Mitchell Julis Admits All Foreclosures in Hedge Fund Scum

In a truly unexpected development in a courtroom in Texas on April 2, 2024, Mitchell Julis told the truth, at least about Canyon Partners' history of foreclosures. Julis, Canyon Partners' co-CEO and co-founder, who also referred to himself as "co-dependent", fully admitted that all of the foreclosures in the popular Hedge Fund Scum book, which has his mug (not mug shot...yet) on the cover, are true. Mitchell Ralph Julis, under oath, confirmed the veracity of each and every one of the foreclosures in the Hedge Fund Scum book, which details the egregious pattern of mistreatment of Canyon Partners' borrowers. 

The Hedge Fund Scum book is a copyrighted exposé on the loan-to-own practices of the Canyon Partners hedge fund, run by Mitch Julis and Josh Friedman. Hedge Fund Scum conveys true stories of how Julis and Friedman have captured hundreds of millions of dollars of property under the guise of being a legitimate lender. The evil acts committed by Julis and Friedman described in Hedge Fund Scum are just the tip of the iceberg - merely a fraction of those who have been tormented, extorted and stolen from. On the witness stand, Julis could not cite a single untruth in Hedge Fund Scum.  

Julis and Friedman have battered borrowers for decades, endlessly lying to them and courts, searching for and manufacturing ways to default them, extorting them, fixing court orders, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of properties, committing bankruptcy fraud and undertaking myriad other versions of fraud. 

Canyon Partners News conveys true information about the $25 billion hedge fund's pattern of abusing, extorting and stealing from borrowers for decades.  This is a matter of public concern.  If individuals and entities like Canyon Partners News don't shed light on these practices, undoubtedly nothing will change and their crimes of greed will continue unchecked.  

Julis and Friedman are embarrassed that the truth of their repeated unconscionable acts has come out and hope to silence criticism by manipulating the Texas Penal Code to prohibit free speech. Texas courts and the United States Supreme Court have repeatedly rejected similar attempts. Article 7b.005 of the Texas statute only prohibits harassing communications "with the applicant” or conduct “directed specifically toward the applicant.” Yet, Julis and Friedman aren't on the Canyon Partners News email list, and even if they were, they haven't alleged that they attempted to unsubscribe and were unsuccessful.  

In fact, Canyon Partners' Director of Security, Allen Azran, a former police officer from California, took the stand and said that Canyon Partners’ employees intentionally aren’t blocked from Canyon Partners News. Azran said too that friends, colleagues, and business associates of Mitch Julis and Joshua Friedman receive Canyon Partners News' periodic newsletters. According to Azran, "they're all on this email distribution list."  That's quite an endorsement.

Julis testified that Canyon Partners News' reporting is "a bunch of exaggerated, unhinged allegations". But when asked, "...for each of the foreclosures discussed in this [Hedge Fund Scum] book, the foreclosure, in fact, occurred, correct? Julis, apparently at a total loss for how to weasel out of this critical question, couldn't muster any better response than, "Yeah".

When the trial continues in June, the question remains can Julis and Friedman get the court to sympathize with their displeasure that the truth about them is told on the Canyon Partners News website, in two (and soon to be three) books and periodically conveyed in newsletters to 10,000+ people. Their hope is to stop Canyon Partners News from communicating with the world at large even though no such legal authority exists.  Everyday lots of people are embarrassed by the news about them, they don't get to shut down the newspaper or jail their critic.

And make no mistake, this trial is happening because Julis and Friedman are embarrassed.  Julis testified that it's upsetting to have acquaintances mention that they heard about his upcoming court appearance. Maybe Mitch should have thought about this before spending decades committing fraud, filing a frivolous case to suppress free speech, and then asking for a public hearing.

Mitch is out of his comfort zone. He's accustomed to abusing borrowers in the secrecy of the one-on-one relationships between the hedge fund and private developers.  

Allen Azran, in his testimony, complained too of this publication's true and accurate reporting of the then forthcoming April 2, 2024 public hearing.  Apparently Mr. Azran would prefer that court proceedings in this country be shrouded in secrecy.  Odd, coming from a former cop, but not surprising given that he now works at Canyon Partners.   

Besides the now-admitted pattern of foreclosures, there are other stories of classic fraud in Hedge Fund Scum which Julis did not dispute in his testimony. For instance, the College Terrace developer owned a property for 100 years, then sought a loan from Canyon Partners. Before closing the developer emailed, "Well my assessment is this…Marti [Page of Canyon] is not to be trusted and has altered agreements … she is either unethical or devious. . . In my opinion, they have positioned the property to facilitate their takeover … I need for you to disclose how many foreclosures they have had over the past five years as this will be a critical piece of information in the decision process on how or if we are to proceed."  The next day, Canyon told the borrower with its general counsel copied, "We have not foreclosed on a development deal from what I can remember." 

By Mitch Julis’s admission at the April 2024 Dallas hearing, this was an outright lie – classic fraud designed to lull the prospective borrower into a false sense of security in order to grant Canyon a first mortgage on their valuable asset, positioning Canyon to pounce. And pounce they did. Starting in just two months, Canyon repeatedly manufactured non-monetary defaults and pressured College Terrace to sign documents including a springing deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. Ultimately, without any court proceeding, Canyon's relentless acts led to College Terrace losing all their equity (plus more money that Canyon extorted post-closing) despite never missing or being late on a loan payment. 

Without capital to pay lawyers to fight, the College Terrace owners succumbed to Julis and Friedman’s predatory acts and ultimately lost everything. Like so many other unsuspecting developers, besides their money invested and extremely valuable properties, their dreams, careers, reputations, retirements and peace of mind were taken from them too. This is just one of dozens of stories of dehumanizing acts of fraud inflicted by Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman.