Raid at Homeowners Association
View Raid Report by Caroline Bleakley
LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada Attorney General's Office, with the assistance of the FBI, served a warrant at the Paradise Spa Homeowners Association on Las Vegas Boulevard South near Serene Avenue.
AG investigators were looking for records of the HOA. Residents allege HOA board members have embezzled more than $1 million of their money. Many of the people who live at Paradise Spa are elderly. They say they pay $160 a month in HOA fees but there is nothing to show for it.
Several units were destroyed by two fires in 2009 and 2010 and the insurance company paid $842,000 but nothing has been repaired.
Eighty-five-year-old Iris Hokanson wants to know what happened to that money. "I heard it went to California, but it was not used on our building. They have not rebuilt it, they have not done anything. Then they came and stole all the guts out of the building," she said.
There are 384 units in the complex and 260 of them are owned by California millionaire Aaron Yashouafar who acts as the HOA treasurer. The HOA board president, Jim Pazargad, is his realtor. Both have been on the board for five years.
During the raid, Pazargad was escorted out of the office when police confiscated computers and record books.
The HOA has been the subject of several lawsuits.
According to resident Bill O'Donnell, a former Nevada state senator, the HOA had nearly $1 million in cash and HOA fees that have gone missing. He appealed to the Attorney General's office to take action about a month ago.
"I think Mr. Aaron Yashouafar has the money somewhere. We also started off with $320,000 in reserve money and the latest bookkeeping that we've seen at the last meeting shows we have zero," said O'Donnell.
Yashouafar was named by the Village Voice as one of New York City's 10 worst landlords.
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