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Friday, September 23, 2011

BOA Rocking as State Attorney General Offices Filing Lawsuits Nationwide

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is among a group of lenders that may face a wave of new lawsuits claiming cash-strapped counties were cheated out of millions of dollars by a system used for more than a decade to register mortgages.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said state attorneys general and county officials across the U.S. have expressed interest in his lawsuit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. and Bank of America, filed in Texas state court on Sept. 21. Dallas County could be owed as much as $100 million in filing fees, he said.
“This is a big new front,” said Christopher L. Peterson, associate dean and professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. “This case is scary because if Dallas wins then there are a lot of other counties around the country that are going to follow.”
MERS, a unit of Reston, Virginia-based Merscorp Inc., says on its website that its aim is to place every mortgage in the country on an electronic, rather than a paper, system that allows members to buy and sell mortgages.
MERS acts as the lender’s nominee and remains the mortgagee of record as long as the note promising repayment is owned by a MERS member. Dallas County claims this allows banks to buy and sell loans without properly recording transfers with counties and paying the fee.
‘Practices are Legal’
“The MERS business model and practices are legal and comply with the recording statutes and regulations of Texas,”Janis Smith, a spokeswoman for Merscorp, said in an e-mail. The claims in the lawsuit “are without legal or factual merit.”
Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender by assets, declined to comment on the suit.
Liability in the Dallas case could exceed $1 billion, based on the number of mortgages in the county, Peterson said. Local laws impose substantial penalties, as well as back payments of fees and taxes, if false documents were filed in land transactions, said Peterson, who has advised private plaintiffs making similar claims.
Faulty mortgages and foreclosures have already cost the five biggest home lenders $66 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America’s credit rating was cut on Sept. 21 by Moody’s Investors Service in part because the bill for mortgage disputes may climb past the $39 billion committed since 2007. County clerks in Kentucky have also sued MERS, while officials in Massachusetts and Michigan say they are exploring the possibility.
Half of Mortgages
MERS, operating since 1997, has registered more than half of all U.S. home mortgages. The company came under scrutiny last year after attorneys general in all 50 states began investigating claims that banks and loan servicers used faulty documentation in foreclosures.
Merscorp said on Feb. 16 that it will propose a rule change to stop members from foreclosing in its name.
Damages in the MERS claims won’t rival the tens of billions of dollars of losses banks have suffered due to faulty mortgages, said Chris Gamaitoni, a bank analyst with Washington-based Compass Point Research & Trading LLC.
The banks are more threatened by lawsuits that question the way mortgages were originated, pooled and securitized, Gamaitoni said in an interview.
“This is going to test the foresight of the people who created MERS,” said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
The prospects for the lawsuits are difficult to determine because every state has its own property laws and requirements, Henning said.
‘Will Pursue’
“It will depend on what they say constitutes a transfer of a mortgage,” he said. “Counties sure could use these revenues, so if they can find an opening there they will pursue it.”
MERS is owned by financial institutions including Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Stewart Title Guaranty Co., and industry trade groups including the Mortgage Bankers Association and the American Land Title Association. It’s also partly owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance agencies now controlled by the U.S. government after being bailed out in the 2008 financial crisis.
Dallas County called that crisis “a direct result of the financial system’s commoditization, packaging, securitization and sale of tens of millions of mortgages throughout the U.S.,”according to the complaint. “Without the fiction of the MERS system, these activities would not have been possible.”
‘Avoiding Recordation’
The county said that through MERS, notes and mortgages are being “sold, assigned or transferred” without being recorded in county deed records. The defendants “misrepresented the true beneficial owner of notes and related mortgages filed by them in Dallas County, Texas, for the purpose of avoiding the recordation of subsequent transfer and payment of attendant filing fees.”
Watkins, 43, is seeking reimbursement for fees lost, punitive damages and a judgment of $10,000 a violation.
He asked the court to find that a violation of the Texas code occurred each time MERS was identified as a mortgagee or beneficiary under a deed of trust when it had no interest in the note secured by that deed. According to the complaint, MERS was the “grantee” in 157,319 records in Dallas as of Sept. 11.
The lawsuit also seeks a court order preventing the defendants from filing anything in deed records that identified MERS or anyone as a beneficiary who doesn’t have an interest in the secured note. The county said Bank of America “knew or should have known” the MERS system would cause improper filing.
‘More Banks’
“We expect more banks will be in this before it’s over,”Watkins said in an interview. The litigation could spread, he said. “This is not just going to be a Texas deal.” He wouldn’t specify which states or counties had contacted him or his lawyers about the suit.
Peterson, the Utah professor, who wrote an academic article on MERS that is cited in the Texas complaint, said he has advised plaintiffs in whistleblower cases against MERS in California, Nevada and Tennessee. The California case was dismissed when the court determined the purported whistleblower didn’t meet filing standards. A Nevada court said state law didn’t require recording the assignment of a mortgage.
The clerks of Kentucky’s Christian and Washington counties sued MERS, Chase Home Mortgage Corp., CitiMortgage, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others in federal court in Louisville in April, seeking to represent all 120 counties in the state.
“According to MERS’s own website, its system saves money for its members and is specifically designed to avoid paying the fees” to county clerks, according to the April 25 filing.“MERS president, R.K. Arnold, testified in 2009 that assuming each mortgage has been resold and recorded just once, it would have saved the industry $2.4 billion in recording expenses.”
‘Immediately Cease’
The Kentucky suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction ordering defendants “to immediately cease the practice of nonrecording of assignments of mortgages.”
Dennis Pantazis Jr., attorney for the counties, declined to comment on the suit.
Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for New York-based JPMorgan Chase, and Vickee Adams, a spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. home lender, declined to comment.
The banks and MERS asked the court to dismiss the case, saying Kentucky law doesn’t require recording transfers of promissory notes or interests in loans. MERS remains the“mortgagee of record” during these transactions, so no duty to record is triggered, the companies said in a July 1 filing.
Oakland County, Michigan is “evaluating a possible suit”against MERS, said Keith Lerminiaux, corporate counsel. The county has sued Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in federal court in Detroit alleging they failed to pay transfer taxes on foreclosure sales.
Massachusetts Probe
Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts attorney general, said this year that she’s investigating MERS. The probe includes complaints by registers of deeds in the state over unpaid filing fees, said Brad Puffer, a spokesman for Coakley.
Delaware is also investigating MERS, according to a person familiar with the matter.
John O’Brien, register of deeds for Southern Essex County, Massachusetts, said he was among the officials pushing Coakley for an investigation. He estimates that since 1998 his district has lost $44 million in fees and the state has lost $250 million to $300 million.
“I’m hopeful that she will be filing the same type of lawsuit against MERS,” he said in an interview. If Coakley doesn’t sue, O’Brien said, there’s a “very strong” chance he would do it himself.
Fees Vary
Recording fees vary and may depend on the length of a filing, Watkins, the Dallas district attorney, said. A county may charge $21 for the first page of a document and $9 for each succeeding page, he said. The recording fee for assignment of a mortgage in Christian County is about $13, according to the Kentucky lawsuit.
The Dallas county clerk has estimated that at least $58 million in fees have gone unpaid as a result of MERS-related transactions, dating back to 1997, Watkins said. “Our research shows it could be more than $100 million,” he said.
Claims against Bank of America stem mainly from loans originated by Countrywide Financial Corp., the subprime mortgage company acquired in 2008 when it was on the verge of collapse.
The mounting costs of buybacks, settlements and litigation helped push Bank of America’s stock to levels last seen in early 2009. Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, 51, has sold at least $40 billion of assets and preferred shares to bolster the company’s finances.
Budget Woes
U.S. states have already dealt with four straight years of budget imbalances and closed gaps totaling about $511 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. Dallas county has a budget shortfall of $36 million, Watkins said.
“We’re in the position that we can’t even provide basic services,” he said. Had MERS not existed, “we could have collected those fees,” he said.
The Texas case is Dallas County v. Merscorp Inc., CC-11-06571-E, County Court at Law, Dallas County, Texas. The Kentucky case is Christian County Clerk v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., 5:11-cv-00072, U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky (Louisville).
To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Cronin Fisk in Detroit at mcfisk@bloomberg.net; James Sterngold in New York at jsterngold2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net; Rick Green at rgreen18@bloomberg.net

Thursday, September 22, 2011

How to Sue Your Bank.

There are many reasons to sue a bank. Banks have a fiduciary duty to their customers, and if they break it, they are liable. Also, in today’s market, it seems that banks keep coming up with new ways to take advantage of their customers, such as levying huge fees, changing interest rates, and so on.It is also possible to sue a bank for predatory lending practices. But it’s not easy. Banks have lots of money (surprise, surprise) and plenty of legal muscle at their disposal. While they have very, very deep pockets from which to satisfy a judgment, they’re going to make it very difficult to get a judgment against them in the first place.
In terms of the formalities, filing a lawsuit against a bank is just like filing suit against any other company. In practice, though, it’s going to be different.
Before allowing you to open an account, banks always force customers to sign an agreement to their terms of service. And–surprise again–these documents have been very carefully worded to work only to the bank’s advantage. Before suing the bank, you will need to be sure you have a copy of all the “agreements” you have made with the bank. It’s very likely that there will be wording that will make your battle an uphill one.
Get copies of all relevant documents and be prepared to lay out your case in great detail.  However, because the entire “system,” starting with the terms of service, is heavily slanted against the consumer, it’s tough going. Attorneys know this. They’re only being ethical by being reluctant to file lawsuits that they know are very difficult to win.
You can also, in many states, sue a bank in small claims court. This is an interesting possibility because often, small claims courts require plaintiffs and defendants to represent themselves rather than being represented by an attorney. But even if the court says that both you and the bank must represent themselves, there is no prohibition on being advised by an attorney.  

Written by www.howtosue.org

Monday, August 15, 2011

Entreprenuer Started with Her Dream at Childhood

As a child there were two occupations that intrigued me: Medicine and Trucking. For one thing I wanted to help people and there were many role models I learned about in school. On the other side of the coin there were people that came in my life who drove big trucks and as a little girl I used to love it when one of my sister's friends showed up with a truck. Later as a young woman I remember driving down the street in mine and honking my horn. My mom would yell at me to get that big thing from in front of her house before the cops showed up and the look of glee and admiration of my son who ran and climbed up in the passenger seat happy that Mom was home. My Mom only spoke truth because of the fact we lived off a main street that wasn't zoned for trucks.


Then there was medicine: I had been ill enough to be hospitalized but what really got me was the first surgery that I was old enough to remember having was the cesarean birth of my son. Even though the operation takes time, time flew by for me for I was the one operated on. Only thing I remember was the anesthesiologist who brought me to enough for me to see my son whilst in the Operating Theatre then putting me back under, then Intensive Care post op. And don't forget the show M*A*S*H. Even though it was a comedy, around that time, my sister Deborah had just enlisted in the Army Reserve. She had been in Dentistry for some time so that gave her rank in the service. I wanted that too, but even at my age the Army Doctor did not pass me on the physical exam because they discovered early back problems. So much for 'Hot Lips' the Surgical Nurse.

There were other issues I had along with the world having theirs so Marketing & Retail has helped me in many ways even today in my present career. Air Transportation came along and lit that fire once again for Big Trucks. I was working for a company called Pony Express which was a subsidiary of Well Fargo. The little vans had outgrown me quickly for I had an eye on the straight trucks and semis that came in. One of my co-workers helped me with learning about the gears in the straight truck he drove mind you I never drove a standard shift of any kind. I had enrolled in Trucking School and was having trouble because of that. But I was determined for I had to pay this student loan back I took out to go. In a class of at least 100 6 were women, 3 were Black women and 5 graduated out of a class of 100. There were not many women even in the late 80's when I graduated that were truckers. Back in my hometown and in the cities and towns across the U.S, women would see me in my truck and many were inspired by me..They figured if a petite 4'9 120 lb. brown girlie like me could they could too! Thus whence came the C.B. handle 'Smurfette'

Because of my travels, my network is diverse. With the Internet becoming the 'now' thing in communication, I have fit in with people all over the world nicely and now my phone list includes people from all over the world. This is my bio, the first one I have penned, there will be more, probably not as long as this one though, Karyn aka Smurfette and more alias, mostly good.

© 2011 Karyn D. Walker Professional Sub Contractor ~ Transportation

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Why outsource your accounting?

Accounting is a core business function. Without accounting, a business is sure to fail. With accounting, a business might survive. With accounting managed by a Profit Center Expert, a business is certain to succeed.


You’re probably already familiar with the bleak forecast for new small businesses. While failure rates have decreased considerably in the last few years, recent studies from the Small Business Administration (SBA) indicate that one third of new employer establishments fail within the first two years, and 56% fail within four years.

Poor financial management is often cited as the reason for most small business failures. Often the business owner or a member of the business team manages this crucial function because they want to maintain complete control of their business, they’re afraid that outsourcing the accounting would be too expensive, or a combination of the two. What they don’t realize is that outsourcing is a useful management tool that can save a business both time and money while preventing potential failure. And when you outsource to the right accountant, it can be the difference between base survival and profitable success.

The Benefits

There are countless benefits you enjoy when outsourcing your accounting. Here are just a few:

Save Yourself Time. You’re in business because you’re good at what you do. Your expertise involves the product and/or service you offer. And we’re guessing your expertise is not accounting. So if you, or anyone on your team, spend time managing your business’s finances, that’s time that could be better spent building your business.

In order to be competitive you must constantly be looking for ways to improve and expand your products and/or services, better market your business, and stay ahead of your competition. When you and your team focus time and attention on the accounting, that’s time not spent on these crucial tasks. When you outsource the accounting to a trusted professional, you can use that time to make your business the best it can be.

Save Yourself Money. We all know time is money. The average small business owner spends over 10 hours personally, each month, accounting for the business. If your average billing rate is $50 per hour, you may be spending more than five hundred dollars’ worth of your time! Chances are you easily can pay for a good accountant and then some with all that money.

Gain Access to Valuable Accounting Expertise, Equipment, and Technology. Reputable accountants have the expertise to not only save you money, but to make your business more profitable. In addition to that, they have access to equipment and technology that most small businesses can’t afford. They will use their resources to your advantage and save you the time and headache of doing it yourself.

Gain Access to Profit-Building Information. A truly valuable accountant is also a Profit Center Expert. They analyze financial data in order to assist you in making profitable decisions for your business. A Profit Center Expert can inform you which products and/or services to expand, which to eliminate, whether your marketing attempts are successful, where you’re loosing money, and where to cut back in order to save and redirect funds in order to become more profitable.

Call us for a free, no-obligation consultation. We can customize a package of services that is competitively priced and designed to save you time, energy, and headache. We offer the following services:

Accounts Payable

Input vendor invoices to payable system

Classify invoices to the proper G/L account

Request and maintain vendor W-9 information

Maintain vendor master files

Respond to vendor inquiries about payment status

Retrieve copies of payments as necessary

Prepare and file required 1099 forms

Process requests for stop payments when necessary

Cut checks to vendors based on due dates or client instruction

Reconcile vendor statements to accounts payable ledger

Reporting to organization on detailed aged payables and cash requirements

Process year-end 1099 forms

Accounts Receivable

Prepare and mail billings as needed (all billings provided to client for approval prior to mailing)

Record and account for revenue

Input receivable transactions into the accounting system

Prepare and deliver periodic statements

Issue client-approved credit memos and refund checks

Maintain subsidiary receivables ledger

Process client-approved adjustments

Apply cash received to customer accounts and resolve “short pays”

Perform low-level phone collections as needed by client

Cash management

Process daily sales and deposit reports

Verify daily deposits and report variances

Reconcile and verify credit card deposits

Reconcile monthly bank statements

Journal entry and general ledger

Account reconciliations

Payroll

Time cards, after approval, will be scanned and uploaded prior to payday

Complete payroll while client prints, signs and distributes paychecks

Prepare employee earnings statements complete with current pay period and year-to-date wages, taxes, and adjustments

Prepare department summaries of month-to-date payroll data in addition to customized reports specific to client

Prepares timely and accurate notifications of tax liabilities and deposits

Completes year-end W-2 forms

Respond to requests for employee verifications

Process and submit garnishment payments

Respond to employee payroll inquiries

Prepare and file new hire reporting to state

Prepare, file, and pay all federal, state, and local payroll taxes

Reconcile health insurance payments and make payroll deductions when required

Prepare necessary HR reports such as turnover

Allocate payroll expenses for multi-store employees

Prepare and process payroll accruals when necessary

Monthly Closing

Fixed assets accounting & depreciation

Monthly financial analysis and reports

Yearly Business Assessments

Don’t wait another day to partner with a Profit Center Expert (PCE) and make your business more successful. Do what you love to do more; let your PCE take care of the rest. Call now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Being in the Black

Being in the black can mean a lot of different things. For most business owners, it means being profitable. When a business owner sets out on a new venture, establishing a profitable business is one, if not the only, driver. Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs get lost in the day-to-day tasks of running the business and forget their main purpose.


As your accounting professional and Profit and Growth Expert we apply The Universal Business Model to help maximize the profitability of your business. Each month we apply our financial expertise, combined with access to a variety of analytical tools, to assess your business’s financial position and progress.

With our help you can improve your business’s financial position using The Wisdom Pyramid. Here’s a short list of what you will accomplish:

Know how your business stacks up against the competition using the professional business assessment we provide.

Recognize your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and use that awareness to improve your profitability. Consider this a Day with your CFO.

Identify trends that expose what is both helping and hindering to your business.

Take advantage of tax benefits through regular reviews of your tax position.

By gathering the necessary information through the bookkeeping and accounting process, we will analyze the data and help you make the changes required to improve your business’s profitability. Whether you need a financial audit or review, we can help move your business forward.

The Controller.Net

Global Enterprises Trust has a saying, “Longevity is Success”. The team at “The Controller.Net” has over 75 years of experience in the area of payroll processing, monthly financial reporting, personal financial reporting, systems integration and automation. Many of our operatives have prepared pro forma budgets and been involved in budget analysis. This detailed analysis of variances can be used to assist companies determine their appetite for business development and help them make better decisions in their day to day business operations.


Teaming arrangements between our organization and that of our clients can improve cash flow. Our expertise in the area of preparing business plans; strategic planning and contract management can put your company on the cutting edge or turn your business bottom line from red to black. Accounting tricks are not needed to improve our client’s position, but what is needed is tax planning and strategy that lowers tax liability and promotes growth. All this translates into an organization that can take advantage of opportunity.

Let us provide the infrastructure that your organization needs to help finance growth utilizing debt, equity and hybrid structures. Our organization wants to help you obtain funding using equities, tax credits and/or bonds. Engaging our team as your consultants and accountants will give you a superior administration and finance department without the cost associated with this labor intensive operation. Use us as the tool that is usually reserved for major Wall Street organizations seeking public funds that maintain GAAP and GAAS accounting infrastruture. Eligible clients seeking capitalization using securities can engage our team to guide them into becoming a CDE, as well as showing them how to use securities as a revenue generator and funding vehicle. Invest in your future and improve your customer relations and financial backbone, because now you can improve your customer retention and market share

Our government relationships, management programs and marketing strategies will put your company far ahead of the competitor. Our project management expertise can assist you in delivering the deliverables on time. Our company provides real time management, essential proposal writing, centralized purchasing opportunities, internal and external reports that combine to result in a favorable bottom line.

Increase your organizations equity by engaging our team for the purchase of real estate or to guide you through mergers and acquisitions. Real time reports mean getting meaningful information for decision making that translates into sales, revenue and accounting profits. Our team provides seminars that give away more information than our competitor’s sale. Our team adds value every step of the way. Our value added proposition is integrated in a way that qualify many of our clients for equity infusion from tax credits. Our team can assist you in establishing the correct business form i.e. LLC, LLP, Inc., Trust, or a Sole Proprietorship. We are ready to deliver; so, what are you waiting for to engage our team?

Friday, May 20, 2011

Hyatt Regency....You Better Watch Out!

Water for ElephantsI recently stayed at your hotel in Jacksonville Florida and I valeted my vehicle, I left that evening to purchase food and returned my vehicle to valet that evening. I checked out that morning. My passenger and drivers doors opened for me and my luggage loaded. I drove 30 minutes and pulled over for gas. I returned from the attendant cashier and got a look at my front hood and noticed a 4 inch scratch and dent on my vehicle. I contacted the hotel and a claim form was faxed to me. I completed the claim form and contacted the management regarding the status. Mr. Liscomb said that he had completed his investigation and that he would not honor my claim because I had not realized the damage before I checked out of the hotel. I am sure that all parties will claim that they are obsolved of liability. I valetted my vehicle in care your establishment and upon it's return it was not in the same condition as it was in when I released it to your care. The reason I stayed in your establishment rather then choosing a motor lodge or a motel 6 or any other hotel is because I have an expectation of care, service and responsibility. Until this is resolved I can't really tell the difference between your organization and any other hotel establishment that is along the side of the road. This never happened at Ritz Carlton, Intercontinental, or Marriot, but it did happen on your watch. I can definitely see why this organization made the mistake of not bringing resolution to this, but I can afford the repair. I just wanted to give you and your affiliates the opportunity to do the highest and best action that you could offer. What I have gotten so far is that no one wants to own any responsibility for wrong doing. The fault then is mine for choosing irresponsibility over responsibility. I am sure that you can relate to this. No legal issue here just a moral issue.


Thanks

Chet Jones

Friday, April 8, 2011

Funding Options Using New Market Tax Credits, Bonds and Equity

Obtain information on New Market Tax Credits. I will also forward more information on NMTC and other funding options to anyone that leaves their email address in the comments area or anyone that request information at secureprojectz@gmail.com

If you have any questions please contact me at 404-825-6604 and if you would like to speak with any of the team members they will be ready to answer any questions you may have.

Team Members

Chet Jones- finance and strategic consultant for business development and funding. Mr.Jones has the capacity to fund deals using bonds, private equity, and institutional investors. Mr. Jones has worked with Ted Turner in day to day operations when Ted was running Turner Broadcasting.

Al Collins managing partner- Raintree Holding Group (CDE) Community Development Entity which the New Market Tax Credit must flow through CDE to fund deals in low income communities. Also Mr.Collins has extensive relationships with HUD,private investors, and government entities that focus on urban mixed use development.

Michelle Jones

Comfort Systems USA is the team she work with. Comfortsystemsusa.com which will fund and build commercial projects

where the principals will keep control of 35% of the project and no equity position is needed after completion.

– Ms. Jones is the Founder, President and CEO of Eternal Life Changers, Inc.,

parent company of THE` Emmanuel, LLC of New Orleans, LA. She is responsible for strategic

planning, business development and capital acquisition for the company. Prior to founding Eternal

Life Changers, Ms. Jones served as a grant writer for the University of Connecticut, where she wrote

and received many grants, as well as, served as the administrator for all the grants in excess of

$90,000,000.00. The Cancer Center, General Clinical Research Centers, and Green House Effects

in the inner cities, are some of the projects over the last 17 years that Ms. Jones spearheaded for the

University of Connecticut. Ms. Jones was solely responsible for getting the location, employees,

supplies, computer systems, and administration of Governmental grants for these projects. Currently

she is the manager of Total Community Action Federal Credit Union in New Orleans, Louisiana. In

less than 5 ½ months of her tenure at the credit union, she has successfully secured in excess of

$500,000 that will be used to provide low interest loans to members of the community. Seventeen

years of financial experience and 12 years of Management experience has prepared her with

incredible skill with knowledge of Local, State, and Federal rules and regulations.

Lernie C. Jones – Mr. Jones is VP of Operations & Vice-President of Logistics, THE` Emmanuel,

LLC of New Orleans, LA. He founded J & J Rehabilitation & Construction Co. in 1987. J&J was

incorporated in Nov.1990. Mr. Jones, a 2 generation tradesman, is a graduate of Southern Illinois

University 1987 with a degree in Construction Engineering.

Mr. Jones has 20 years of experience in construction and development management. Now

as president of J&J Rehabilitation and Construction Company of Chicago Ill, a subsidiary of J & W

Development, J & J Holding. Currently J & J Rehab and Construction are in engaged in building 2

condo towers on an $181M project.

Mr. Jones is also heading up development on South King Drive for single family homes which are a

$36M project, and in Aug of 2007 one of the homes was featured on Forbes magazine as one of the

best houses under $1m with such amenities. They range from $920,000 to $940,000.

Mr. Jones’ Affiliations include the following:

• Black Contractor’s United

• African American Region Committee

• Signator, Chicago Carpenters Union

• Cosmopolitan Chicago Chamber of Commerce

• Building Association of Americaichelle Jones
--

Ahmed Wadsworth