Bankrupt Banker Promotes Mortgage on Radio

By Patrick Maitland, Street Hype’s Editor

Just over two years since the New York State Banking Department suspended the license of 1st Republic Mortgage Bankers, Inc. for  “engaging in dishonest and inequitable practices,” its founder and president, Scott P. Sisskind, is now a spokesman for United Northern Mortgage Bankers Limited of Levittown, NY.

Scott, who also filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court on July 8, 2009, is a frequent guest on the “Trevor Ford Show”, aired daily on the popular WVIP FM 93.5, which has a large Jamaican/Caribbean audience.

Scott filed liabilities of $15.26 million, including creditors holding unsecured non-priority claims of $13.97 million, while his total asset was $1.93 million, including $1.36 million in real estate.

He also listed a short-term loan of $89,000 to president of Link up Media and popular radio personality on WVIP Radio, David Annakie as among his receivables.

According to the “Notice of Suspension” posted on the New York State Banking Department website and dated May 15, 2009, “on January 14, 2009, by an email, the Banking Department was advised that a warehouse line provider discovered improprieties in 1st Republic’s warehouse line accounts, including the double-booking of loans, the pledging of unclosed loans and the failure to properly disburse loan proceeds; and on January 22, 2009, 1st Republic’s General Counsel, Russell A. Fayer, advised the Banking Department that definite improprieties by an officer of the corporation had been discovered and that federal authorities were investigating the matter.”

1st Republic’s warehouse line was suspended on or about January 14, 2009 as a result of these improprieties, and during an onsite visitation, conducted January 27, 2009, it was discovered that 1st Republic closed 13 loans, totaling $4,659,318, on New York properties for which loan proceeds were not disbursed.

Several members of the Caribbean communities are demanding answers from the Banking Department, on Scott’s eligibility to continue selling and promoting mortgages.

A spokesman for New York State Banking Department, David Neustadt, told Street Hype that Sisskind had surrendered his banking license in 2009, and may not be authorized to act as a ‘banker.’

“We would have to hear his actual comments on radio, to determine if he is in violation of the Banking Act,” Neustadt explained.

Efforts to contact the management of United Northern Mortgage Bankers Limited was futile. However, responding a Street Hype call, an upset Sisskind declined to comment.

“I have no comments for your rag paper,” he shouted.

But, veteran broadcasted and host of the “Trevor Ford Show,” Trevor Ford explained that, based on discussions with Sisskind, he (Ford) was satisfied that the issues related to 1st Republic Bankers were settled.

Street Hype‘s legal advisor and attorney-at-law, David Calendar, observed that “legally Sisskind should be free to operate”, but questioned the principles and ethical grounds, since his (Sisskind) Bank was suspended for “engaging in dishonest and inequitable practices.”

“How could this man continue to promote the sale of mortgages to our community when his bank failed to comply with the banking regulations and he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy,” radio host Clement Humes asked.

1st Republic Mortgage Bankers, Inc. was granted a license by State of New York Banking Department’s on May 10, 2001, to engage in business as a mortgage banker. The principal office was located at 110 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 200, Floral Park, New York, 11001. It ceased operations in 2009.

Delivering the feature address at the official opening of the 14th meeting of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) in St Kitts, Douglas said the input and recommendations
of COFCOR is key and there must be an ongoing examination of the principles, practices, and mechanisms in the coordination of the approach to foreign policy, in the same way that there needs to be a review of the mechanisms by which the region engage third countries and groups of countries.

“As we do so, we must pay particular attention to our bilateral relations, framework agreements including memoranda of understanding and co-operation agreements; the regular scheduling of highlevel meetings; the joint commission of similar mechanisms; and the accreditation of plenipotentiary representatives,” said Douglas.

Jepsen sent letters to both companies Tuesday, prompted by published reports that said Apple’s iOS4 software tracks consumers’ locations and stores that data in a file hidden on iPhones and iPads, and that Google’s Android smartphone tracks users’ locations and transmits that data to Google. “I am particularly troubled by the apparent lack of clear and conspicuous disclosures regarding these practices and failure to request authorization from users,” Jepsen wrote in both letters.

The companies were asked to disclose whether or not they had “ever collected, or inserted into any of its products, technology that would allow it to collect location information or data from consumer devices.” If so, the companies were asked to provide information about the devices that collect the data; the date those devices were put into use; the type and the amount of information collected; an explanation about why
the information was collected and the steps the companies have taken to protect it from disclosure.

Jepsen also asked whether the company had “obtained express authorizations from Connecticut consumers … to collect or compile this information” and he requested detailed information on how consumers could turn off, or disable, the location-collection feature if they wished. “Consumers, who have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their day to day lives, are finding their privacy increasingly under attack,” Jepsen said. “While they can voluntarily give up their privacy, it should not be taken from them without their permission.”

Authorities said they responded Tuesday morning to an apartment on West 225th Street in the Marble Hill
Houses in Kingsbridge Heights, where they found nine-month-old Ryan Ferrer unconscious. Ryan was rushed to

The nine-month-old baby, who suffered multiple internal injuries includinga brain hemorrhage, was found Tuesday
morning after police responded to a call about an assault at the Marble Hill Houses in Kingsbridge Heights. Police
say the child’s mother was not home at the time.

Dozens of Caribbean teachers recruited from their homelands a decade ago live under the threat of
deportation with promises by New York City’s Department of Education to secure their green cards, still unfulfilled, News Americas has learnt.

The plight of the teachers came to light this past weekend as Berthia Lewis of The Black Institute and Judith Hall Jones, a Jamaican teacher recruit who now heads up the Association of International Educators,
hit the airwaves of WWRL’s “Caribbean Corner” radio show. The two organizations recently teamed up to release a full study on the case titled “Broken Promises: The Story of Caribbean International Teachers in New
York City’s Public Schools.”

In the study, it is revealed that in 2001, 500 Caribbean-born teachers, from several countries, including Jamaica, were aggressively recruited by the then-New York City Board of Education to come to the United
States to work in the city’s public schools. According to the report, they were
promised New York State teacher certification, Master’s degrees, housing assistance
and ultimately, a pathway to permanent United States residency for themselves and
their nuclear families.

But both Hall and Lewis say the promises were never kept and while the teachers have remained in the city’s school system, teaching in licensed areas where there are teacher shortages, they have been classified
as “unskilled workers” by lawyers filing their labor certification petitions with New York State’s Department of Labor and many remain caught up in the certification backlog without the promised legal residency.
As such, most of the teachers are forced to live under constant threat of termination and deportation while their spouses and children are dependent on them since they cannot work under the present immigration system.

The teachers group says the stress of renewing temporary work visas has been a constant part of these teachers’ lives for the past decade and the financial costs have been steep since they have paid many thousands of dollars to the DOE’s designated attorneys to maintain their legal status yet many remain in legal limbo.

The AIE wants the New York State Education Department to resolve all certification issues for international teachers immediately and to have all certified NYCPS teachers to receive professional EB-2 work classifications on their permanent residency petitions, rather than the less-skilled EB-3 classifications the
Caribbean teachers have been assigned to date.

The group is also calling for a joint oversight hearing by New York City and state lawmakers to assess the DOE’s treatment of all international teachers and determine their current immigration status; the creation of a special immigration classification for these teachers, enabling an expedited green card process/citizenship
and an investigation of how international teachers are recruited throughout the country and a review of how their employment and residency is handled.

The number of New York City Public School teachers who have been certified by the Department of Labor to acquire green cards over the past six years show only 641 have achieved permanent residency status. This represents less than 20 percent of the total number of international recruits. Of the green cards certified, 276 went to teachers from Caribbean countries. An estimated 19,000 teachers were working in the United States on temporary visas in 2007. The number of overseas-trained teachers being hired in the United States is
increasing steadily.

The Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment on the issue as of press time.