Costa Rica Expertise LLC

A property fraud case study

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

A retired expat couple came back to Costa Rica last week to fight for their rights. They say they are fighting to get back their beautiful ocean view condominium taken from them over five years ago. The persons who got the condo were experienced in their game, and the retired couple honest and unsuspecting.

This criminal court case paints a classic Costa Rica property swindle scenario. The expat couple came to Costa Rica to look for a retirement home near the beach to enjoy their lives after many years of hard work and saving a retirement fund. They trusted the people they met including the attorneys they hired to look out for their interest. They invested about $300,000.

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That was their first mistake, trusting people. According to their allegations, almost everyone they met became part of the ultimate scam, including the real estate agent, the seller of the apartment and the attorneys. Their second mistake was not taking heed when the warning signs started to pop up all around them.

One day, it was too late. A truck pulled up in front of their condominium along with a judge and the police. They were not there. The judge told the administrator of the building the expat couple did not own the property — they never legally owned it — and he gave the police the order to evict them. The takeover was planned to the last detail. Those who took over the condo contracted a moving van to take all the expats' personal belongings to San José for storage. For the ultimate insult, they arranged to have a bill sent to the couple by the moving company for the expenses of the move. The expats were in the United States at their primary residence at the time.

The case starts this week and is scheduled for five days. A tribunal — a three-judge court — will issue a verdict as soon as Friday. However, the case could flow over until next week with a verdict immediately after it is finished.

Another expat fought a fraud case against a politician's wife two years ago and won. His case almost expired before it ever got to court. The criminal attorney who won that case is also the lawyer for the retired expats.

The victims, the retired couple, are the exception not the rule. Most people swindled out of property in Costa Rica do not have the financial resources to fight. These two people decided to fight to the end and take on whatever the sacrifice to expose the rampant property fraud in this country.

That is one of the major problems in combating property fraud here. Not enough people fight — or cannot fight due to lack of resources — against criminals. Another major problem is that the courts are so over burdened and disorganized that many cases never get to trial. For the ones that do get to court, the law and the judges are bound to the principle, “in dubio pro reo.” This is a Latin legal term that means, “when in doubt, favor the accused.”

The scammers usually know the law and the victims do not. They know most people cannot afford a prolonged legal battle, so they make friends with lawyers where everyone gets a piece of the action. Because of this, the crooks usually do not have the same legal costs as the scammed.

They also know the courts are overwhelmed, so they play games with the legal process to increase the likelihood that any penalties for wrongdoing will expire before the case gets to court. Most importantly, they know what “in dubio pro reo” means, so they play with the evidence, threaten witnesses and send accomplices elsewhere.

In the case of the retired expats, the original lawyers recruited more lawyers along the way to delay the judicial process. They did not have to work too hard either. The criminal court system had the whole case so screwed up it has taken four years to get a court date. The only reason there is a trial this week is due to the pleading of the attorney to the prosecutor for justice. In fact, the case almost died on the vine as so many do. As for the “in dubio pro reo,” the key witnesses for the plaintiffs say they have been threatened with their lives if they show up in court. The accomplices cannot be found to receive subpoenas.

The financial burden on the expats include contracting attorneys with retainers, paying for extensive investigative research, contracting private investigators to find the accomplices, flying witnesses to San José several times to meet with prosecutors, paying for hotel stays, officially translating documents, and the list goes on. The retirees had to spend this just to get the case to court. Now that the trial is upon them, they have had additional expenses including protecting their witnesses, lodging everyone close to court and paying for simultaneous translators so they will understand what is going on. Simultaneous translators cost $30 to $50 an hour and are hard to find.

The retired couple who lost their condominium over five years ago has had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get to judgment day. They are tired and fed up with Costa Rica and its legal system. Even if they win next week and the tribunal awards them their property back, they will have to continue to fight to get the property registered into their name. There are always appeals and more legal roadblocks to overcome.

Garland M. Baker has been a resident of Costa Rica since 1972 and is now a naturalized citizen. He provides multidisciplinary professional services to the international community. He is a consultant to the case described above. Reach him at [email protected] Baker has undertaken the research leading to these series of articles in conjunction with A.M. Costa Rica. Copyright 2008, use without permission prohibited.

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