90 Day Fiance The Other Way fans will recall Ariela Weinberg and Biniyam Shibre being visited in Ethiopia by Ariela’s parents, Janice Nini and Fred Weinberg. Janice and Fred were less than subtle with their sarcastic criticism of Ari and Bini’s humble apartment. But, Fred and Janice might want to reel in their judgment a bit given the fact that they recently filed for bankruptcy and lost a foreclosure lawsuit in 2019 in excess of half a million dollars!
Fred and Janice filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December of 2012. In the filing, the couple claimed $1,706,561.84 in liabilities. The liabilities included more than $300,000 in tax debt in addition to lots of credit card and mortgage debt. The case would change to Chapter 7 in January of 2014, then back to Chapter 11 two weeks later.
The bankruptcy case was closed in December of 2015.
Fred and Janice foreclosure
As part of the bankruptcy plan, Fred and Janice made certain promises in regards to the commercial property they owned that housed Fred’s cardiology practice. The couple initially took out a $450,000 mortgage on the property in February of 2004. At the time that their bankruptcy case was closed, Fred and Janice agreed that they owed more than $567,000.
The June, 2016 deadline referenced in the excerpt above arrived and the couple had not paid what they agreed to in the settlement agreement. Fred, Janice and their mortgage lender entered into a forbearance agreement in September of 2016 with a revised debt amount of $581,956.89.
The deadline for the forbearance agreement was August 30, 2019. That date came and went and Fred and Janice had still not met their financial obligation. From the filing:
On August 30, 2019 a payment of principal and interest became due and payable under the terms of the Forbearance Agreement and was not paid. Following Defendants’ failure to cure their default, [the mortgage lender] has elected that the entire principal sum with all unpaid interest thereon shall now become due and payable. The Default date is August 30, 2019 as to payments.
In addition to demanding the money owed to them, the mortgage company also demanded immediate repossession of the property in question.
The filing also cites multiple state and federal tax liens against Fred and Janice that were active at the time.
A judge ruled in favor of the mortgage company in August of 2020. From the ruling:
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Plaintiff is entitled to have the sum of $566,088.85 as of May 31, 2020, plus contract interest at the rate of eleven percent (11%) per annum on the sum of $508,027.77 from May 31, 2020 to August 26, 2020 (the date of the entry of final judgment) and lawful interest thereafter on the total sum due, together with costs of this suit to be taxed, including a counsel fee of $5,810.88 included therein and any post judgment collection fees and costs as set forth in the loan documents, raised and paid out of the mortgaged premises described in the Complaint.
The judge also ruled that the mortgage company could take possession of the property.
Fred and Janice sued their bankruptcy attorney
The first bankruptcy attorney hired by Fred and Janice filed a court motion in June of 2013 looking to recover more than $32,000 that he says his former clients still owed him. Fred and Janice refused to pay, then sued the lawyer for malpractice!
Before I get to the ruling on the malpractice suit, I wanted to mention that Fred and Janice had three different bankruptcy attorneys. The first was fired after the case was changed from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7. Their second attorney was able to get the case changed back to Chapter 11, but he was fired in March of 2014.
The malpractice lawsuit filed by Fred and Janice was tossed by the District Court. Fred and Janice appealed the Court’s decision, but the appeal was denied in August of 2017.
To find out if the financial woes of Ariela’s parents are brought up on Season 9 of 90 Day Fiance, be sure to tune in to new episodes airing Sunday nights at 8/7c on TLC. (I could certainly imagine a story line where Biniyam’s family finds out about the bankruptcy and foreclosure and they let Biniyam know.)
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
