The House Hunter
Scamfluencers
Wondery
4.1 • 7K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After starting his own law firm in the early 1990s, David J. Stern gains a reputation for churning out foreclosure cases. His biggest payday comes during the mortgage crisis, when millions of Americans lose their homes. Their loss is his gain. But when wronged homeowners begin to fight back, they’ll unravel the fraud at the heart of the system.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey Prime members, you can listen to scam influencers early and ad free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:04.8 | Download the app today. |
| 0:07.2 | Heads up to our listeners. |
| 0:09.0 | This episode contains descriptions of workplace sexual harassment and assault. |
| 0:13.8 | Listen with care. |
| 0:14.8 | Saki, home ownership is central to the idea of the American dream, and now that you live in America, |
| 0:27.0 | what are your thoughts on buying a house? |
| 0:30.0 | Let me tell you what I'm holding out for. |
| 0:32.0 | I'm hoping out for. |
| 0:32.7 | I'm hoping that I have some mysterious elderly relative |
| 0:36.5 | who lives in like a beautiful brownstone in Manhattan |
| 0:42.0 | who dies also mysterious causes and they leave me the house and then it's also it's haunted and so then I solve mysteries with the ghosts. You know what? That sounds a lot more possible than affording a home thing. |
| 0:57.0 | Well, the story I'm about to tell you is about the rot at the heart of the American dream, |
| 1:04.6 | and why it's not so bad that we'll never be able to afford a house. |
| 1:11.8 | It's November 2010 in the law offices of David J. Stern are in chaos. |
| 1:17.0 | That's not unusual for the firm. |
| 1:19.0 | They handle foreclosures, so there are always tons of people running around, shouting, signing documents, and moving cases forward. |
| 1:27.0 | But today, David's offices have erupted into a different kind of mayhem. |
| 1:32.0 | A small army of agents have marched into the building and are now ransacking it. |
| 1:36.4 | They're packing up and carrying out box after box of files. |
| 1:40.6 | David can only stand back and watch as his lucrative empire teeters on the verge of collapse. |
| 1:46.7 | The firm occupies a huge pale yellow building that has its own fitness center, courtyard, |
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