Category | Legal

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

By Trace Richardson
Published June 8th, 2008

When ePerks.com CEO Ben Behrouzi originally hired blogger Vlad Zablotzkyy of Go-Beyond-MLS.com to write a paid review of ePerks.com, he never expected the barrage of user complaints that were posted in the comment section of Vlad’s blog and he never expected the fallout that would occur when he threatened Vlad and sent him a Cease [...]

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Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen.

By Trace Richardson
Published June 7th, 2008

Brabus Ventures (BrabusVentures.com), owned by embattled CEO Ben Behrouzi and parent company of ePerks.com has updated it’s website and added new “Values” and “Culture” pages to combat the barrage of negative publicity their business practices have earned them. There is only one problem: the pages are STOLEN virtually verbatim from Chevron.com and Mervyns.com. Oh, the [...]

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ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Insinuates Legal Action Against BrokerScience, Cites “Damages”

By Trace Richardson
Published June 5th, 2008

BrokerScience Response to ePerks CEO, Ben Behrouzi:
In the transcript below, we asked you to provide us proof of any factual inaccuracies we have published, you failed to do so.
You state that what we are publishing is “completely false and now damaging the company“, yet failed to list even one “false item” or “fabrication” and [...]

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ePerks.com: A Case Study in Greed and Self-Imposed Brand Destruction

By Trace Richardson
Published May 30th, 2008

As the demand for transparency in business continues to grow in the brave new web two point something world of today, maintaining your company’s brand has never been more important. For this reason it has never been as crucial for companies to not only engage and interact with their customers in new online mediums and [...]

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Richard Gaylord, NAR President Comments on HVCC, Says Nothing

By Trace Richardson
Published May 16th, 2008

Richard Gaylord, President of the National Association of Realtors has provided his response to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae regarding the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (see below). His response includes his comments and suggestions for change to specific aspects of HVCC.
Of all the serious flaws in HVCC that stand to hurt consumers, Realtors, appraisers [...]

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NAR Assessment Cuomo / GSE Settlement

By Trace Richardson
Published May 16th, 2008

NAR Assessment of Cuomo Settlement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
The Cuomo/GSE Appraisal Deal April 30, 2008
New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government sponsored enterprises) reached an agreement on March 3, 2008, to [...]

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HVCC Update From a la mode

By Trace Richardson
Published May 16th, 2008

Update from Dave Biggers on HVCC:
To: Our colleagues
Re: Thank you for speaking up about the HVCC
From: David Biggers, Chairman, a la mode, inc.
Prior to the April 30th deadline for commentary on the proposed HVCC regulations, I wrote you asking for your help in alerting [...]

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TAVMA Weighs in on Home Value Code of Conduct

By Trace Richardson
Published April 30th, 2008

The Title / Appraisal Vendor Management Association has weighed in regarding HVCC. The report, written a over a week ago has gone under the radar as most things HVCC have. This topic just cann’t seem to get traction regardless of how important it might be.
If the GSEs implement the Code as currently drafted, it will [...]

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Cease & Desist 101: Think Long and Hard Before Hitting Send

By Trace Richardson
Published April 29th, 2008

The latest Cease & Desist Letter by overzealous legal council.
This is fresh on the heals of a recent discussion at LeadCritic.com regarding Lending Tree’s lame attempt via C & D letters to try to get bloggers to delete comments left by a commenter in posts discussing the Lending Tree Data Leak. The comments listed Lending [...]

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Under the Radar: How the HVCC May Negatively Affect and Change Real Estate as We Know It

By Trace Richardson
Published April 28th, 2008

Wednesday is the deadline for submitting feedback regarding HVCC or the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. The HVCC, in its current form, contains select language that hurts brokers, agents, appraisers, and consumers.
The underlying story is how well this story has flown under the radar. A handful of appraisers, agents, and mortgage brokers I have spoken [...]

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