NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans real-estate investor accused of swindling financially strapped property owners out of their homes went to trial for the first time last week to answer civil fraud allegations.
And for the first time under oath, Jonathan Burden admitted he never paid loan balances and fees on a Central City fourplex – payments that were conditions to complete his purchase of the property.
Evidence presented at trial Friday showed Burden waited three years to lay claim to the property, only after the elderly, infirm and financially distressed owner of the house had died. That’s when he filed a redacted version of the purchase agreement in the public land records, in which references to his duty to pay loan balances and fees were blacked out.
Burden then used the partially obscured public records to convince local authorities that he was the rightful homeowner.
As WWL Louisiana’s “Un-Real Estate” investigation showed in 2023 and 2024, Burden has been sued by at least seven property owners in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish who make similar allegations, claiming he promised to help them avoid foreclosure, but instead tricked them into signing paperwork that allowed him to lay claim to their houses.
Burden was often a no-show for court hearings or would change attorneys and force delays in those cases. But US Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill deployed US Marshals when Burden failed to show up earlier this year. Grabill didn’t let Burden’s latest change in lawyers keep her from holding a trial Friday on claims Burden committed fraud.
The late Lorraine Robinson’s bankruptcy estate alleges Burden used fraudulent documents to claim ownership of her yellow house with black trim.
Adding to the intrigue, Burden testified he brought the elderly woman to attorney David Alfortish’s house in Algiers to have Alfortish notarize the deed and happened to find two random men walking by to witness it.
He said an audio recording he made that day was of him pulling up to Alfortish’s house on Kabel Drive and getting Robinson’s walker out of the trunk.
But Alfortish took the stand and testified he went to Robinson’s house on South Liberty Street to authenticate the deed. He said he accepted the witnesses without proof of their identity because they lived in the neighborhood and had access to Robinson’s house.
He initially said the witnesses were a man and a woman, then said it was two men. Alfortish cross-examined Burden, who then said he wasn’t so sure if he drove Robinson to the Westbank to get the deed transfer notarized or not.
Burden’s new attorney, Bob Marrero, said despite all that, there was no proof his client committed fraud.
“It's one thing to say fraud, but the proof is in the facts that you produce at trial, and they didn't produce any real, credible evidence of fraud at the trial today,” Marrero told WWL Louisiana in an interview.
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In December 2019, Robinson was facing foreclosure. Burden testified that one of Robinson’s tenants came to him, asking for help on her behalf. As Burden tended to do when he tracked foreclosures, knocked on doors and offered the owners assistance, he took videos when he came to Robinson’s home just before midnight, a week before Christmas.
In a series of videos, he told her she needed to sign a couple of documents, “and once we finish that, I’m going to go ahead and pay them and we’re going to be done with that, you know. That way, you can stay here and you ain’t got to move.”
Then, he filmed himself flashing her cash – “all the hundreds and the rest of it” – to show her he was good for it.
Records presented in court show Robinson signed a contract that Burden described in a handwritten section as a “partial purchase of Lorraine Robinson interest.” It says Burden's company would own the house, once he paid all her "loan balances and fees."
Her mortgage statement at the time showed she owed more than $112,000 on that loan. She also owed nearly $30,000 to the Sewerage & Water Board and about $70,000 on a state loan for rental property repairs after Hurricane Katrina, according to court records.
Under oath from the witness stand, Burden testified he never paid any of those balances and a closing, required under the contract, “never happened.” Instead, he said he paid $9,500 in cash directly to Robinson, granted her usufruct – use and financial benefits of the property – until her death and believed he had a rightful “suspended condition” claim to the property.
“This was intended for Ms. Robinson to stay in the property until she passed away,” Burden testified. “She just needed to be caught up. I paid her to be caught up.”
Burden claimed Robinson changed her mind and told him she wanted him to pay her the money directly, rather than paying off her delinquent balances.
“It was a change of position,” Marrero said. “That's what she wanted to do subsequently. And that's why (Burden) gave her the money because that's what she said, that she was going to take care of her own business.”
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The bankruptcy attorney for Robinson’s estate, Jon DeTrinis, argued she had no reason to do such a deal.
“She would never have sold her property, especially to somebody off the street,” he said. “A 250,000-dollar property, they want us to believe that she agreed after 40 years to sell it for $9,500? It doesn't make sense.”
In fact, DeTrinis argued there's no proof Burden ever paid Lorraine any money. He presented bank records to the court showing she never deposited anything other than Social Security checks in her bank account but kept withdrawing cash from the ATM in the days after Burden showed up at her house with the cash.
Burden testified he misplaced the agreements he signed with Robinson for about three years after that. He said he wasn’t aware that Lorraine’s brother, Johnnie Robinson, had gotten power of attorney for his sister and filed for bankruptcy protection on her behalf in 2020, about six months after her agreement with Burden.
Burden testified he heard Lorraine had died in January 2023 and that’s when he decided to look for the records she had signed back in December 2019. He testified he found them under a legal pad and filed them in the Orleans Parish Land Records.
But the version he filed blacked out any reference to a requirement to pay off her loan balances or that it was a “partial purchase” of her interest in the property.
When Johnnie Robinson came to collect rent from the tenants, Burden used the redacted documents to claim he was the rightful owner and could collect rent from the tenants. Burden posted a video on social media of a New Orleans Police officer telling Johnnie Robinson to leave Burden alone and get off the property.
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DeTrinis had hoped to present Judge Grabill with testimony about other cases where homeowners allege Burden used fraudulent documents to claim ownership of their properties.
In one case, a widow trying to avoid foreclosure had a $1.1 million offer on the table when Burden showed up and made what he called a “backup offer.” He then claimed he’d bought the house and forced the owner to pay him $85,000 so she could complete the sale in time before the bank foreclosed.
In another case, a state court ruled Burden gained ownership of a house in the Bywater using a forged deed signed by a woman who was already dead. The court awarded the house back to the woman’s son, Derrick Breston, but not before Burden had sold it for $100,000.
Breston took the stand to testify for the Robinsons, but Grabill dismissed him when she learned his testimony was about a separate case.
Marrero said the other cases aren’t relevant, and none of them have resulted in a judgment against Burden.
Grabill said she would review the records and testimony in the case and have a ruling by Jan. 25.
Burden also has a criminal record unrelated to his real estate dealings.
He is currently free on bond on an attempted murder charge for allegedly shooting a man in a drive-by in February 2024.
Accused of swindling people out of homes; suspect accused of shooting into car
