The lawsuit accuses Todd Teal of filing fraudulent affidavits that prevent landowners from selling to anyone but him.
The complaint alleges that Todd Teal, 61, who lives in Singapore, held a mail drop box in Marco Island and used the Internet to identify land held in Florida mostly by out-of-state owners. According to the lawsuit, Teal would make offers to buy the property, hold the property under contract until he found a buyer to purchase it at a higher price, and in the meantime threaten the owner with lawsuits and fraudulent affidavits to prevent the owner from escaping from the unfair transaction.
The affidavits filed by Teal claimed he had a valid contract, and he would threaten to file a lawsuit to compel the property owner to sell him the property. As long as the affidavits remained in the court clerk's official record, the landowner did not have clear title and was prevented from selling to any other buyers.
These affidavits put a "cloud" on the title to the property, giving Teal an unlimited amount of time to arrange for another purchaser to buy the property from him. If a property owner objected to Teal's legal tactics, he threatened litigation. Investigators determined that Teal has bought and sold hundreds of properties, turning more than a million dollars profit in this manner.
These affidavits put a "cloud" on the title to the property, giving Teal an unlimited amount of time to arrange for another purchaser to buy the property from him. If a property owner objected to Teal's legal tactics, he threatened litigation. Investigators determined that Teal has bought and sold hundreds of properties, turning more than a million dollars profit in this manner.
According to the lawsuit, the title to more than 150 parcels of Florida land has been illegally clouded by Teal's actions. Owners have also suffered damages from lost opportunities to sell their land because of Teal's fraudulent scheme. About one-third of the properties involved owners who live in Florida.
Teal's actions as alleged violate the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and also constitute the common law offense of slander of title. The Attorney General seeks an order blocking Teal from buying additional Florida land and erasing the fraudulent affidavits from official county records. The lawsuit also seeks penalties of $10,000 for each of the more than 150 violations under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, or $15,000 for each violation against a person over 60 years of age.
Investigators discovered that Teal is operating similar scams in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. To date, these other states do not appear to have taken action against Teal.
Teal's actions as alleged violate the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and also constitute the common law offense of slander of title. The Attorney General seeks an order blocking Teal from buying additional Florida land and erasing the fraudulent affidavits from official county records. The lawsuit also seeks penalties of $10,000 for each of the more than 150 violations under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, or $15,000 for each violation against a person over 60 years of age.
Investigators discovered that Teal is operating similar scams in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. To date, these other states do not appear to have taken action against Teal.
A copy of the Attorney General’Äôs complaint is available at:
http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6EQPZ4/$file/TealComplaint+.pdf
UPDATE: The Leon County Circuit Court Judge William Gary signed a Final Judgment March 7, 2008 against Teal, for $6,464,393 in his scamming of Florida landowners with 546 deceptive contracts or fraudulent affidavits.
http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6EQPZ4/$file/TealComplaint+.pdf
UPDATE: The Leon County Circuit Court Judge William Gary signed a Final Judgment March 7, 2008 against Teal, for $6,464,393 in his scamming of Florida landowners with 546 deceptive contracts or fraudulent affidavits.
8. Yes the AG of Florida has filed a civil case against me that he is losing very badly since all people have the capacity to file a lawsuit just like the ones above and the AG can’t find one person who lost money because of my actions. See the Naples Newspaper article at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/29/clouded_titles_land_investor_headed_trial/
Todd TEal
You almost scammed me, but I was smarter than you. I figured out you were a full of shit scum bag.
DeleteNote the UPDATE that the State of Florida obtained a Judgment against Teal for his scamming of landowners using deceptive practices. He allegedly had not paid the State or anyone back but left the country for Thailand.
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