UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHER DIVISION

)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
ex. rel. )
)
BEVERLY TRAN, )
)
Plaintiffs, )
) CASE NO: 16-CV-10291
v. ) HON: Avern Cohn
) MAG: Mona K. Majzoub
DETROIT LAND BANK AUTHORITY; )
CITY OF DETROIT, a non-profit domestic corporation; )
MIKE DUGGAN, Mayor, City of Detroit; )
CORPORATION OF WAYNE COUNTY, a non-profit )
domestic corporation. )
) UNSEALED
Defendants. )
)
ADDITIONAL DEFENDANTS )
TITLE SOURCE, INC., a corporation; and, )
DETROIT LAND BANK COMMUNITY )
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, a non-profit )
domestic corporation. )`

PLAINTIFFS' BRIEF IN RESPONSE TO DEFENDANTS DETROIT LAND BANK

AUTHORITY AND DETROIT LAND BANK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION'S MOTION TO DISMISS AMENDED COMPLAINT

Plaintiff Tran and Plaintiff United States, ex rel., hereby submit the following Brief In Response

To Defendants Detroit Land Bank Authority and Detroit Land Bank Community Development

Corporation's Motion To Dismiss Amended Complaint; Motion In The Alternative For Grant Of Leave

To Amend First Amended Complaint Based Upon New Evidence; and, Brief In Support.

For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs request that this Court deny the Motion to Dismiss in its

entirety.

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 INTRODUCTION

This is an action under the False Claims Acts recently Amended Complaint, whereby,

Defendants Detroit Land Bank Authority and Detroit Land Bank Community Development

Corporation knowlingly presented false and fraudulent claims for payment and approval, to

intentionally defraud the Hardest Hit Funds and other federal programs, by knowlingly and willingly

conspiring to generate false records with numerous defendants, to engage in a series of complex fraud

schemes, in the acquisition and transference of real properties, fraudulently entering into contracts,

stripping voting rights, fraudulently levying property taxes, in the City of Detroit, under the color of

law.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Detroit Land Bank Authority:

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither incorporated as a domestic nor foreign, for-profit

nor non-profit, entity in the State of Michigan, with the Secretary of State, Department of Licensing

and Regulatory Affairs, filed in the Great Repository of the State.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither licensed with the State of Michigan as Real Estate

Broker nor Salesperson.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither incorporated in any of the States nor any of its

territories, as a domestic nor foreign, for-profit nor non-profit, entity.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither a governmental entity of the State of Michigan,

County of Wayne, the City of Detroit, nor The United States of America.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority not a representative democratic government, has no elected

body, has no public policy of administrative remedies, and is completely devoid of any civil rights

protections of the State of Michigan and the United States .

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither registered with the Internal Revenue Service in any

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capacity of a for-profit nor non-profit corporation, is not granted Federal Employer Identification

Number.

As of November 16, 2017, The Detroit Land Bank Authority is no longer registered with the

U.S. System for Award Management and, as such, is no longer eligible to be awarded, or operate in any

capacity, in any federal contracts or grants, specifically the Hardest Hit Fund.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is neither bonded nor is it insured to state a claim.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority has, to date, failed to provide this Court any statutory

authority, pursuant to F.R.C.P. 7.1(b)(1). and E.D. Mich. LR 83.4, and the False Claims Act, its

Corporate Disclosure or report in the negative.

The Illegal Formation and Existence of the Detroit Land Bank Authority

The Detroit Land Bank Authority operates under the color of law of the Michigan Land Bank

Fast Tract Act, 2003 Mich. Pub. Acts 258, Mich. Comp. Laws 124.751 124.774 in 2008, as it has

never met the requirements of instrumentality as a separately organized entity pursuant to the relevant

rules of the Internal Revenue Service because it never incorporated, under a state non-profit

corporation law, in violation of Sections 3.01, 3.02, and 3.06 of the Second Amended and Restated

Intergovernmental Agreement Between The Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority And The City of

Detroit Creating the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

The Second Amended and Restated Intergovernmental Agreement Between The Michigan Land

Bank Fast Track Authority And The City of Detroit Creating the Detroit Land Bank Authority, pursuant

to Michigan Land Bank Fast Tract Act, 2003 Mich. Pub. Acts 258, Mich. Comp. Laws 124.751

124.774 in 2008, it is stamped as being Filed With Secretary of State.

As to which Secretary of State it is filed, is query that may only be done through discovery, as it

is not a public document, devoid of seal, and is not filed with any governmental entity as the document

has no identifiable recording numbers of search reference.

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 As the Detroit Land Bank Authority has never: (1) established itself as a wholly-owned state or

municipal instrumentality that is a separate entity, G.C.M. 34502 (May 21, 1971); (2) organized and

operated exclusively for purposes described in Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3); (3) qualified for

federal tax exemption, Internal Revenue Service Rev. Rul. 60-384, 1960-2 C.B. 172, in amplifying Rev.

Rul. 55-319, C.B. 1955-1, 119, does not apply and it has failed to provide this Court any enabling

documents of separate existence apart from its creators, being the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track

Authority, which is neither an incorporated entity, and the City of Detroit.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority never filed with the Internal Revenue Service as a

corporation, and as such, does not qualify for tax exempt status.

Being that there exists no enabling document of organization, there is no exclusive purposes language

not standard dissolution clause, further failing to satisfy any organizational test established pursuant to

state statutes, local ordinance, or any other similar enabling instrument.

The Second Amended and Restated Intergovernmental Agreement Between The Michigan Land

Bank Fast Track Authority And The City of Detroit Creating the Detroit Land Bank Authority is not an

enabling instrument, and neither is any other of its subsequent amendments, nor in the alternative, a

state law which may magically be produced to respond to this Brief.

In furtherance, if, by an act of God, the Detroit Land Bank Authority is able to mystically

conjure, with assistance of the Michigan Attorney General Corporations Division, Licensing and

Regulatory Affairs, an enabling document, or in the alternative, a state law, that provides, upon

dissolution, all of its miraculously discovered, instrumentality's assets will be transferred to the State of

Michigan or the political subdivision of the City of Detroit, thereof, it should be deemed an act of

extreme gross negligence as the instrumentality will demonstrate that the Detroit Land Bank Authority

exercises substantial regulatory or enforcement powers in the public interest, and as such, does not

qualify as an organized entity.

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 The Detroit Land Bank Authority has not produced any authority, whatsoever, to possess

sovereign powers of governance in taxation, eminent domain or police to enforce or regulate powers, as

powers akin to those possessed by federal, state and local governmental agencies to promulgate and

enforce standards and modes of conduct.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority levies property taxes on properties it transfers, as stated in

Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint and Purchaser Closing Statement submitted by Defendant Title Source,

Inc. (Docket #43, Exhibit #5).

The Certified Copy of Detroit City Council Resolution Regarding Detroit Land Bank Authority,

introduced to the Court by Defendant Title Source, Inc. (Docket #43, Exhibit #3) records the Detroit

Land Bank Authority being incorporated by the Clerk of the City of Detroit, Janice Winfrey.

To wit, the City Clerk, Janice Winfrey executed ultra vires powers to incorporate the Detroit

Land Bank Authority, trumping federal law and, in particular, state law, Michigan Land Bank Fast Tract

Act P.A. 258 of 2003, MCL 124.754 (4), et seq. by conspiring with the other Defendants in the

complex fraud schemes enumerated in the Original Complaint.

Detroit Land Bank Community Development Corporation:

The Detroit Land Bank Community Development Corporation was incorporated as a 501(c)3 of

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to receive and administer funds exclusively for charitable,

educational and scientific purposes which has no relevance to the activities of real property

acquisition and transfer, neither has it produced any evidence of a legal, contractual, nor public

relationship with the Detroit Land Bank Authority, nor recorded any financial reports with the State of

Michigan, County of Wayne, City of Detroit, nor the United States to qualify to administer as a

subreceipient of any federal grants, specifically, the Hardest Hit Funds.

Hardest Hit Funds:

The Hardest Hit Funds was purposed for more than blight removal, secondary purpose. The

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following is an except from the Congressional Letter from U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. to

Secretary Jacob Lew, U.S. Department of Treasury, February 2, 2016:

Despite these efforts, however, Michigan continues to face disproportionate economic

challenges resulting from the Great Recession that the Hardest Hit Fund is intended to mitigate.

The drop in housing prices continues to cause hardship for many Michigan families. According
to estimates, after the collapse of the housing bubble, home values in Detroit fell more than 5
percent from their peak in late 2005, and had only recovered about 5 percent from their through
as of mid-2015. As a result, according to Wayne County Treasurer's Office, approximately
60,000 of Wayne County residents are facing foreclosure this year due to overdue property
taxes. The Hardest Hit Fund helped more than 6,000 families facing property tax foreclosure
stay in their homes last year. Without a substantial infusion of funds, thousands of families
facing property tax foreclosure will unnecessarily lose their homes this year. This will cause
needless suffering while adding to the thousands of blighted structures that still need to be
remediated. (Exhibit 1).

The Detroit Land Bank Authority has allowed the City of Detroit, its families, and its

neighborhoods suffer as a result of its complex fraud schemes with the other Defendants, contrary to

the purpose of the federal funds.

Proceeding Pro Se:

The right to do so in pro se is a futher protected right. ...the right to file a lawsuit pro se I one

of the most important rights under the constitution and laws. Elmore v. McCammon (1986) 640

F.Supp. 905.911

Furthermore, The United States Attorneys have three statutory responsibilities under Title 28,

Section 547 of the United States Code:

the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal Government;

the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and

the collection of debts owed the Federal Government which are administratively

uncollectible.

The United States has preserved its right of intervention at anytime during discovery in Order

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#11.

Plaintiffs Have Sufficiently Plead:

Plaintiffs need only set forth the particular facts of the fraud, which at this stage must be

accepted as true, to survive a motion for dismissal the Complaint. Moreover, Defendants repeatedly

state throughout his Motion to Dismiss that the Complaint is vague and lacking in detail. To begin, this

is no ground for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6). If Defendants truly believed that the clarity of

pleadings were deficient, they should have moved to for a more definite statement under Rule 12(e)

and requested that Plaintiffs set forth more detail. Tellingly, they did not; the Complaint is sufficiently

clear and detailed and the Detroit Land Bank Authority and Detroit Land Bank Community

Development Corporation's arguments to the contrary must be disregarded.

First, a court must accept all factual allegations set forth in the complaint as true. Tellabs, Inc. v.

Makor Issues and Rights, Ltd, 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007). Second, the court must consider the complaint

in its entirety; the inquiry . . . is whether all of the facts alleged, taken collectively, give rise to a strong

inference of scienter, not whether any individual allegation, scrutinized in isolation, meets that

standard. Id. Finally, the court must conduct a comparative inquiry: [a] complaint will survive if a

reasonable person would deem the inference of scienter cogent and at least as compelling as any

opposing inference one could draw from the facts alleged. Id. at 324. The facts as alleged by Plaintiffs

more than adequately survive such a comparison.

Because Plaintiffs have met the pleading requirements articulated in Rule 9(b) and Motion to

Dismiss must be denied.

CONCLUSION

For all reasons set forth above, Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court deny Detroit Land Bank

Authority and Detroit Land Bank Community Development Corporations Motion to Dismiss the

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Amended Complaint in its entirety.

Respectfully submitted.

_/s/Beverly Tran
BEVERLY TRAN,
Plaintiff DATE: November 16, 2017
Pro se
4239 Tyler
Detroit, MI 48238
313-455-8882
tranbeverly@gmail.com
http://beverlytran.com

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 Certificate of Service

I hereby certify that on November 16, 2017, I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the
Court for the United States Michigan Eastern District Court by using the CM/ECF system. I certify that
all participants in the case are registered CM/ECF users and that service will be accomplished by the
CM/ECF system.

/s/Beverly Tran

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