the
bank accuses Lopes of
not paying it "a single
penny" after nearly
eight months.
"It is extremely unusual
and highly suspect for a
credit card account
portfolio of this
magnitude to yield no
proceeds over a nearly
eight-month period. . .
. The circumstances
strongly suggest that LV
may be diverting account
payments," the lawsuit
says.
Sierra acknowledged that
Lopes owes the money to
Sterling. The
credit-card debt he
purchased turned out to
be old and difficult to
collect, he said.
"It didn't pan out. It
is Ed's intention to pay
them off," Sierra said.
But Lopes' trouble
doesn't end with
Sterling National Bank.
A handful of other
collection agencies say
Lopes sold them some of
the old credit-card
accounts that are
included in the Sterling
lawsuit. Many of the
same accounts were sold
to more than one
collection agency,
making them worthless,
according to the
agencies and another
lawsuit filed against
Lopes' company.
"When we sent out
letters to people on the
list, we started to get
calls from some of these
people, saying they'd
been getting letters
from other collection
agencies," said Stanley
Michelman, an owner of
All-States Funding Group
in New Jersey.
Michelman sued LV
Financial in Orange
Circuit Court for breach
of contract three weeks
ago after paying the
company $40,000 for
about 1,200 credit
accounts in December.
Jacksonville attorney
Amanda Rolfe Tise said
her firm paid Lopes'
company $60,000 for 798
accounts about the same
time.
"Lopes won't return our
calls. All of our
letters were returned;
one even said he was
deceased," Tise said.
Representatives of
Shekinah Inc., the
California-based
collection agency, said
they paid LV Financial
$54,000 in January.
Before company officials
discovered that the
accounts were worthless,
they paid another
$48,000 for more
accounts, which they say
they never received.
Lopes has had other
legal troubles as well,
according to two of the
lawsuits filed in Orange
County:
A leasing company sued LV Financial in
October, saying the
company hadn't made
payments on its rented
office equipment for
seven months. Court
records show Lopes never
responded to the
lawsuit, and a judge
recently granted the
leasing company's
request to repossess 16
computers, a phone
system and other
equipment, and try to
collect $54,000 it is
owed.
A
medical practice hired
LV Financial two years
ago to collect from
patients who had failed
to pay, according to a
lawsuit. The practice's
attorneys said Lopes'
company collected from
many of those patients,
but he didn't send the
money to the doctors
who'd hired him. Lopes
didn't respond to that
suit, either, and the
court entered a judgment
against LV Financial for
about $50,000.
Sierra said LV Financial
is out of business. A
financial statement
Lopes filed with the
city clerk last month
when he declared his
candidacy for mayor
indicates he now runs
another business,
Executive Credit Group,
at the same address as
LV Financial.
State corporate records,
however, show that
company was
involuntarily dissolved
by the Florida
Department of State last
fall after the $150
check written to renew
its annual registration
bounced.
Mark
Schlueb can be reached
at mschlueb@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-5417
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robert Paisola is an international
motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is
an expert in the field of Personal Real Estate
Investor Training. He is a professional speaker
who has been featured on CNN, CNNFN, and the
Wall Street Journal. He can answer your
questions on the "Basics of the Real Estate
Investing Business" to detailed issues regarding
your specific transactions. Life Experience
Robert Paisola is a Professional International
Seminar Speaker in the Areas of Real Estate
Investing, Tax Lien Investing, Rental Property
Management, Real Estate Coach and Mentor
Training and Business Management. He has served
companies throughout the world.
UPDATED
