The same Jeff Ross who I wrote about in 2007 when he was running for state Senate as a Cambridge resident is now running for Boston City Council as a 19-year Boston resident.
Back then, his record included;
–numerous complaints from his clients and his tenants
–inaccurate campaign filings
–unpaid Boston city property taxes and
–$12,000 more in unpaid condo fees.
He came in fourth in a field of four.
Now that he’s become a Boston resident again, it is time to look at his record since his last loss. The new developments includes:
– a new lien of $26,106.56 in unpaid Florida condo fees from 2007 to 2009
–a new $419,285.05 Florida default judgment and foreclosure in 2009
–$117,506.29 in federal income tax liens for 2007 and 2008, not paid until this year.
–a 2012 bankruptcy court judgment, upheld on appeal, that Ross was “at the very least disingenuous” in using a kind of sleight of hand to seek something “akin to a kickback.”
(According to the judge, Ross claimed his bid for a house from a bankrupt estate complied with terms but then snuck a provision into the 18th paragraph that violated the terms and would have returned more than $33,000 to him in the guise of a commission. Ross complained that “new rules [were] established after the game had been played” to which the judge responded “a bankruptcy court sale is not a ‘game.’ Nothing would so quickly denigrate the integrity and reputation of the bankruptcy courts than an appearance … of giving certain bidders advantages over others or permitting bids to be manipulated by sleight of hand.”)
I wasn’t sure whether BMG would get (or stay) back online, so I’ve posted the details to JeffRossBostonLawyer.com.
As always, I welcome corrections or amplifications. There are some additional oddities but I don’t have time to chase them down right now.
This comes across as a hit piece the level of which we generally don’t see on BMG. Plus disclosures of any connections you have to any other candidate(s) would seem to be in order.
Sure thing.
–Florida condo lien: found at Book 46716, Page 120, browardcounty.org
–Florida default judgment and foreclosure: found at Book 46154, Page 734 et seq, browardcounty.org
–IRS liens: found at Book 48318, Page 99 and Book 50568, Page 175, suffolkdeeds.com
–Bankruptcy court: USBC Boston, case 10-19012, Docket Number 116, and USDC Boston, case 12-cv-10545, docket number 15, retrieved from Pacer.
I have no connections that I know of to any candidate or any of their aides, do not vote in Boston and probably approve of most or all of Ross’ known political positions.
I did vote against him when he ran for state Senate from Cambridge, and you are welcome to read my 2007 post for my reasoning. I didn’t have a dog in that fight, either.
If there’s a specific document you want to see, shoot me an email and I’ll get it to you. I assume Ross had no factual disputes with the earlier post since he never responded.
I’m always happy to post corrections if you have any. I can’t speak for how other folks conduct their research, but I learned it as a government, politics and investigative reporter for the AP, and I did this kind of thing for years.
Incidentally, I recall sending the site’s owners most of the underlying documents in the 2007 posting, but just in case you want them as well, the Florida information came from broward.org as well — just do an index search to find them.
As for the Massachusetts matters, the sources were (and are):
–Jeffrey Ross DBA “Ross & Associates” v. Claudeci Souza, Boston Municipal Court [“BMC”], docket 04-CV-003383, retrieved from BMC
–Jeffrey Ross DBA “Ross & Associates” v. Consuelo Agudelo, BMC, docket CA No. 003380, retrieved from BMC
–David Fias v. Jeff Ross (joined in by Lavoie), Boston Housing Court [“BHC”], docket number 05-SC-00548, retrieved from BHC
–Jeff Ross v. Moira Flynn, BHC, docket number 04-SP-00700, retrieved from BHC
–Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Jeff Ross, Suffolk County Superior Court,
–Cynthia Tsai v. Jeff Ross, Suffolk Probate & Family Court, docket number 05-D-1328, retrieved from the court, although the file was in disorder and a potentially revealing affidavit was missing.
–City of Boston v. Jeff Ross, Land Court, case number 126982 T.L., found at Suffolk Registry of Deeds [Suffolk Deeds], 27624/055 and 34295/183
–Homestead declaration. Suffolk Deeds 33692/193
–Mortgages and Deeds, Suffolk Deeds – do an index search
–Boston Assessor info, cityofboston.gov/assessing and phone interview with officials there to confirm
–Statement of Financial Interests, retrieved from State Ethics Commission, still available there but will be shredded soon because of their records retention schedule
–Campaign finance figures, retrieved from state OCPF, but probably available online as well
–Ross’ website, retrieved from web