Prominent Atty who represented Sub-Prime Mtg Co shot to death ~~ in my area!

Police investigators stand outside the home of attorney Jeffrey Tidus in in Rolling Hills Estates on Tuesday at the site where Tidus was shot and died late Monday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Sheriff's Deputies have announced that the mysterious fatal shooting of prominent attorney Jeffrey Tidus outside his Palos Verdes Peninsula home is homicide. Initial speculation pointed to suicide, since the victim "was killed just hours after top executives at a firm Tidus represented, New Century Financial, were accused of fraud by federal regulators," http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/authroties-say-fatal-shooting-of-renowned-attorney-was-a-homicide.html">notes the LA Weekly's crime blog.

However with no weapon found in the neighborhood and after reviewing autopsy results homicide, officials believe Tidus was killed by another person who may be related to his work. Considering the safe nature of the Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood, police believe it is unlikely this was a random crime.

Tidus was killed around 8:30 p.m. on Monday.

http://laist.com/2009/12/10/attorney_jeffrey_tidus_death_ruled.php

From THE RAW STORY:

"While fortunes were won during the credit boom, reports of violence are now surfacing as California continues to struggle with the credit bust and fortunes lost," Padilla writes, noting the case of lawyer Jeffrey Tidus, who was found dead outside his home in Los Angeles on Monday.

The Associated Press reports that Tidus had represented New Century Financial, which was the US's second-largest subprime lender until the company went bust in 2007. Coincidentally or not, the SEC began legal proceedings against three New Century executives the day before Titus was shot.

The same day that Titus died, three men allegedly forced their way into the Newport Beach, California, home of Daniel Sadek, who had reportedly made billions in subprime loans before his company, Quick Loan Funding, went bankrupt in 2007. The Orange County Register reports that, two weeks earlier, a Mercedes parked in Sadek's driveway was set on fire.

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/bankers-public-wrath-literally/

Re: Tidus ~~ The neighborhood is very quiet ~~ the worst that might go on is a graduation party that gets a bit loud. IMO, this looks like a hit and I have the feeling that he was lured outside. Just too convenient that he happened to go back outside after he got home. Other info that I know is that he and his wife had been out, came home a little after 8:00 PM and then he went outside supposedly to get his laptop. Seems odd to me that someone was just waiting there for him to come back outside ~~ has to be more to the story, IMO. Just too convenient.

To say the least, people are angry at those who took the bucks and ran ~~ and they are striking out. I have to say that this kind of anger is not what I have seen over the years directed towards attys who did business litigation. This looks like revenge anger and the kind that is usually aimed at family law attys.

The temperature is rising amid the masses
and those associated with the crimes know it.
Thus the recent article about more of the elite buying weapons.
They are scared, as they should be.
As the saying goes, there is nothing more dangerous
than someone with nothing left to lose.

BHN

...the financial institutions have fucked over so many people, that there is a ton of anger out there. So many ways they have ruined lives ~~ and I totally agree when someone has nothing to lose...

Go back and read it again.
No one is advocating violence.
Hep was agreeing that there is nothing
more dangerous than someone with nothing
left to lose.
Not that murder is appropriate.

BHN

....I agreed with what you said about anyone who has nothing to lose...they are very dangerous.

:hi:

So many people are losing everything, or just on the verge of it.
There is a great deal of anger mounting; you can see it by the way
people drive here in LA especially. At least I've noticed less patience
and more aggression on the freeways and surface streets too.

Off topic, but have you seen my thread about a LA DU meet up for
January?

Good folks responding so far!
Hope you can make it.

PM me if you want to be on the contact list for details
as we decide the where and when.

BHN

...they just ruled that it was a homicide. At first, there was some discussion that it might be a suicide, but most who knew him doubted it. BTW: While I knew of Tidus, I did not know him personally. From what I did know of him, he was an excellent atty and well respected. I would doubt that he was into anything shady that his clients have done ~~ just someone striking out because of anger at the client, IMO.

...not only did the govt fail to go after the crooks, they got bailed out. So, yeah, someone who was doing his job for a client got iced. I am so sick of nearly everyone who is in a position to punish these crooks looking the other way.

:mad:

against them to protect himself. Perhaps he had in some small way participated in looting the company at the end.

I doubt some poor schlub who lost his home did this. It takes a shark w/ a fair amount of money to order a hit.

...he had nothing to gain from turning state's evidence. Tidus was a really, really straight shooter. He even served on the ethics committee for the CalBar. Unless something comes up that is really off the chart, I cannot see a hit from the business he rep's. Unless it was done to delay the trial that was about to start ~~ he was the lead atty ~~ no business that wants to protect itself is gonna get rid of a trial man like Tidus. He was an excellent atty.

Something odd I saw, tho: Last night, the Christmas lights were turned on at his house. Just seemed off to me. Not sure why...but just hit a wrong note with me. For some reason, I am getting odd feelings about this murder.

...they would not be contacting the atty who rep'd the target(s) for info.

He apparently represented New Century Financial before it went bust. Actually, he represented a number of Savings Banks in Southern California. He would have known how a number of institutions were making their money.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/fl-sec-charges-20091207,0,4034531,full.story
SEC accuses 3 ex-New Century execs of fraud
<SNIP>

Once a Wall Street darling, New Century had a market value of more than $1 billion at its zenith. It collapsed after a spike in defaults on subprime mortgages prompted its lenders to pull funding and demand that it buy back bad loans.

About 70 percent of the loans made by New Century featured low initial "teaser" interest rates designed to increase after a period of time.

<SNIP>
In a March 2008 report, a court examiner in California found that New Century used improper accounting practices while making risky loans, creating "a ticking time bomb" that led to its rapid demise.

The examiner's report found that 40 percent of the company's loans were so-called stated-income loans that don't require borrowers to verify their income. The company's predominant criteria for making loans was whether it could resell them on the secondary market, New Century directors and senior managers told investigators.

The SEC said it is "devoting significant resources to identifying and holding accountable those who committed fraud in the subprime industry."

...there is something really odd about this case.

Tidus comes home and the shooter waits until he goes inside and comes back out to get his laptop? For all the shooter knew, when Tidus got home the first time, he was in for the night.

Something is off about this case ... not sure what, tho. Just too convenient that he came back outside alone a second time.

JMHO

Slain attorney had history of going after the big boys

Attorney Jeffrey A. Tidus was shot in the head Monday night and died Tuesday morning according to the Los Angleles County Sheriff.

Mr. Tidus' firm represented Jon Gunderson in a suit against an attorney and a "shell" company that won a 2.4 million dollar verdict at trial court level. Three Court of Appeals judges, including Justice Zellon overturned the decision last month, and remanded the case back for a new trial. The case is Gunderson v. Wall, B204268.

Mr. Tidus was an expert on billing and ethics violations.

http://www.examiner.com/x-14600-LA-Family-Courts-Examiner~y2009m12d8-Slain-attorney-had-history-of-going-after-the-big-boys

:shrug:

They might call him in b/c they knew his rep, and the signs of fraud were so blatant w/o the necessary details for prosecution.

Or he had gone to them on his own shortly before the declaration of bankruptcy b/c management's activities and the consequences to ordinary people disturbed and offended him.

Those execs likely knew he normally kept his laptop in his car overnight. All one would have to do to set him up would be to call him w/ a question for their defense that he would have to look up on it, or even impersonate an SEC agent calling w/ such a question. Easy to figure out, but very hard to prove.

The first investigative step would be to find out where the call to his house came from. If it was made from an office or public phone that could be a dead end though.

You seem to suspect the wife. That's another possibility.

A disgruntled person w/ a foreclosed mortgage seems the least likely. In the rare cases such people kill, they go to the loan offices and shoot the place up, expecting to be killed themselves, or just possibly follow the person they spoke w/ about the loan home to kill. How would anyone know Tidus worked for the loan co.?

http://www.businessinsider.com/thugs-mount-home-invasion-on-subprime-lending-mogul-2009-12

Late Tuesday night a gang of armed men attacked a Newport Coast mansion owned by Quick Loan founder Daniel Sadek.
With his earnings from Quick Loan, Sadek lived a high-roller lifestyle. He bought the Newport Coast mansion, a fleet of exotic cars and crashed some of them in a movie he financed called "Redline." He bought a condo in Las Vegas where he became a high roller at the blackjack tables. Court records list cash advances taken out on his credit card at casinos from Hawaiian Gardens to Lebanon.

In court filings, he acknowledges gambling in the multi-million dollar range.

Police did not immediately know whether the men who paid Sadek a visit Tuesday night were collecting on a debt or were there to rob. They were taking cash and jewelry, Lt. Craig Fox of the Newport Beach Police Department said.

You may have heard of Sadek. Earlier this year, Vanity Fair ranked Sadek No. 86 on a list of institutions and people most to blame for the nation's economic problems. He was labeled "Predator Zero in the subprime-mortgage game.”

I believe he got a lot of notice in CNBC's House of Cards as well.