Has a crime been committed here??

[ghtix]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

After approx. 5 months of wrangling back & forth & jumping through the Association's hoops & roadblocks, my attorney & I finally go to inspect my Condominium Association’s books & records that we requested last August. This was held in the office of the Association’s lawyer. The Secretary & Treasurer were in the back room & did not participate – only myself, my attorney & their attorney were present.

Last year the Association sued me (frivolously) because I challenged election methods. Although there was no legal grounds by which the judge could uphold my argument, he agreed with me morally and in principle, and ordered the plaintiffs to pay their legal bill personally – out of their own pockets – instead out of Association funds - because they refused to arbitrate all along.

I suspected that the money for their legal bill came out of Association funds and this was at the root of my request to examine books & records. So, when we got to the bank statements, we saw that someone had taken a black marker to several of them and that several entries / lines had been blacked out. Their current lawyer, who was present, (this is not the one that represented them in the lawsuit) said that this was “privileged” information and that this information was “redacted.”. We disagreed that it was privileged information and were very concerned that the bank statements had been defaced. (including totals) Their attorney said that if Association money was “hypothetically” used to pay their lawyer during the case, we were not privy to the amount they paid.

Now, I don’t care how much their legal bill was – I DO care that whatever money was removed was probably not put back into the Association account. I can’t yet determine this by looking at defaced bank statements. I/we need to definitely determine if/when money was removed, and if/when it was put back - if it was.

Questions:

Am I not entitled to view clean bank statements?

Is such information really “privileged” because I was the other party in the past lawsuit, and are there grounds for them to deny me access to this information?

How can I determine if money was indeed removed to pay their past legal bill – and, more importantly, whether it was ever returned to the account?

And, bottom line – has a crime been committed? If so, how exactly do I proceed in pursuing this?

Is time of the essence?

We only got to inspect & copy the records last Saturday and have yet to study them in detail – the above is based on what we saw when they were being collected & copied. I know my lawyer will weigh in when he gets to examine everything, but I am very concerned right now and am putting the basic situation out here for any feedback & comments, which I would appreciate.

Also - I am additionally concerned that if I were to put my unit up for sale, and a prospective buyer wanted to review the Association records, I could lose a potential buyer if they came upon these defaced & "redacted" records.

Also - one unit in our building is up for "short sale" and I am wondering whether this owner's lender would be concerned if they came upon this. Should I/we make them aware of this? BTW, this owner was Association president when the lawsuit happened and when the money was "hypothetically" removed.

Thanks for any insight.

Edited to add: Just found out through going through the papers we gathered that the Board contracted with an accountant to have a REVIEW done - NOT an AUDIT - several hundred dollars as opposed to several thousand. Obviously, a REVIEW will not expose any questionable activity, which is obviously just how they want it.

[ecmst12]

What did your attorney tell you? He is infinitely more familiar with the situation and applicable law then anyone here.

[ghtix]

Waiting to hear back from lawyer - just thought I would post the situation here in case anyone had some insight from experience or that I can compare with what lawyer says.

[You Are Guilty]

While I don't think there is any legal basis to redact the records, it is not a "crime" to do so. At best, it's a civil cause of action, presumably for breach of contract.

[ecmst12]

I'm thinking at best it might be contempt of court if he can prove that they paid the legal fees out of the HOA funds. Not a crime.

[HappyWanderer]

Isn't contempt of court a crime?

[ecmst12]

Well, you can get put in jail for it, but I don't think it's something that goes on a criminal record, like a misdemeanor or felony. But maybe there are some cases that it does, I'm not an expert by ANY means. I've always thought of it as a civil thing.

[HappyWanderer]

While it's not always a crime, a good discussion is at:

[url]http://www.lawrev.state.nj.us/rpts/contempt.pdf[/url]