Brothers Law & Greed

Thaddeus Jaxxson Muizarajs, nicknamed TJ, and Dorian Jaxxson Muizarajs, nicknamed Cotton, two brothers who were children of immigrants from Latvia, both grew up and went to school in the Miami, Florida area. Neither felt that the locals, in the area, were accepting them as an integrated part of Miami society or culture. Their father, who had a difficult time obtaining decent work, always emphasized, to his sons, that in order to get ahead, in a culture that was hostile to their ethnicity, that a modest amount of pilfering from the wealthy and embellishments about their backgrounds and financials, were appropriate. Those would enhance their chances of increasing their income and improve their way of life. The brother’s parents were both killed in an automobile accident when the brothers were in high school. So, with a couple of small socialistic scholarships and the proceeds of the legal settlement they received from the death of their parents, both brothers decided to attend law school. After the graduation of the youngest brother, Cotton, the brothers decided to leave the Miami area and start their legal practice together, in a more accepting location in the Fort Myers, Florida, area where their ethnicity was deemed a better fit than on the East coast of Florida. They even changed their last names to Murry to better become assimilated into the area’s society. However, both brothers had little money. TJ, who was three years older than Cotton, had a different view on how to start and grow their law practice to become well known and increase their wealth. However, one thing they both recalled was their father’s advice as to what was acceptable to assist in becoming successful and accumulate wealth. Therefore, the brother’s, through several local businessmen they befriended, acquired the necessary funds to open their own law firm through providing fraudulent financial statements to obtain a large bank loan. The banker who granted the loan was aware of the brother’s fraudulent financials, as well as other fraudulent financials provided periodically to the bank. Through an implied threat of revealing the brothers false financials to the authorities, the banker obtained the brother’s understanding to become involved with a group of professional community leaders, in a web of deceit, fraudulent real estate loans, and other white collar criminal activities. TJ attempted to extradite himself from the criminal activity, but realized he had become too involved and was unable to get out. BROTHERS GREED & THE LAW, takes the reader through a journey that the brothers experienced involving multiple dishonest brokers, bankers, FBI agents and lawyers. Their fraudulent schemes involved the embezzlement of millions of dollars from innocent investors during the early days of the real estate boom in Florida in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Through an intriguing misunderstanding by the mastermind of these illegal schemes, and the inquisitiveness of several nonparticipants in the schemes, several innocent persons were murdered thinking that their deaths would keep the schemes from being discovered. A turn in events, by several of the perpetrators, and other unrelated parties to the schemes, causes the illegal activities to be revealed to the authorities. How the brothers extracted themselves from the legal consequences of the long time criminal enterprise was a turn in events that none of the participants, or the informers of the criminal enterprise, could have expected.

Steven Winer was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He went to the University of Minnesota as an undergraduate and received his B.S. degree in Business Administration and History. He had season tickets for 40 years to his beloved Golden Gopher football games. He still goes to as many games as he can each year. Steven then attended Law School at the University of Illinois, Chicago where he received his J.D. Law Degree. Steven moved back to Minnesota, after law school, where he practiced law for 12 years. He then moved to Fort Myers, Florida, in 1984, following several of his Minnesota clients who were developing projects in Southwest Florida. He practiced law, in Florida, until he retired in 2013. In Florida, he met his wife, who have been married for 30 years. Between them, they have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. While practicing law in Florida, Steven represented banks, real estate developers of large golf course communities and high rise condominium. His representation covered the slow years for real estate in the late 1970's and 80's as well as the robust real estate boom era in the 2000's.

Steven enjoys his retirement by aiding entrepreneurs to fulfill their dreams of starting their own businesses and also volunteering for the Lee County Visitors and Convention Bureau in Southwest Florida. Steven enjoys writing about his many experiences while practicing law.

Steven's first book, was about a real estate developer, who developed large multiple large developments which culminated in the largest real estate foreclosure in the history of Lee County, Florida. It was published in 2018 and entitled "Deception". Steven's second book, concerned his struggle with the management of, and working with, lawyers in several different law firms. It was published in 2019 entitled "Lies, Larceny & the Law".