Here's How Andrei Gill And Kenneth King Allegedly Forged Documents To “Steal” A North Minneapolis House...

(Public record, thus public domain)

GUEST POST BY CAMDEN CANARY

This is the story of Andrei Gill and Kenneth King allegedly “stealing” a North Minneapolis home from a vulnerable adult and stripping it of equity from 2006 to 2009. It involves allegations of forgery, illegal notarizations, and sadly, these two are still involved in the North Minneapolis real estate market today.

When Andrei Gill and Kenneth King were going through separate bankruptcy proceedings in 2012, an adversary action was filed against them:

“[Debtor's] bankruptcy is merely an attempt to escape liability for fraud. [Debtor], along with his allies, deceived Darlla Gravdal by selling her home without her knowledge and stripping it of its equity. [Debtor] set up the sale so that he could take advantage of a vulnerable adult and make an illegal profit off her home. Once [Debtor's] transaction was complete, Gravdal was then forced to pay rent and subsequently told she had to leave the home. [Debtor's] debts to Gravdal are nondischargeable under the bankruptcy code.”

Here's allegedly what happened, according to court filings...

...In 1988, Evelyn Knight purchased a home at 4328 Irving Ave N for her granddaughter Darlla Gravdal. Darlla was to make monthly payments of $325 to her grandmother (and later her grandmother's estate) under a contract for deed from 1988 to 1998, which he did.

After living in the home for 20 years, Darlla was now a single mother with six children and a “vulnerable adult,” as the complaint states. In 2006, her home was in serious disrepair and she was at risk of losing her children because of it. She was referred to Kenneth King, Andrei Gill, and their company World Wide Funding & Investments Inc. to secure funding to repair the home.

According to the complaint, in 2006 Kenneth King induced Darlla to sign her grandmother's name to a quitclaim deed to obtain a loan. That quitclaim deed is dated December 15, 2003, just prior to her grandmother's death. To be valid, a quitclaim deed must be notarized — which it was.

Notary Carolletha Louise Hall notarized the quit claim deed, writing that the acknowledgement happened on December 15, 2003. But here's the thing: Hall's notary commission didn't begin until May 20, 2005. The quitclaim deed states that it was drafted by Darlla, yet misspells her name as "Darla." Hall is still a notary today.

I've annotated this document, although if you want to see the full exhibits as filed with the court, they're here:

(Public record, public domain, annotations added)

Andrei Gill and Kenneth King's company World Wide Funding then purportedly drew up a “secretly obtain[ed]” mortgage from Darlla to Worldwide Funding for $5,604. The complaint details that Darlla recalled being taken to a “a place ‘far away’ in or about May 2006 by King and [Andrei] Gill to sign documentation that King and Gill represented to be a home equity loan.” Darlla says was initially told she would pay $440 per month to pay back a home equity loan.

The complaint goes on, “[A]t no time did [Darlla] Gravdal agree to sell her home, nor did she know that she was doing so.”

Darlla's signature is on the mortgage, but the mortgage was notarized by Jacqueline Marie Adams King, Kenneth King's wife. Most definitely not an uninterested third party. Jacqueline King is still a notary public today.

(Public record, public domain, annotations added)

Then, in May 2006, a warranty deed purportedly conveying the property from Darlla to Andrei Gill individually was executed. The signature on that document clearly reads “Darla” instead of “Darlla,” an “obvious forgery” according to the complaint.

(Public record, public domain, annotations added)

The notary for that signature was John C. Povejsil, and the document stated it was drafted by Real Source Title, LLC in Mahtomedi. That company, and it's owner Jason Fischer, have a questionable history:

“Real Source Title, LLC, a closing and title insurance company co-owned by Povejsil and Fischer, withdrew more than $2 million from customers' escrow accounts and failed to use the funds to pay lien holders. Two other unlicensed companies under their ownership sold more than 542 insurance policies. Fischer was disbarred as a lawyer in 2009 and sentenced to four years and two months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering. He was ordered to pay almost $4 million in restitution.” — Star Tribune

After the allegations came out, Povejsil was quite active in online forums, threatening to sue others for libel. In a years-earlier post, someone by his name wrote a comment on a story about document forgery stating, “I have never actually seen a claim arise because of a forged document, but my bet is that forgeries are common...” He died in 2012.

But back to Darlla: a HUD-1 settlement statement and Certificate of Real Estate Value connected to the sale allegedly indicated the home was sold for $110,000, however the previously filed warranty deed states that the property was conveyed “for consideration less than $500.”

Andrei Gill then allegedly financed the transaction with a mortgage for $70,000, and after closing the amount to be paid to Darlla was purported to be $41,480.08, with $8,604 separately going to pay off the fraudulent $5,604 mortgage.

“[Darlla] Gravdal left the closing with a check for $98,497.61. Soon after the closing, Gill instructed Gravdal to sign the check over to him, which, upon information and belief, Gill deposited in the account of World Wide Funding.”

Between 2006 and 2007, Andrei Gill made two payments for repairs for the house: about $3,800 for roofing and $15,000 for various repairs to the kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms, according to the complaint.

In 2007, Gill purportedly refinanced the property for $99,100 with Lime Financial Services, Ltd., which Darlla wasn't aware of; money that was deposited in a World Wide Funding account.

Then, in 2008, the complaint states Andrei Gill delivered a letter to Gravdal demanding she pay rent of $822 per month or face eviction:

(Public record court filing, public domain)

A City housing inspector then allegedly posted a notice on the door stating that Darlla had to vacate because the property was an unlicensed rental property. The complaint doesn't detail what happened between 2008 and 2009, but it states that Andrei Gill defaulted on the mortgage and Darlla's home was foreclosed on.

In July 2009, Andrei Gill allegedly conveyed his interest in the home via a quit claim deed to Terrance Averyheart, whose address was apparently 1305 50th Ave N, which was Andrei Gill's residence. Then, Averyheart apparently sent letters to Darlla demanding that she vacate.

Darlla filed a lawsuit in state court, and the court ordered that title be returned to her.

“Additionally it entered judgment against King, Gill, and Averyheart jointly and severally for actual damages of $79,697.61 and statutory damages of $21,387.95. The state court found King, Gill, Averyheart, and World Wide Funding jointly and severally liable to Gravdal for fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, unjust enrichment, civil theft, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, and piercing the corporate veil/individual liability.”

In Kenneth King's bankruptcy [docket report], he and his wife had listed assets of $129k and liabilities of $879k. He was granted a discharge, although a judgment of $2,960 for Darlla was excepted from the discharge.

Andrei Gill [docket report], on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. His bankruptcy petition listed $2,000 in assets, $1.1 million in liabilities, and a monthly income of $1,360 as a “self employed property manager.”

The trustee in Gill's case initiated a Rule 2004 Examination, which would investigate actions, conduct, finances, and includes requirements to produce documents and give depositions. Gill avoided that process, his bankruptcy was “dismissed for abuse” according to the docket, and he stipulated to being barred from filing bankruptcy for one year.

Andrei Gill and Kenneth King are still working the real estate market today.

A year ago when I looked at Kenneth King's LinkedIn page, it identified him as an “Identity Theft Expert”, the Finance Director at Builder's Institute and a Manager at Edge Home Finance. His past experience listed that he was a manager at America's Lending Group, too.

That's not what his LinkedIn account says now, which says was a “Loan Officer/Office Manager” at Universal Mortgage and Finance, Inc. through 2012, and now is as a Loan Officer at Edge Home Finance Corporation. Edge's website lists King as a Mortgage Planner, stating “I pride myself on helping others and uncovering problems.”

Edge's website also lists Chris Hacker as CEO. This Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal article shines a light on a man by the same name (“Mortgage broker named in anti-predatory lending lawsuit”), who also filed a bankruptcy petition at one point — he got two adversary proceedings against him: a married couple that claimed he deceived them, and from the Minnesota Attorney General. He had settled a complaint for “violations of state consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, false advertising, and mortgage broker laws,” and the State didn't want the $100,000 settlement being discharged in his bankruptcy. It wasn't, and neither was the other judgment.

As to America's Lending Group, it's actually Andrei Gill's company. And as to Builders Institute, which is purportedly a nonprofit organization, look for another post soon...

Andrei Gill doesn't have much of a public presence these days, but he's believed to be involved in the companies Javan Investments LLC and Damascus Group LLC too. He's the listed rental license contact on a number of properties.

––––

Kenneth's name, address(es), or phone number(s) have led me to the following possible connections, which I note here for anyone else researching him:

• 3626 Oliver Ave N
• 5211 Sheridan Ave N
• 6713 Colfax Ave N
• 7370 Unity Ave N
• 763-442-5723
• 763-560-0100
• kking@afcmw.com
• 3759 Aldrich Ave N
• Mortgage Consultants of North America, Inc. ("Kenneth R King" listed as CEO)
• 6000 Bass Lake Rd #220, Crystal
• Charles Foote
• Judah McNeilly
• Howard Garren
• Jonny Carlson / Johnathan Carlson
• Ellis Banks

Same deal with Andrei, possible connections:

• Debora Gill Smith
• 5841 73rd Ave N #41, Brooklyn Park
• 2955 Logan Ave N
• 3759 Aldrich Ave N
• 915 27th Ave NE
• 4624 Penn Ave N
• 3714 Dupont Ave N
• 3440 3rd Ave S
• 2401 Lyndale Ave N (Property owner is Debora Gill Smith, who was the listed organizer of Javan Investments LLC, which Andrei Gill was a contact person on)
• 1305 50th Ave N
• Rodney Brown
• Laurainna Busch
• Grace Ashley
• 7610 Beryshire
• Sharon Perry
• PO Box 11863, Minneapolis 55411
• 902 24th Ave N

If you have any information on those connections, feel free to e-mail me!