DR attorney

Been going to the Dominican republic for 20 years on vacation.  Decided to take the next step and become naturalized met an attorney.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (edited)  who took 6000.00 naturalization of 2 people 3000.00 each and spent it on himself.  He provided us no receipts for anything he had done or who he had paid.  MAKE SURE THEY SHOW YOU THE RECEIPTS VERIFY EVERYTHING.  We trusted him he was the Dominican attorney.

How we found out he had stolen our money was multiple things about it was he showed up with new things new cars etc witch was out of the normal.  He started making excuses that did not make any sense at all.   When we went to the immigration office they said he had not even opened the file from 2013 to 2018 even though we have receipts for  allthe money he received ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING WAS DONE.  We took the speaking exam in witch i passed the lady said but several years of asking why are things not done and receiving more excuses he said us immigration had not responded witch turned out also to be BIG FAT LIE.  People we recommended after us were FINISHING THE PROCESS BEFORE US.

What i am saying is get receipts for everything do not take anyone's word on anything, verify your file has been check out and they are working on it or you will loose all of your money just like we did.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX an attorney watch out.  We have not been back to the Dominican Republic since. I am sure there are good attorneys.  I know there are good people as we have met many over 20 years but XXXXXXXXXXXX will still you blind.  We have no intention of every going back.  When you add in plane flights, hotels, food, all the extra money you pay out for various things he asked us for the 6000.00 was just his cut we lost well into 25,000.  TRUST BUT VERIFY EVERYTHING GET RECEIPTS DONT BECOME A STATISTIC LIKE US
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Welcome to the forums.  I will be  removing the attorney's name as it leaves ALL of us open to defamation issues. I do understand your frustration,  and thank you for warning everyone.
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@mondoux31
sorry to hear that.
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I am so very sorry for your experience!
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i understand - get receipts of what went out, never trust anyone and verify verify what they are saying is true, trust no one as we lost a small fortune, nice country, nice people as we vacationed there for 20 plus years but attorneys are attorneys some good and some really really bad

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@mondoux31 this is so disgusting.  An attorney that reached out to me from this site tried to con me too.  He is a real estate attorney.  I had read about Dominican ways so I paid him with my amex.  He tried to encourage me to pay with cash but my inner voice said not to.  He pretty much went ghost afterwards.  The real estate deal fell through and he went ghost when it was time to pay back the 80% that I paid him.  I disputed it with Amex and sent a copy of our contract and got 100% of it back.  He lost his 20%. 

Sorry this happened to you.  There are many good people here but I feel their goodness is towards their own.  They see opportunity when they see foreigners.  I wrote that attorney a scathing review and I now have a YT channel where I discuss my Dominican experience.. the good, the bad and the ugly.  Some Dominicans love it and some say I'm anti-Dominican.  I'm sharing my experience in the country so how they feel about it is none of my concern.

Social media is very powerful.  Write your experience EVERYWHERE and blast his name.  I wrote a scathing review on the attorneys google page and he messaged me so fast asking me to remove it.  No answer. He got the same energy from me that he gave me.  None

I saw a property I liked on YT and sent a WhatsApp to the realtor two weeks ago.  She wrote me back in all caps I KNOW YOU FROM IG!  They all know me and I am not to mess with bc I will do 10 videos about your scamming ways if you try to scam me.  Don't underestimate social media.

Post your bad experience with this professional scammer on google, yelp, twitter, FB and if you have IG do a video of exactly what he did and try to tag him on all social media.

This is what I do while I'm here.  I put every single Dominican scammer on blast from the Moto concho to the realtors. 

You may not be able to get your money back but you can expose him for the low life that he is.
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While I agree they need to be exposed you MUST be sure you are ready for a fight.  The laws protecting them here are very different then we are used to.   Proceed with caution!
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@planner I looked up the shady attorney who reached out to me on here and he had perfect five star reviews on google.  I hired him based on those reviews.   I cannot be the only client he ghosted.  My one star review will help others.  He was on my phone within 10 minutes asking me to remove it b/c he know it's damaging.

The laws of the country may not have been able to help me but social media laws are different and more ruthless.  I wish people would use it more often instead of staying silent especially in a place like DR where they stick with their own and the government does nothing to help.


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Been going to the Dominican republic for 20 years on vacation.  Decided to take the next step and become naturalized met an attorney.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (edited)  who took 6000.00 naturalization of 2 people 3000.00 each and spent it on himself.  He provided us no receipts for anything he had done or who he had paid.  MAKE SURE THEY SHOW YOU THE RECEIPTS VERIFY EVERYTHING.  We trusted him he was the Dominican attorney.

How we found out he had stolen our money was multiple things about it was he showed up with new things new cars etc witch was out of the normal.  He started making excuses that did not make any sense at all.   When we went to the immigration office they said he had not even opened the file from 2013 to 2018 even though we have receipts for  allthe money he received ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING WAS DONE.  We took the speaking exam in witch i passed the lady said but several years of asking why are things not done and receiving more excuses he said us immigration had not responded witch turned out also to be BIG FAT LIE.  People we recommended after us were FINISHING THE PROCESS BEFORE US.

What i am saying is get receipts for everything do not take anyone's word on anything, verify your file has been check out and they are working on it or you will loose all of your money just like we did.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX an attorney watch out.  We have not been back to the Dominican Republic since. I am sure there are good attorneys.  I know there are good people as we have met many over 20 years but XXXXXXXXXXXX will still you blind.  We have no intention of every going back.  When you add in plane flights, hotels, food, all the extra money you pay out for various things he asked us for the 6000.00 was just his cut we lost well into 25,000.  TRUST BUT VERIFY EVERYTHING GET RECEIPTS DONT BECOME A STATISTIC LIKE US
- @mondoux31

Mondoux31: 

Can't help with your bad attorney. 

But if you should choose to make another try, I recommend you do a search here in the DR forum for Lishali Baez, aka Lilly Baez. 

Read the various posts, and you'll find she is honest, trustworthy and gets the job done. 

Sound like you had 20 years of great experiences here.  Don't let a single rotten Dominican spoil the whole barrel. 

We had a similar bad experience with a first lawyer on our residency, but found Lishali via expat.com.  She can get the job done for you.

Jim
ExpatRusher
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@vixenmartine now that's the Dominican way!  Good job!
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@vixenmartine  I  get your point absolutely.  BUT  the law here is territorial and you CAN be held accountable for what you say on social media here.

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Don't worry though because it will be in court long after you die...1f923.svg1f923.svg1f923.svg
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@vixenmartine
         I wouldn't worry about the government coming after you  , I don't think they want the headaches of protecting a shady lawyer from social media, after all they they might wind up on the same platform (FB)  (YT) about how they're protecting crooks … plus I think they have enough bad press right now trying to investigate there own own government going back 10-15 years …. Tell everyone 👍
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Its not the govt that will go after it's the person who  claims they were slandered. 
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Anyone who's stealing money doesn't want to be in a courtroom…..🤣
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@vixenmartine this is EXTREMELY helpful as I am about to go down this road and am completely aware of the shady practices some decide to operate in here.

I rarely use cash for anything now, so paying for services via AMEX is such a great idea, especially in terms of disputing fraud.

Also, I'm a HUGE advocate of reviews, so utilizing the power of social media is smart. I would assume as long as you have proof of your claims, the thought of being sued for defamation wouldn't be a deterrent unless I'm missing something.

I appreciate all the input here, it helps give better perspective.
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So lets  look at that comment because its a good one.   I am referring to this: 

" I would assume as long as you have proof of your claims, the thought of being sued for defamation wouldn't be a deterrent unless I'm missing something."

Its not a deterrent as long as you: have a good lawyer to assist you in your defense,  understand Spanish well (dont rely on translations)  Have  money to pay another lawyer UP FRONT,  Have enough money to live here while this goes through the process.   Are willing to have your passport held and be unable to leave the country while this goes on.   Have iron clad PROOF of all allegations.  Have the patience of a damn saint!   Nothing here moves quickly.

Understand as  expats we are guests here and things are not stacked in our favor legally. 

My point, once again, just be careful. 
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I'm sure if you have proof of payments and can prove that the service hasn't been completed satisfactory or hasn't been completed at all I wouldn't be shy about putting it out there on social media or anywhere else , if they want to sue hire another lawyer I find they're pretty cheap here …..👍
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@planner this makes perfect sense! Solid and sound advice to CYA in its entirety while maneuvering as an expat here.

Greatly appreciated!
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@vixenmartine absolutely fantastic way to get some justice. Defamation requires intentional lies. If it's truth, there is no defamation.  If truth was equate to defamation, nobody could file a complaint against anyone. Tell the truth and there is no defamation.

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@vixenmartine
Amen to that 1f64f.svg
No matter how twisted the crimes they commit, they always help their own
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@rlwoodz

I got 6000.00 on receipts and nothing else. 
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Just think this lawyer was so lazy that he didn't want to do anything for the money you paid him  , do you really think he would take the time out of his busy schedule to go to court for free  … like it would cost him time  and probably some money that he wouldn't want to lay out …. Apparently he's a little low on funds if he has to steal from his clients …. Like I said these lawyers are pretty cheap hire another if he wants to play games…. 👍
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Cheap is in they eye of the person loosing the money.  20 percent down can be a real painful loss for some.  There has to be a me a mechanism to protect all foreigners as they know most can not use or will not sue.  There has to be metrics or bars that have to be met not send me 3500.00 and pray I do what I say I am going to do.

It happens far far to often not just in the dr.  I had a friend just the other day who said a lawyer from gua who was supposed to help him with his Visa.  He sent a small amount several hundred and has not heard from him no contact in 60 days.  A loss is a loss no matter how small or big
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So there is NO real mechanism to  fight these things.  This country and culture is buyer beware.   Get  referrals from others,  check them all,  don't blindly accept any referral!    Most of us here long term have learned the hard way. 

Just because someone here has a "title" of lawyer, accountant, doctor, engineer etc  does not mean they are  well educated.  Never ever assume they are educated like a lawyer or doctor back home! 

Check everything, never accept at face value.  That is the best we can do as expats who are  guests in this country!
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Not to mention certificates are easily "created", not necessarily valid.
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@mondoux31 no surprise with these criminals who'll rip you off and do so "by the grace of god".  Just who is this god they praise who justifies this behavior?  Certainly not the one I know.

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@DominicanadaMike and they'll do just that, even in restaurants where they'll show you a receipt to sign and either ring up another or the one you sign is a fraud. They have it down to a science.

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Remember , believe in nothing of what you read and half of what you hear and all of what you see ……., sometimes it works better this way
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@Siobhan222 I am their worse nightmare.  I came with a luggage packed with street smarts and the best part is they don't suspect me b/c I don't look like a bad ass.  LOL.  I have every single person I have encountered with (good and bad) in DR on camera.  I smile and joke and act like we are doing a cute IG video when I m actually documenting them in case they piss me off.

Like I said I saw a YT video for a property and I sent a WhatsApp to the realtor and she knew already me from my IG.  She told me that her mom knew me too.  I love it.  Give then a taste of their own medicine.   LOL.  You better run when you see me or I will unleash my version of a bad person on you.

I will be going back in October for a year... that's if they let me back in the country. LMAO
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@vixenmartine You just sound rude and a little full of yourself. If it is so bad there why are you going for a year. There are laws against filming people in the stated. Not so sure there.

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@bryankieronlynch sounds to me like she's protecting herself from the criminals

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