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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon, Podcast

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 14 – Michael Hild was arraigned for fraud on Live Well Financial's reverse mortgages and home equity conversion mortgages by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Ronnie Abrams on September 5, 2019. Inner City Press covered it, here.

 Now on April 14, 2021, Judge Abrams started the trial. Inner City Press live tweeted the morning, here:

Assistant US Attorney, in opening, says it unraveled in 2018 when lenders asked for more info. $200 million stolen; the cooperating witness are criminals, sure, AUSA says, but they have accepted responsibility. 

Next up: Ben Dusing. And he's laying it on thick
[Note: "“It is the Yankee Stadium of financial fraud worldwide,” Dusing told Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO shortly after his hiring in March]
[And: Hild has a website of his endeavors, here]

 Ben Dusing: I'm from Kentucky, I speak with an accent, you're going to hear it a lot. My daddy told me, A trial is a search for the truth. We begin together to search for the truth. And that's the exciting thing. We can all be proud. These are interesting times

 Ben Dusing: Never before have I been confined by plexi-glass. We'll have to lean over more, to find the truth. But it is a common purpose. We haven't seen any proof yet.  At the end I will ask you to find Mr. Michael Hild not guilty based on the facts and law

 Ben Dusing: It will come down to, did Mr. Hild intend to defraud people. It's complex. You're going to hear about pre-payment speed. Truth is found within the complexity, not despite it.

 Ben Dusing: This case is about throwing people under the bus. Bigger fish. I thank you for the sacrifice you are about to make.  [Then a 5 minute break, during which: Could you tell them not to clean the windows now? Courtroom 110 is big, with a lot of history]

It's 11:25 am and Judge Abrams is back with more jury instructions: "You must follow the law as I explain it to you, whether you agree with it or not," etc.

 First government witness against Michael Hild of Live Well is a cooperator, who previously worked at Morgan Stanley then Goldman Sach

As this witness Darren Stumberger, drones on, Inner City Press has looked up the transaction being asked about: "Ernie Calabrese and Vice President Dan Foster who will also join Live Well alongside Stumberger.

On April 13, Judge Abrams picked a jury of 12, with three alternates, in the large Jury Assembly Room of the SDNY, with the venire in masks and individual chairs, socially distanced. Inner City Press was there.

  The Juror Questionnaire asked about any links to or knowledge of Bank of New York, Customers Bank, First Bank of Tennessee, Flagstar Bank, ICBC, International Data Corporation (IDC), Mizuho Securities, NRMLA, Nomura, Republic Bank, U.S. Bank and others.

 In the run-up to the trial, which starts on April 14 at 10:15 am and which Inner City Press will cover, the US Attorney's Office filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude "evidence suggesting that IDC or the lenders were negligent or careless in failing to stop the fraud."

 Echoes of the Eaze trial of US v. Weigard, earlier this year before Judge Jed S. Rakoff, unsealing order won by Inner City Press here.

   Beyond mortgage fraud, we note for now that Hild worked at Capital One, and was building an empire in South Richmond which some locals denounced as gentrification. Hild, of course, has another story. Watch this site.

The case is US v Hild, 19-cr-602 (Abrams). There is and will be more on Patreon, here.