This is NOT dead, I have a pending case open with my State now because of the FNMA word police. I think most States would have declined to open a case but NC does regardless of merit.

Sure it is. This current administration has pretty much made this a moot point. No, It doesn’t change the angst and financial impact for the party investigated. But they unlikely to continue to pursue appraisers IMO. I wouldn’t be shocked if Fair Housing went to the wayside.

“HUD Misled the Complainant (Homeowner) Too — A Two-Sided Deception”

Prepared for EEOC Review | Kenneth J. Mullinix | May 2025

While this report primarily outlines the civil rights violations and procedural abuse committed against me as a disabled federal contractor, this addendum documents how the homeowner who filed the complaint was also misled by HUD — in many of the same ways. This two-sided deception implicates HUD in not only violating due process for the accused but also undermining the rights and expectations of the complainant.
________________________________________

1. What the Law Requires in a Legal Complaint

Under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619, any person who believes they have been subjected to housing discrimination must file a formal complaint with HUD using Form HUD-903.1. A valid complaint must:
• Identify a basis for discrimination under a protected class (e.g., race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability)
• Be signed under penalty of perjury
• Trigger a jurisdictional review per 24 CFR § 103.25
• If found valid, be entered into TEAPOTS (Government Evidence Storage)(Title Eight Automated Paperless Office Tracking System)
• Be assigned a formal HUD case number
• Be investigated under an official plan as required by HUD Handbook 8024.1 REV-2, Chapter 5
HUD must also notify the complainant of:
• Their rights and responsibilities
• Whether the case has jurisdiction
• The eventual outcome of the case (via written closure or referral to an ALJ or DOJ)
________________________________________

2. What the Homeowner Likely Signed Under PAVE
In my case — and based on FOIA disclosures — the complainant did not submit a sworn HUD-903.1 complaint. Instead, HUD appears to have conducted a verbal or informal intake interview and used it to create a risk assessment file, not a legal complaint.

• No TEAPOTS case number was ever assigned
• No Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) referral or final findings were issued
• No formal notification of closure was ever sent to the homeowner
• To date, no HUD-903.1 Fair Housing Complaint Form signed by the complainant has been produced. Under 24 CFR § 103.25 and HUD Handbook 8024.1 REV-2, a signed complaint form is legally required before a jurisdictional review, TEAPOTS case opening, or investigative action can be taken.
• The absence of this document — confirmed by FOIA — establishes that no legal complaint was filed, and therefore no lawful investigation ever commenced. This raises serious questions about HUD’s invocation of FOIA Exemption 7(A) and the legitimacy of the PAVE program’s enforcement metrics.”

The homeowner was never advised that their claim would not be reviewed under federal law or that HUD had no jurisdiction due to the property being appraised under a VA loan, which falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — not HUD.
________________________________________

3. Why This Was Misleading and Harmful

HUD misrepresented to the homeowner that their complaint was being addressed under federal civil rights law. In fact:
• There was no formal complaint on file
• No legal action could ever occur due to jurisdictional ineligibility
• The homeowner was never told this truth
• They were used to create an “open case” metric for the PAVE Task Force

This not only harmed me as the appraiser but defrauded the complainant, who likely believed justice was being pursued on their behalf. That complaint became nothing more than an intake record, abandoned once its administrative purpose was fulfilled.
________________________________________

4. Relevant Legal and Policy Violations

The misrepresentation to the homeowner may constitute violations of:

• Fair Housing Act procedural obligations (24 CFR § 103.25 and § 103.400)
• 18 U.S.C. § 1001 – False statements to federal officials or the public (e.g., if HUD publicly claimed these were active legal cases)

• 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733 (False Claims Act) – Misusing complaint data to justify federal grant funding under PAVE
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794) – If disabled complainants were similarly deceived
• 5 U.S.C. § 552a (Privacy Act) – If complaint data was used outside its lawful purpose
• HUD Handbook 8024.1 REV-2 – For failure to open a legal case, issue findings, or close the file properly
________________________________________

5. Conclusion: A Double Deception

This case is no longer about just me, the appraiser. The entire structure of the PAVE enforcement program — as applied by HUD Region IX — appears to have been built on administrative illusions that harmed both the accused and the accuser.

The homeowner believed they were filing a real complaint. I believed I was under real investigation.
Neither of us were told the truth.

This double-deception strategy reveals the PAVE initiative as not a civil rights enforcement program, but a data fabrication and grant-justification engine. The harm done to homeowners — by raising false expectations and delivering no closure — deserves the same attention and accountability as the harm done to appraisers.

This matter should be referred to:

• The EEOC for systemic civil rights abuse
• The HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) for audit and fraud review
• The U.S. Department of Justice for potential False Claims Act violations
________________________________________

Thanks again Kenneth, we look forward to following your story and hope we can all be a part of it.

By Kenneth J. Mullinix

This week, Baggins published a powerful statement that cut through the noise and named the uncomfortable truth: the appraisal profession, its institutions, and its regulators failed to stand up when it mattered most. And now, one appraiser — myself — has been left to do the work that eight federal agencies, four regulatory boards, and multiple national organizations should have done years ago.

Baggins wrote that I was “caught in the cross fire hurricane” of HUD’s reckless and unlawful appraisal bias crusade. He’s right.

I have spent years gathering evidence, submitting FOIA requests, filing legal and civil rights complaints, and sharing my findings publicly. And now, I am being contacted by appraisers across the country — and legal professionals, insurers, and policy observers — who are beginning to realize the same thing: what HUD did under the PAVE Task Force was not just administratively sloppy. It was illegal, damaging, and built on a foundation of misrepresentation.

I want to publicly thank Baggins for standing up, for naming names, and for pointing the finger where it belongs: not at the appraisers who’ve been targeted, but at the institutions that let it happen.

Here’s what we now know:

HUD opened hundreds of what they called “appraisal bias cases” with no TEAPOTS case numbers, no formal investigations, and in many cases, no jurisdiction — especially where the loans were VA, conventional, or private.

Appraisers were pushed to settle, pressured to admit wrongdoing, or handed over to legal departments under the threat of reputational ruin.

E&O insurance carriers paid settlements that were never justified.

Homeowners were manipulated into believing they were victims of bias — and then used to trigger enforcement actions against appraisers who had done nothing wrong.

And worst of all, the industry’s leading institutions — the Appraisal Institute, The Appraisal Foundation, state boards, and the GSEs — fell in line with HUD’s narrative and failed to question its legitimacy.

I have now formally contacted American Oversight and the Appraisal Institute, urging them to examine the funding, policy agreements, and legal implications of this campaign. If their organizations were misled by HUD, they owe it to their members to reverse course and demand accountability.

Here’s what must happen next:

Any E&O carrier who paid a settlement under false pretenses should demand full recovery.

Any appraiser who was coerced into bias training, settlement, or a gag order under HUD’s PAVE narrative should be legally absolved — and refunded where possible.

Any attorney who paid HUD on behalf of a client to settle a case based on “bias” that was never proven — and never should have been prosecuted — should consider suing HUD for reimbursement.

Every homeowner who was used as a prop in this scheme deserves transparency. Many of them were told they were harmed when in fact they were part of a broader statistical manipulation.

And finally, any appraisal organization that pushed PAVE-aligned policy or training mandates without understanding the legal deception behind it — should reconsider those positions now.

This wasn’t about equity. This was about control. It was about money. And it was about federal power being used to coerce and silence professionals who had no due process and no way to fight back — until now.

The time for passive compliance is over.

The time for refunds, clawbacks, apologies, and investigations is here.

And to those reading this — if your company, insurer, law firm, or regulatory board was involved in any of these settlements or enforcement actions — I invite you to contact me. I have the documentation. I have the emails. And now, I have the public and professional backing to keep going.

Thank you again, Baggins, for your courage and clarity. Let’s finish what’s been started.

Sincerely,
Kenneth J. Mullinix
VA-Approved Fee Panel Appraiser
HUD Whistleblower
Newport Beach, CA

Thanks for your work Ken, I turly hope you are vindicated and your work is recognized.

Thanks Desiree. Think it’s safe to place a substantial portion of the blame on the amc industry. The open doors for abuse they’ve created are substantial. Now this Ken Mullinix guy and other appraisers like him, find themselves caught up in the aftermath of the appraisal industries and amc industries long term ineffective and counter productive management strategies, co opted positioning and leadership, beholden to ‘stake holder interests.’ The PAVE task force and all the agencies and organizations that worked with them or parroted their messaging appears to have been a ruse to usher in an appraisal modernization program that puts half the appraisal industry almost completely out of work.

Wrote another lengthy post detailing how the appraisal management companies activities and focus has decimated the integrity and viability of the appraisal industry and all of it’s swiftly diminishing licensees.
https://appraisersblogs.com/bye-bye-amc-a-script-2-sideline-appraisal-middlemen/#comment-45431

I can’t help but think back to the Housing Subcommittee Hearing of June 2019, when Andre Perry sat on the panel with 4 other appraisers and launched his faux study.
This has been in the works for some time. And when you get rid of boots on the ground appraisers, nothing stands in the way of the GSEs big data machines to pump the profit from the mortgage market, and the Treasury still profits from them. I’ve been connecting these dots for several years, but your information here places a whole new foundation.

Thank you for continuing your efforts for truth, Mary. I know this has been a project of your’s and you are appreciated .

Have you ever read about Foucauldian Discourse? When an entity, organization, political body or in this case, regulatory body uses their stature to shift societal trends, language, and basically diminish independent thinking. The UN has pulled it for decades. Marcia Fudge and Co. were trying to pull it off here as well. The influence the ‘respected body or entity’ wields can shift minds and culture to the point where, yes, even the language that is or isn’t acceptable is changed. What they continue to chant becomes ‘common knowledge’ and anyone who challenges such is relegated to being a ‘flat earther’.

One of the more blatant examples I can recall is Galileo, who stood by science and evidence that the Earth wasn’t the center of the solar system, and he was castigated by the Catholic leaders of the day.

Kick back a victory pdc hybrid request and feel the satisfying burn.

The price of appraisals just went up. That’s why you, our dear citizens will now pay less.

Winston, how many fingers am I holding up now?

We’ll call that the FOIA modernization routine. Appraisal modernization. Lending modernization. Now with FOIA. Modernization in this realm appears to be a flimsy excuse to make up new rules and dodge all previously established accountability. Apparently.

The difference with an effort like DOGE to force modernization on antiquated systems is completely different than what appraisers are dealing with. That’s because as a group of independent workers, we’ve all modernized to the best of our ability, for what works and does not erode trust or confidence in the product. Of course some took this too far like those whom use outsourced services, ghost writers, and complete junk appraisals at extra ordinarily faster rates than most other appraisers. But aside from those people, appraisal is constantly sensibly modernized, when the appraisers themselves choose what works and what does not. Look what a mess the central planners made of things yet again. They can call it appraisal modernization but really it’s a step back to before the days of applied rigid oversight. Longer post coming later. Thanks.

Question; Did those few nationally publicized cases, specifically the ones involving amc’s where the amc and the lender settled out and left the appraiser to represent themselves without assistance from their client, where they by chance FHA appraisals for hud? Or were they fannie freddie bound appraisals?

The harm of these events went well beyond just appraisers whom were investigated. We’re all losing our livelihoods in the gse realm as a result. How many fewer full appraisal orders have come through the pipeline with the fhfa mandates to use appraisers less, the waivers, the hybrids, everything that came from the PAVE task force recommendations on valuation bias? That’s a minimum target re compensation number with a class action, and that’s just for lost wages. Then add distress, reputation harm, punitive damages, etc, etc.

Communists typically destroy the farmers first. “Farmers” meaning actual farmers and those most closely associated with reality. We see, feel, touch and sometimes smell the properties and the markets they’re in. We are the primary reality observers. Much or most of the time, we’re told to not believe our lying senses and to believe the words, thoughts and requirements of “a/the party” off in a cubicle in some other part of the world with a “heat map” and the correct words and thoughts which we are, somehow, supposed to know intuitively. Some of the most recent attacks on appraisers by communists involve the removal of common words or the changing of the meaning of words or the removal of normal procedures or the changing of normal/rational/logical procedures. Regardless of our education, training and experience, which is most of the time much greater than the bureaucrats we serve, we’ve been relegated to the role of “vendor”, which, in and of itself, is a derogatory term. But, what do I know? Read “1984”. You decide. It’s not just us. America is in a chokehold and fighting for its life.