Trenton, NJ – May 5, 2025
Eight years after three Field Service Technicians, contractors in the mortgage field services industry, brought forward an involuntary bankruptcy against National Field Network, not a penny has been paid to Labor. This, as lawyers continue their feeding frenzy like some Discovery Channel episode of Shark Week. In fact, the level of billing has reached such an extreme level that the years-before documentation of lawyer hours have disappeared from the docket statement. Everyone had their fingers in the proverbial pie that ultimately raped Labor — brutally and savagely. Firms like Reverse Mortgage Solutions, HUD, Fannie Mae, and multiple NAMFS members laid Labor bare upon the buffet table and after eating the corpse, picked the flesh from their teeth with Labor’s bones. Eight years later, the bankruptcy trustee, the very same trustee whom refused to call Labor victims, is churning out yet more filings while watching a bankruptcy in another unknown case.
In 2018, unpaid workers forced National Field Network (NFN) into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy (Case No. 18-16859-CMG, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey). The action was meant to reclaim stolen wages and hold those responsible accountable. Instead, eight years later, the case drags on, and the very people who were defrauded—small contractors and laborers—remain uncompensated, unheard, and exhausted.
No Payouts, No Justice — Just Endless Filings
Despite initiating the case, the petitioning laborers have received no restitution—not even the courtesy of meaningful dialogue with the Chapter 7 Trustee Michele Dudas, who continues to cycle through a revolving door of filings and adversary cases that appear to produce no recoveries.
In fact, the only asset realized on any docket statement—the sale of NFN CEO Shari Nott’s New Jersey home—is held in escrow by Oglensky’s personal attorneys, not the trustee, and no portion of it has been disbursed to victims.
To date, Dudas has not filed nor presented a public plan for distribution nor presented a resolution path to the petitioners. Instead, legal maneuvering continues while Labor watches their hopes—and financial futures—fade. Eight long, grueling years with no end in sight.
A Trustee’s Long-Awaited Admission of Victimhood
For years, Chapter 7 Trustee Michele Dudas declined to acknowledge the petitioners as victims in any formal capacity. Though she didn’t dispute that harm occurred, she refused to characterize it in human terms—sparking contentious email exchanges with investigative outlet Foreclosurepedia over whether those defrauded by NFN qualified as victims under the law.
That silence ended on November 13, 2023, when Dudas filed the following admission in court:
“The Trustee recognizes that many of the creditors in this proceeding have suffered more than just a monetary loss at the hands of the Debtor as operated by Nott – they are actual victims, which have had their business lives and personal affairs devastated by this Debtor and Nott.”
Yet, even with that acknowledgment, no reparations have followed. Justice is nowhere to be found in the bankruptcy court in New Jersey where the scales appear to be pressed upon by the fat fingers of corruption.
A System that Rewards the Wrong People
The injustice doesn’t end with delay. It continues in how the system has rewarded insiders while the victims wait.
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Victor Deutch, an NFN attorney who attempted to coerce petitioners into accepting “pennies on the dollar” settlements, was eventually forced into bankruptcy himself. He has since left the legal profession altogether.
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Chris Crandell, a former NFN insider, received a sweetheart settlement deal for his role in the financial destruction of the company—agreeing to pay only a fraction of what he owed.
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The most insulting blow came with Jack Jaffa, who not only secured a favorable settlement shielding him from full liability, but was later allowed to collect funds from the bankruptcy estate—after laborers were denied.
As one victim told Foreclosurepedia during an interview,
“That was a slap in the face to everyone who brought this case forward,” said one petitioner. “He helped cause the damage, and then he walks away with money from the same account we’re not even allowed to touch.”
The very workers whose labor allowed NFN to operate were forced to drain their savings, take out personal loans, and in many cases, shutter their businesses permanently.
Lavish Enrichment Amid Systemic Nonpayment
Under the leadership of CEO Shari Nott, NFN didn’t just mismanage—it exploited. While small businesses were forced to shoulder the burden of unpaid invoices, Nott was living a life of excess. According to court filings and investigative reports, she used company funds to:
- Buy luxury vehicles
- Open new companies and buy foreclosed assets in Michigan
- Purchase homes in New Jersey and the Bahamas
- Issue multimillion-dollar loans to herself and others
- Pay for her children’s college tuition
Those who helped her enable it have escaped consequence—or been paid from the very estate meant for restitution.
Endless Filings, No Recovery
Despite launching multiple adversary proceedings, the trustee has recovered virtually nothing. First, a storage locker, now abandoned by the trustee, was a glimmer of hope. Each action, though, has quietly closed without success. The only asset of note—a home in New Jersey allegedly sold as part of the estate—remains locked in escrow, not under the trustee’s control, but held by Oglensky’s personal attorneys. Moreover, though, the costs of the filings versus the sweetheart deals issued to predators whom perpetrated this fraud, are almost as upside down as the stock market is on a daily basis.
To date, none of the petitioners have received compensation, nor have they even been granted a meaningful discussion with the trustee regarding resolution. Instead, communication has centered on an endless stream of new filings—each consuming more time and generating more fees—all at the petitioners’ expense.
What was once a pathway toward justice now appears to be a bureaucratic treadmill that exhausts victims while enriching the legal apparatus managing the estate.
One of the Longest Bankruptcies in New Jersey History?
What was once seen as a path to justice has instead become a drawn-out legal process and billing event for lawyers that many now view as a second injury. With no end in sight, petitioners now believe this could be one of the longest-running bankruptcies in the state’s history. And what do they have to show for it? Eight years of legal expenses, no distribution, and ongoing emotional and financial devastation. Far from being resolved, the NFN bankruptcy has become what some call a zombie case—lingering for years without delivering restitution or resolution.
The process has devolved into a self-sustaining machine—one that feeds the professionals managing the estate while draining those it was supposed to protect. The estate remains active, the legal costs continue to rise, and laborers—who brought the case forward in good faith are still waiting, still watching, and still suffering.
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