We will periodically showcase lawsuits which exemplify the way Roman Libonao "borrows" money, and somehow "forgets" to pay it back. All of these profiled lawsuits are public record. Our employees either researched the legal documents, and/or interviewed the victimized plaintiffs.

 

Libonao's Latest  Victim -- A Discount Eviction Attorney Over a $175 Fee!

It's hard to imagine someone would have the audacity to stiff an attorney over their fee, but our little buddy Libonao  (or is it Slevin now?) thought it was a good idea to stiff one over a $175 eviction fee. Generally speaking, this type of attorney is a hard working professional who discounts their fee substantially to begin with.

Not only did Libonao not pay him, but he strung him along, failing to show up in court 4 times. But it gets worse. Finally the judge awarded the judgment after 9 months. Then, Libonao came back 5 months later, requesting a dismissal. Of course, the judge denied Libonao's request, citing the obvious : "You can't file a dismissal on a case when a judgment is filed."  You can't make this stuff up! 

So, as this site has suggested numerous times before, we won't tell you not to deal with Libonao,  just get your money upfront. You will be glad you did. Don't be the 36th victim who has either been granted a judgment or filed a R.E. NOD/foreclosure. 

 

Libonao Is At It Again – This Time He Defrauds a Veterinarian

The Libonao Shuffle Has Re-emerged – But This Time With a New Twist

Our friend Libonao is still active ripping people off. And this time with a veterinarian with multiple locations. And as we have seen in the past, a hard working immigrant who was not born in this country.

A quick Google search by our research staff shows that Rajendra Sanathara owns several veterinary clinics. And, he is a recording artist and performer of his native Indian music. By all accounts, a really nice, hard-working family man. 

Court documents show that in April of 2011, Dr. Sanathara made a loan to Libonao for $15,000. Since Libonao had a live one on the line, he convinced Dr. Sanathara to lend him an additional $25,500 over the following 3 years, at a modest interest rate of 6%. In December of 2014, the total amount at that time was $40,500. Libonao agreed to pay Dr. Sanathara the $40,500 in principal, plus $5,000 in interest, by August 31, 2015. Of course, that date came and went and Liboano paid Dr. Sanathara none of the amount he owed him. It is not clear to us why Dr. Sanathara did not cut bait and file criminal fraud charges against Libonao at that time, but throughout 2015, he loaned Libonao an additional $36,300, for a total amount of $76,800. 

Dr. Sanathara filed a lawsuit against Libonao on September 3, 2019, and requested a jury trial. The causes of action were Fraud, Breach of Express Contract, Breach of Implied Contract and Money Had and Received. It is not clear if he concurrently filed criminal charges against Libonao. We can only hope that he did. Due to Covid, the jury trial has been scheduled to July 12, 2021. We will keep you posted. See the Lawsuits section of this site for case details. 

We have to hand it to Libonao, he is a very good con artist. He pretends to be a sharp real estate investor and an ace commercial real estate broker, but it is obvious that he is neither. He uses both to con people out of their hard earned money, including Dr. Sanathara. It does not say in the court documents how Dr. Sanathara met Libonao. We assume through his real estate brokerage dealings. As we have noted in previous posts, it is not unusual for Libonao to target immigrants, who he feels are easier targets.

So, a new dance step has been added to the Libonao Shuffle. Usually, Libonao pays a few monthly payments, then disappears. With Dr. Sanathara, he didn’t even bother making any payments. And why would he, when he never had any intentions of paying back the $76,800 in the first place. Libonao must have gotten a good chuckle as to how “efficient” he was.

Will he show up for the trial next July? Maybe yes, maybe no. Dr. Sanathara will most assuredly win, but Libonao – or his new alias “Slevin” – will slip underground again, just as all snakes do. Libonao has made himself “judgement proof,” or so he thinks. His sociopathic behavior allows for a calm, cool demeanor when he goes in for the kill, and he has absolutely no remorse for conning people out of their savings and retirement funds. A classic sociopath. He treats people like ATM machines: once all of his victim’s cash is gone, he simply moves on to another ATM. When will law enforcement finally catch up with this crook?   

#AmericanGreed

 

Why Hasn't Roman Libonao Been Indicted?

 A Dual Failure of Law Enforcement, and Victims who Fail to Come Forward

 

In analyzing the many shady and crooked dealings of Roman Libonao, one has to wonder: why hasn't he ended up in prison for fraud?

Personally, he has 16 lawsuits filed against him. Sixteen. And that is the ones we know of. Most of us will go through life without one. And most of these are breach of contract filings. For the average non-lawyer, that is fraud. He promises to pay an unsecured debt and he simply walks away from his obligation, or at the very least does not pay as agreed. And these filings are not all with the same person. We must say, our little antogonist does get around. He is fine with ripping off business associates as he is with the father of his ex-wife -- while they were still married. It's just the way Libonoa makes a living. You and I get up early and work for a living the old fashioned way. Not Libonao. Although he has his commercial real estate brokerage license, he does not derive a living that way. It is hard to find him in any real estate social media or professional RE listing website. It appears to be a front for his "real" job of scamming people.

 

On top of that, his RE holding company recently came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He had 13 of his properties in bankdruptcy for two and a half years. According to his filing, there was $3.3 million in assets, and $6.1 million in liabilities. Let's think about this one for a minute. Creditors lost nearly $3 million from Libonao. And this is not taking into account legal fees for each of these financial institutions or small investors. Libonao had this case in bankruptcy from January of 2017 to August of 2019 -- 32 months. Now, how many people lost some or all of their money with Libonao? We may never know, since only the top 20 people/institutions were identified in the Chaper 11 filing.

 

We know from our research that Libonao had some of these properties since the early 2000's, if not sooner. Some had traditional mortgages. Many wiyh private individuals as lenders. What we do know is that from 2010 to the present time, values of real estate in California have gone way up. And that is an understatement. During this 10 year period, this real estate growth has been some of the highest in California history. If you own a single family residence, the value of your home is most likely the highest it has ever been.

 

Libonao's 13 properties are mostly singel family residences. And most of them are in Southern CA, an area known for very high real estate growth. So, you may ask, why did Libonao file his RE holding company for bankruptcy? After all, according to Libonao's website, he calls himself "a successful real estate professional with considerable experience across several sectors." We think these "sectors" are fraud, greed and hiding assets.

 
Libonao has horrible personal credit. Sixteen lawsuits alone proves this, including several with credit card companies. And this is only the lawsuits our research has turned up. We can only imagine how many slow pays and Collectiona accounts he has. One or 2 judgments would take him out of the running for traditional bank mortgage financing. So, where has he recently obtained so much in debt relative to the asset value of his bankruptcy filing?
 
One way we do know is by selling trust deeds on his properties, and calls them "secured" Notes. He most likely offers high interest rates on these trust deeds to individuals, without telling them that they are in a thrid or maybe even a fourth position. In other words, they are unsecured. And he certainly does not disclose his horrific personal credit history.
 
So, the big question is, why hasn't Libonao been indicted?
 
We know that at least some of his creditors have been scammed by this con artist. Why haven't they come forward? Or does the answer lie with law enforcement: are they too busy or just plain incompetent in recognizing fraud? We know that Libonao is crafty when it comes to hiding his cash. And we know he likes an extravogent lifestyle. Even now, he drives around a late model pickup truck worth over $50K, while others have lost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars with him.
 
It's easy folks. Go to your local police station and file a police report. A detective will get involved, usually within a week. But don't wait too long. You don't want the statute of limitations to kick in.
 
And maybe we will get lucky, and see him on an episode of American Greed.

# AmericanGreed

 

 

Sweet 16...Lawsuits, That Is, Libonao's Penchant for Suckering Yet Another Financial Institution

Ah, automobile title loans. Right up there with payday loans -- if you like paying high interest rates. And Libonao must, because his APR was 88.29%. That is not a typo, 88.29% APR. Not to worry as far as Libonao is concerned, since he never signed a contract he didn't breach. True to Libonao's M.O., he paid a few payments then stopped paying a company named LoanMart. Hmmmm, where have we seen this movie before? 

Now, here is where it gets interesting. The vehicle which he financed was an Acura RDX. And, according to our research, it was his wife's vehicle! So, he stops making payments on his wife's Acura, rips off her father for $50K shortly before that, and...drum rolls please...his wife files for divorce in October of 2018. To be more accurate, a Marriage Dissolution with no children. Libonao, 16 years her senior, conned his future father-in-law into believing Libonao was a hot real estate investor. A real estate tycoon of sorts. Then, 10 years later, Libonao has no money, he lives in a small guest house, his corporation files for BK with $3,000,000 in assets and $6,000,000 in liabilities, his daughter's car is in the process of being repossessed, no grandchildren, and Libonao steals $50K from him. Only in America! 

If this happened in Thailand, where his wife (or shoould we say ex-wife) is from, I suspect Libonao would not be walking around without the assistance of crutches, if you know what I mean. It is too bad deadbeats like Libonao use the law to their full advantage. He continues to evade the criminal justice system.

Want more info on this case? Go to the "Lawsuits" section on this site.

 

Libonao Rips Off His Own Father-in-Law, or ...I'd Love to be a Guest at the Next Libonao Thanksgiving Dinner!
Date
 
It has come to our attention that Roman Libonao has shown that everyone is fair game when it comes to ripping people off -- as long as you have 5 figures or more he can get his hands on. According to court documents, in 2008, Libonao borrowed $50,000 from his father-in-law, a hard working Thai national, named Narong Chaemchuen. It was due and payable a year later, but Libonao stopped payments after paying back only $2,000 of the debt. Mr. Chaemchuen must have tried every trick in the book to get his money back, and most likely tried to give Libonao the benefit of the doubt, since he waited until 2015 to file a lawsuit against Libonao.

True to his judicial philosophy, instead of granting his father-in-law an uncontested judgment, Libonao ran up Mr. Chaemchuen's legal bill, fighting the breach of contract matter every step of the way.

Not a bad take for Libonao: "borrow" $50K, pay back $2K, spend a little on legal fees, and walk away with over 95% of the principal amount.

Moral of the story, simple but it's true: friends, family, ex-lovers, or anyone within range of Libonao's sticky fingers, beware of Libonao's pitch. He'll offer you 12% on your money, but he'll disappear so fast your head will spin.

I'm sure Libonao's wife, who is 16 years his junior, introduced Libonao to her daddy as a rising real estate broker and investor. Little did Mr. Chaemchuen realize that he should have kept his hands in his pockets, instead of handing over a check for $50K to Libonao.

Libonao loves one thing, and that's money. And he loves only one person, and that is himself.

Want more details of this sad story? Go to the Lawsuits section on this site.

 

Sure, Every Commercial Real Estate Agent Borrows 5 figures from his Client, Then Doesn't Pay Him Back...

As many will remember, 2005 was a good year for most people in the commercial real estate industry. If you were out there working hard, you were probably making money. You almost couldn't help it.

Our researchers found out that Libonao was indebted in the amount of $76,000 to Charles Lee, who at the time owned several higher-end furniture stores in Orange County. Libonao was his real estate agent. At least $30,000 of the funds Libonao borrowed from Lee were loaned to Libonao in 2005. We did not see in the court documents what the purpose of the funds were to be used for, but sources close to this site reported that right around that time, Libonao owned 2 Porsche 911's, a Porsche Cayenne, a BMW sedan, a high-end Ducati motorcyle, as well as a work vehicle. Our sources also report that he was travelling to Southeast Asia and South America on a regular basis for vacations. Living large, as they say.

Court documents show Libonao was willing to pay Mr. Lee a very high rate of return for his 2005 loans. One Note had an effective rate of 120%, and the other around 150%. Yes, folks, this is not a typo.  

Our further research shows that true to his MO, Libonao defaulted on his loans to Mr. Lee. As with his other victims, it appears Libonao paid off one or more Notes, then went in for larger ones. In July of 2006, Libonao wrote 2 checks to Mr. Lee for $15,000 each. You guessed it, both bounced for a total of $30,000. And they bounced hard.

As with his other victims, Mr. Lee tried working with Libonao, but with no success. In June of 2008, Lee sued Libonao in Orange County's Superior Court. He brought 5 counts of breach of contract against Libonao. True to form, Libonao did not go down lightly, fighting Mr. Lee every step of the way.

Lee and Libonao eventually settled, but Mr. Lee had to pay in advance 9 months of legal fees.

Moral of the story, a wise person once said: "I don't worry so much about what interest rate I make on my money -- my biggest worry is getting my principal back."  Words I'm sure Mr. Lee wished he followed.

Writing 2 bad checks for a total of $30,000. Can someone tell me again why Roman Libonao is not in prison?

  

And I Guess Libonao Thought He Could Sweet Talk American Express to Just "Bare With Me"...

Libonao carries no predispositions when it comes to not paying his financial obligations. Financial institutions -- large and small -- are welcome to the party. This time it's American Express. In September of 2009, they too got tired of Libonao treating them like his own personal piggy bank. Like his other victims, Libonao just stopped making monthly payments. American Express sued Libonao in the Orange County Superior Court for over $17,000 for Breach of Contract. And in March of 2010, they received a Default Judgment for $18,230.

Gee, these judgments are starting to add up!

 

And for Good Measure, Let's Throw Capital One into the Mix, or...What's Not in Libonao's Wallet Anymore?

Libonao took Capital One Bank for over $5,000. It was for money owed on one of their credit cards. On June 29, 2015, Capital One filed for a judgment for monies owed. They recieved a judgment on December 8, 2015 for $5,717.  On February 19, 2016, Capital One filed their Abstract of Judgment. Good luck trying to collect on that one, Capital One.

Based on Libonao's credit history, I doubt if he'd qualify for a secured credit card, or even a $5.00 Starbucks card.

 

Shall We Make it a Trifecta for Credit Card Accounts?

 

Libonao defaulted on another credit card. He got American Express on another account.  American Express Bank filed a lawsuit against Libonao in September of 2009 at the Santa Maria -- Santa Barbara County Superior Court. It took America Express Bank 17 months, but they recieved a defualt judgment in February of February of 2011. They filed an Abstract of Judgment in April of 2011.

Who want to make a bet that American Express never approves Libonao for another credit card? Ever. EVER!

 

I'm Sure Michael Young Feels Old After his Go-Around with Libonao...

 

Libonao sure was active between 2007 and 2010, snuffing out funds to "borrow" from any acquaintance, business partner, client, or the person in front of him at Starbucks.  In July of 2007, Libonao borrowed $65,000 from Michael Young, with a $6,000 "handling fee" for a total of $71,000. This was supposed to be a 6 week loan. We annaulized the agreed on rate of return, and Michael Young's return was a whopping 111%. But alas, the greed factor got intertwined with Libonao's bad memory -- he simply keeps forgetting to pay back his debts! He know how to transfer money INTO his account, he just can't get himself to write monthly payments for his debts. Funny how that works.

Libonao's M.O. is to ask for addtional time -- time to transfer money into a different account, time for one of his real estate deals to close, time to close escrow on one of his propeties, etc., etc. What he's really hoping for is time to find another victim to "borrow" money from. The so-called, "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" scenario. And this is what he did with Michael Young.

At the time Michael Young transferred funds to Libonao, he gave Michael Young post-dated checks, as a sign of good faith. Unfortunately, the words "good" and "faith" are not in Libonao's vocabulary. In December of 2007, Mr. Young cashed one of the $22,000 checks. You guessed it, the check bounced -- Merry Christmas and an Unhappy New Year!  Although Libonao instructed his banker at Washington Mutual (now Chase) not to honor Young cashing his check, Young was able to cash one for $22,000 after much effort in the summer of 2008.

Young's legal filing against Libonao was quite interesting reading, with colorful terms, such as "con artist," "bait and switch," "sham entity, " "(Libonao's) oppressive, faudulent and despicable behavior," and "intentional tort damages." Quite colorful, indeed. We recommend that you read the whole legal filing for yourself.

Young prevailed with a default judgment against Libonao in February of 2009. What was also interesting about this case was that the court found Michael Young's $6,000 handling fee to be usurious. So, for all of his anguish and aggrevation, Young recieved no return on his money -- and no allocatioin for attorney's fees. For that matter, it appears he did not get most of his original loan amount back. 

Libonao prides himself in being "judgment proof." He shows no assets. His checking accounts have less than $50 in them. So, the only thing Mr. Young received was the aggravation of chasing down Libonao for money Mr. Young wished was still in his checking account.

 

Glen Nelson Loans Money to Libonao and Guess What? Are We Starting to See a Pattern?

 

In March of 2010, Glen Nelson of Orange County filed a lawsuit against Libonao and his now bankrupt RE holding corporation, RL Enterprises,  for Breach of Contract. Nelson loaned Libonao a total of $56,000 over the course of 3 years -- from January of 2006 to November of 2008. The first Note was for $12K, the second for $24K, and the third for $20K. Libonao paid him $4K on the first one and $4K on the second one. Libonao didn't bother paying him anything on the third one -- he kept it all to himself.

To make things really bad for Glen Nelson, he was being very nice to Libonao. He only charged 5% interest on each of the 3 Notes. A far cry from most of his other victims, who charged Libonao up to 120% per annum. Nelson found out the hard way that Libonao mistakes kindness with weakness.

Glen Nelson sued Libonao for $52,192. He was able to track where his money went: to a Certificate of Deposit at the Irvine Industrial Branch of Bank of America. We do know that Nelson applied for a Writ of Attachment to the C.D., but that's where the trail ends.

Are we starting to see a pattern here? Libonao starts to pay on his obligations, borrows more from the unsuspecting subject, then once he gets all he can from that person, he simply moves on to another victim. Libonao expects his victims to continue lending him money to pay the interest of previous Notes. Once they cut him off, Libonao thinks nothing of running up their legal bills, hoping that he drained all of their cash so they won't have any left to pursue him legally.

We simply can't figure out how the police forces where these frauds occured never caught up with Libonao. Maybe American Greed is doing a episode on Libonao and we have to wait for it to air.