EXONERATION!!  Darrell Anthony Souza, managing director of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Real Estate in Modesto, California when arrested in July 2010 was completely exonerated August 10, 2016 when the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office Dismissed all charges with prejudice. 2016-08-10-Souza Dismissal Transcript,   Souza dismissal minute order 8 10 2016.

When contacted for comment Mr. Souza stated “while I am extremely happy and ecstatic that this horrible episode has ended for me and my family I cannot help but say that it never should have happened at all”.  Souza said that the entire case against me was built on lies and perjury.  Souza went on to say that the alleged victim prominent developer Ron Malik and his attorney’s hatched a scheme to make millions from lawsuits against his parent company Sperry Van Ness.  According to Souza, Malik and his attorney’s called the Stanislaus District Attorney’s office in March 2010 claiming Souza had cost Malik 100 millions dollars in damages when in fact six months earlier Malik and his attorney swore under penalty of perjury in an unrelated lawsuit against one of Malik’s lenders Westamerica Bank  Souza had nothing to do with Malik’s losses. Warne Solano Declaration Souza not an issue,   Highlighted Malik declaration Solano.

Adding to Souza’s frustration is the knowledge that Malik admitted it was his signature on the crucial May 2007 letter at the center of the DA’s case against Souza in October 2011.  Malik told the DA investigator on September 1, 2011 that is was indeed his signature.  Malik’s own handwriting expert confirmed it was an original Blue Ink signature.  Malik had claimed that the signature was cut and pasted by me said Souza.  “Its impossible for a blue ink original signature to be cut and pasted, when Malik said it was his signature this case needed to end immediately” says Souza their case was based on the claim I forged Malik’s signature and then recorded unauthorized liens against his property which caused him millions of dollars in damages when in fact all I was doing was securing my legally authorized fee’s for years of loyal service to Malik.

Later in March 2012 these same individuals would go before a Criminal Grand Jury and repeat the lies and perjuries.  Souza says later on he and his legal team figured out that Malik owed his attorney’s approximately One Million dollars at the time of the perjuries.  Malik also was millions of dollars in default to his lenders at the same time, Malik then gave his Attorneys and his lenders a lien on any proceeds resulting from the Sperry Van Ness lawsuit.  In other words Malik and his attorney’s had millions of reasons to lie and commit perjury when they appeared before the criminal grand jury. UCC Filing Downey Brand from Malik Van Der Meer and Medcal,  UCC Malik filing Premier Valley

As a result of the lies and perjuries committed Souza filed a motion to remove Malik’s attorney’s from representing Malik.  Souza says one downside resulting from the dismissal of the criminal case was the hearing scheduled to remove Malik’s attorney’s which could have resulted with a finding of perjury by the attorney’s and could have resulted in a disciplinary action by the California State Bar. 2016-02-12-Souza-Mr. Souza’s Mtn to Disqualify and Recuse (1) (1),  2016-02-12-Souza-Exhibits A-E to Mr. Souza’s Recuse Motion,  2016-02-12-Souza-Mr. Souza’s Mtn to Disqualify and Recuse (1) (1),  2016-02-16-Souza-Exhibits F-L to Mr. Souza’s Recuse Motion,  2016-02-16-Souza-Exhibits M-S to Mr. Souza’s Recuse Motion

Souza admits to being disappointed that the Malik and his people have not been made to answer for their actions.  “Right now I feel like I told the truth and got roasted alive while they lied, committed perjury to the criminal grand jury and the California Department of Real Estate (now Bureau of Real Estate), cost the taxpayers & myself millions of dollars and have not been made to answer for their actions”.  Adding to Souza’s frustration is his knowledge that the Stanislaus District attorney’s office knew in late 2012 that Malik was a short sale loan fraudster yet continued to pursue Souza for almost four more years while turning a blind eye on Malik’s  and his attorney’s criminal behavior.  Lying to a criminal grand jury is a very serious felony and leads to the breakdown of the entire criminal process, for the Stanislaus DA to not do anything about their actions makes me wonder just what really went on between the DA, Malik & his attorneys said Souza.

Additionally a settlement was recently announced in a related matter:

A settlement in the multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by Sperry Van Ness Commercial real estate broker Darrell A. Souza of Modesto was announced today.   Terms of the settlement were not announced, however when contacted by CVRE news Souza said he was “satisfied” with the settlement amount.  While the amount received did not completely cover what I believe the true damages to be, the fact remains Generalstar did write a check and I believes proves my position that because of Generalstar’s refusal to provide coverage under my claim I was maliciously and wrongfully prosecuted by the Stanislaus county district attorney’s.  Souza went on to say “had Generalstar covered me in my civil lawsuit with developer Ron Malik I would never signed the settlement agreement that later was the entire basis of the district attorney’s case against me as well as the California Department of Real Estate’s disiplinary action”.   According to Souza, Generalstar refused to defend Souza in the civil case after he had paid thousands of dollars in premiums to Generalstar for many years.  Souza said he was left without the resources to fight the lies of Malik propagated by the Downey Brand law firm of Sacramento and was left no alternative but to sign a stipulated settlement that was written by Malik’s attorney’s so that it could not be eliminated by a bankruptcy filing.  Malik’s attorneys told my attorney if I signed the agreement that would be an end to the matter as they just wanted a guarantee I could not void the agreement with a bankruptcy filing.  In retrospect it was clear they had no intention of honoring the agreement as it was only the first step in a conspiracy to obtain hundred of millions in ill gotten gains for Malik, Downey Brand & Malik’s lenders using taxpayer resources for their private gain.

CVCRE News has determined after the settlement with Souza Malik failed to pay his law firm Downey Brand nearly one million dollars in legal fee’s he owed to them.  Malik through Downey Brand filed a multi million lawsuit against Souza’s Franchisor – Sperry Van Ness almost immediately after Souza was first arrested in 2010.  Much later through the discovery process Souza and his defense attorney’s learned Malik had pledged his proceeds from the Sperry Van Ness lawsuit to both Downey Brand and Malik’s lender Premier Valley Bank in exchange for extensions of time and payoff of Malik’s debt.  According to Souza the discovery documents received show that the parties all were conspiring to have Souza convicted “It is unmistakely clear from the documents they believed my criminal conviction would result in a huge cash benefit to them.  As far as I’m concerned they are all nothing but a bunch of flesh peddlers hoping to reap a huge financial windfall, the fact that I did nothing wrong and that an innocent man would go to jail was completely irrelevant to them”.