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 7-24-17
Inside Vegas - Steve Miller

Steve Miller is a former Las Vegas City Councilman. In 1991, the readers of the Las Vegas Review Journal voted him the "Most Effective Public Official" in Southern Nevada. Visit his website at: http://www.SteveMiller4LasVegas.com


Jason Hanson Sues Jared Shafer And Others For Civil Racketeering, Fraud, And
Embezzlement

Majority of Inheritance Stolen Under False Guardianship

"This has to stop." "I want justice." - Jason Vaughn Hanson

  .
          Jared E. Shafer  (Click on each image for video)  Victim Jason Hanson (photo by Mike Christ)

       ...
                        (L to R) Defendants Francis Fine, Dara Goldsmith, Elyese Tyrell, John Cahilll

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
July 24, 2017
 
LAS VEGAS - 27 year old cerebral palsy victim Jason Hanson, after waiting since April 2016 for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Abuse and Neglect Detail to present Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson with Requests for Prosecution of the persons who stole the majority of his inheritance, on July 17, 2017 took the next step and filed a Civil Racketeering and Embezzlement lawsuit against his exploiters in Nevada State Court.
 
"I decided to take matters into my own hands," responded Hanson when asked by KTNV TV Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears why it was taking the police so long.
 
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                                                               Click on above images to view KTNV TV News story

Hanson hired Las Vegas attorney Jacob Hafter to determine if he had grounds to sue private guardian Jared E. Shafer of Professional Fiduciary Services of Nevada (PFSN), Clark County Public Administrator John Cahill, disgraced ex-judge Francis Fine, attorneys Dara Goldsmith and Elyse Tyrell after unsuccessfully waiting over nine years to receive his inheritance that they collectively controlled, an inheritance that once included a Special Needs Trust fund of over $100,000, and a handicapped equipped 1,200 square foot two bedroom condominium in a gated community in southwest Las Vegas.



Attorney Jacob Hafter argues successfully before The Nevada Supreme Court on another case

JASON HANSON'S AMENDED COMPLAINT

In winter 2017, it had been nine years since he reached legal age of majority and was taken off guardianship, however, Hanson had yet to receive a dime of his inheritance that was supposed to be protected by the defendants in his lawsuit, and an incompetent, or collusive, Clark County Family Court system.
 
When Jason turned 18 in 2007, and his youth guardianship automatically terminated, Francis Fine and the other Trustees NEVER refiled to be guardian over him as an adult, and never had him mentally evaluated, rendering the whole guardianship over him for the next 8 years non-existent! Had they had him mentally evaluated, they would have learned that he's intellectually gifted, and was not in need of guardianship.  For this he repeatedly asked the court to appoint him an attorney, and was repeatedly refused.
 
In January 2016, Hanson testified before the Nevada Supreme Court Guardianship Commission where Shafer's lawyer Elyse Tyrell was somehow appointed as a Commissioner.  He confronted Tyrell on local TV news about the whereabouts of his money. Several days later, Tyrell coughed up a one year old check in the amount of $5,530.74 that she had kept secret from Hanson. When asked about the year old check by reporters, she represented that it was the total remaining balance from the sale of Jason's house after Shafer and his attorneys finished deducting their fees. It was later learned that while on Tyrell, Fine, Goldsmith, and Shafer's watch, Jason's original guardian Susan Rousselle confessed to stealing $39,000 from his $100,000 trust that they failed to safeguard. No thanks to Tyrell, et. al., It was only learned after the woman confessed to the crime in a plea bargain. The remaining $60,000 in the Trust was never mentioned by anyone purportedly looking out for Jason, and only recently was discovered in the unclaimed funds account of the Pennsylvania State Treasurer, the state where Rousselle lived before being caught.
 
In the meantime, Hanson has been living at taxpayer expense for almost ten years.



 
Then there's the issue of Jared Shafer's closest associate Patience Bristol. Bristol was sentenced to five to eight years for financially exploiting Shafer's PFSN wards, while he was never charged or held responsible for her crimes that ocurred directly under his supervision.


 

Amazingly, even with Shafer's trusted assistent locked away in prison, and the violated Nevada Revised Statutes clearly laid out for them by Jason's attorney throughout his civil racketeering lawsuit, police have still not found a shred of criminal evidence on Shafer, et. al. to present to the DA for prosecution.

In his Hanson pleadings, attorney Hafter states:

1. Defendants are well established professionals who make their living, in part or in whole, as a result of Nevada’s guardianship and probate systems.
2. Defendants have used their roles in the guardianship and probate systems to make a living at the expense and to the detriment of the parties that are to be protected by these systems (emphasis added by SM).
3. This lawsuit seeks to address the failures of Nevada’s probate and guardianship systems in fairly respecting and protecting the interests of Plaintiff, JASON HANSON.
4. Defendants used their roles in the guardianship and probate systems to deprive Mr. Hanson of the limited resources which were left to him by his father and grandmother.
5. As a result of Defendants’ actions Mr. Hanson has been deprived of thousands of dollars.
 
136. Defendant Shafer, Defendant Professional Fiduciary Services of Nevada, Inc., and Defendant Goldsmith, breached their fiduciary duties by charging excessive and/or fraudulent fees in Mr. Hanson’s case.
 
137. Defendants breached that duty by knowingly allowing funds belonging to the Plaintiff to be withdrawn, utilized and taken by other Defendants in violation of Nevada and Federal law and without due regard to the property rights of Plaintiff.
 
138. Defendants Fine, Tyrell and Goldsmith breached their duties to Plaintiff by failing to take timely, effective action to investigate the identity, value and safeguard Mr. Hanson’s assets in the Guardianship Case.
 
142. Defendants committed a distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over Mr. Hanson’s property by deducting or accepting monies from the Guardianship and Estate bank accounts, without a valid court order or proper investigation as to the lawfulness of the payments.
 
FIFTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF
(Civil RICO, Fraud against All Defendants)
 
157. In violation of NRS §207.400 and various federal statutes, Defendants conspired together to commit this racketeering activity.
 
EIGHTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF
 
175. Plaintiff, at all relevant times herein, was a "vulnerable person" within the meaning of NRS 41.1395(e).
176. Plaintiff suffered a loss of money or property caused by the failure of Defendants to act with due care, through their exploitation of him as a result of their trusted positions within the estate and guardianship systems, as described herein and within the meaning of NRS §41.1395.
177. In exploiting Plaintiff, Defendants acted with recklessness, oppression, fraud and/or malice.
 
JURY DEMAND
Pursuant to Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure 38, the Nevada constitution, and the United State Constitution, Plaintiff hereby demands a jury trial.



Hanson's lawsuit is not the first of its kind against Jared E. Shafer. Here are two more lawsuits that have - so far - not inspired any action from the Las Vegas Metro Police Abuse and Neglect Detail.
 
In May 2014, Shafer was sued for embezzlement by Kristina Berger: http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/BergerComplaint-05--5-14.pdf.  Berger alleged Shafer and his company PFSN stole tens of thousands of dollars from her estate for unneeded services and reimbursements without court approval, accounting or oversight, in violation of NRS 159.183.  Berger's jury trial is scheduled to begin on June 26, 2018 in Nevada State Court.
 
In August 2014, a Federal Civil Racketeering lawsuit was filed against Shafer and Wells Fargo Bank Trust Department by Guadalupe Olvera and his Trust. Sadly, Mr. Olvera did not live long enough to see justice, but his daughter Rebecca Schultz continues the lawsuit as Trustee of his estate. Olvera's family is attempting to recover at least $430,000 that Shafer converted from Mr. Olvera's Trust account at Wells Fargo while the WW2 veteran was a ward of PFSN. The California Superior Court later determined that Olvera was mentally competent and was never in need of guardianship. Wells Fargo is charged with improperly allowing Shafer to take unapproved withdrawals and payments from the Olvera Trust without court orders. This case is rapidly winding its way through the federal court system:
http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/OlveravsShafer.pdf
 
Neither the Hanson, Berger, or Olvera lawsuits would have been necessary if the Clark County Family Court system had done its job.  The three vulnerable persons were taken for almost everything they were worth while under the legal supervision of one or more elected Family Court Judges, or their appointed "Hearing Master."  The two elected judges were Wiliam Voy and Charles Hoskin. Judge Voy, prior to being elected, represented Jared Shafer as his private attorney in over fifty court cases. They both enjoy the services of their appointed Hearing Master Jon Norheim who prior to being appointed to the bench was a prominent local mob lawyer with the Patti and Scro Law Firm. Both Voy and Hoskin used the services of Jared Shafer's political sign company Signs of Nevada (c/o PFSN) during their elections.  The political sign company operates out of Shafer's guardianship office.
 
In the case of Mr. Olvera, Hearing Master Norheim denied his plea to move back to California (court video) to spend his remaining days with his family. And in the case of Jason Hanson, Norheim twice denied Hanson's in-court verbal request for an attorney to represent his interests, both times being told by Norheim he must file his request in writing, something Hanson is physically unable to do.

..
(L to R)  Judges William Voy,  Charles Hoskin, and their Hearing Master Jon Norheim

In my opinion, the above Judges are at best incompetent, or at worst complicit with crimes and inhumane acts against many highly vulnerable persons in addition to Hanson, Berger, and Olvera. To prove my point, here is a court video of Jared Shafer, who is not a lawyer, giving direct orders to Hearing Master Norheim to throw spectators out of his courtroom after an attorney for one of Shafer's court appointed wards demanded to know the whereabouts of one-half-million dollars missing from the ward's account.
 
Pursuing Shafer, other guardians, and their attorneys for bleeding out estates is difficult because these bad judges “approve” and issue “court orders” permitting the over billing to be paid from the estates, and once a court order for an over payment is issued in Family Court, it’s difficult to do anything about it since its a “court order,” even though it may be part of an embezzlement scheme.  None of the judges mentioned in this column have yet been brought before the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission.
 
The kind of crimes and atrocities described above cannot occur in the light of day.  I believe that the efforts of Jason Hanson and his attorney Jacob Hafter will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and draws the media attention that will alert federal law enforcement authorities to intervene and hopefully usurp the lackadaisical efforts of local police, and bring the parasites described in this column to justice before they can harm any more good people under color of law.

BACKGROUND:
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/3-3-14_Inside_Vegas.html
http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/ShaferFinancialRecords2.html
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/8-11-14_Inside_Vegas.html
http://www.ktnv.com/news/contact-13/guardianship-crimes-occurred-in-courtroom
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/2-1-16_Inside_Vegas.html
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/4-10-17_Inside_Vegas.html

Jason Hanson's testimony before the Nevada Supreme Court Guardianship Commission:
http://www.thevegasvoice.net/nevada-legislature-happenings/guardianship-commission-hearing-got-hot-on-friday

Editor's note: Steve Miller is a founder of Opportunity Village, "Las Vegas Favorite Charity" where Jason Hanson works. Miller served twenty years as a volunteer and OV board member. He retired as President Emeritus of the organization.  Steve is also Chairman Emeritus of Goodwill Industries of Southern Nevada.  That said, he takes the story of Jason Hanson personally.



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