The Truth about Avece Higbee's HOA Fraud Scheme at the Meridian in Las Vegas

Avece Higbee is a Las Vegas lawyer and partner/owner in the law firm Marquis and Aurbach. A lot of time, effort and money has been spent to advertise that she has a stellar reputation. She has received high marks for integrity from information companies and websites like Best Lawyers. But in reality, Avece Higbee's tenure as an HOA lawyer at the Meridian Private Residences paints a very disturbing and dark picture of how an unethical lawyer can use her knowledge and prestigious position to subvert the law with impunity.

An HOA lawyer has an important role tasked with writing and interpreting the laws and rules in HOA communities. For a community to run smoothly and fairly it needs to be supported by rules and laws and a  lawyer, acting within the law and for the best interests of the community, is critical to prevent HOA fraud.

Avece Higbee appears to be the exact opposite of what anyone could hope for in an HOA lawyer. In fact, she closely resembles the nightmare lawyer played by Tilda Swinton from the Michael Clayton movie 

A state investigation by the NRED  determined that Avece Higbee had supported the HOA President Michael Schurer in pilfering from the Meridain HOA and concealing his business during elections.

Internal documents reveal simple and straight forward matters of law were brought to Avece Higbee and she supported Mr. Schurer in breaking these laws with spurious legal opinions. All her known legal guidance was overturned by NRED investigation 2017-2347.

It should be common sense that an HOA President needs to disclose his business during elections and cannot use the staff and services of the HOA for private business. It is shocking that a lawyer with Avece Higbee's legal experience and expertise would have ruled incorrectly to the point of sanctioning Mr. Schurer to conceal his massive business operations managing, selling and buying units at the Meridian, and further provide him justification to use the Meridian staff and services for his business, which is, of course, against state laws. The Meridian HOA dues are supposed to be used to serve the interests of the community - not for the HOA President to use for his business.

Avece Higbee charged the Meridian HOA not to uphold the law, but to help Mr. Schurer the Meridian HOA President subvert the law.

Furthermore the state investigation found the Avece Higbee wrote a legal opinion that was used to remove one of Mr. Schurer's rival candidate statements from the 2017 election. Yet there was no record of the HOA requesting Ms. Higbee's legal opinion. This is highly unusual and unethical behavior that almost certainly is HOA fraud. The investigation indicates Avece Higbee charged the HOA for a legal opinion that she gave to her "client" Mr. Schurer, which he then used - against state laws - to remove his rival candidate's statement from the election.

In the Meridian CC&Rs it clearly states there must be a meeting and vote to request a legal opinion. Avece Higbee told state investigators that was not enough time to follow the rules. What was the urgency? The rival candidate's statement indicated that Mr. Schurer was failing to disclose his business and using the Meridian HOA staff and facilities for his business operations.  Not only did Avece Higbee sanction Mr. Schurer concealing his business during elections and his theft of services from the HOA she also worked around the HOA to give him this legal opinion he would then use - against state laws - to remove his candidate' statement from an election so nobody would know what he was doing. Furthermore, Avece Higbee then charged the HOA to defend herself and Mr. Schurer from an investigation she could have prevented had she simply upheld the law and followed the rules.

When the Meridian homeowner who filed the complaint requested the the BOD email a copy of the investigation Avece Higbee provided a spurious legal ruling to suppress the investigation from being shared with Meridian homeowners. How could someone who was implicated in so much HOA fraud be allowed to conceal this report from the community she had preyed upon? 

Quite simply, Avece Higbee is operating within impunity beyond the ability of the state bar or the NRED to sanction her and with the avid endorsement of her "client" and HOA Presidnet Mr. Schurer and what appears to be a puppet Board of Directors.

This very thing could be happening in your own HOA. It's truly frightening how HOAs can be taken over like this. Every single member of the Meridian Board of Directors indicated to state investigators they had no idea Mr. Schurer had a business, which is ludicrous given the voluminous amounts of complaints about Mr. Schurer's conflict of interest that they had to address in meetings, emails and letters. 

What Avece Higbee and Mr. Schurer are involved in as all the markings of a recent high profile case in which  mobster Leon Benzer and his prestigious accomplice Nancy Quon took over Las Vegas HOA board to direct phony construction projects. The HOA boards and lawyers become nothing more than puppets to serve the agenda of one large business like IMS Realty. 

The Meridian HOA rakes in a half million dollars a month in HOA dues for Michael Schurer and Avece Higbee to dip into as they see fit. 

Who is going to stop them?

Perhaps, most shocking of all, Avece Higbee made an appearance at a recorded Meridian homeowner's meeting in 2019 when the report of the state investigation was on the agenda. She offered an obscure, incomplete and untruthful account of the investigation.

She indicated she was the lawyer for the Meridian HOA and was "fully transparent" with the state investigation and yet she essentially revealed nothing of her own wrongdoing.  In fact, she volunteered that she had handed over "all the documents" the investigators requested. That was not true. When investigators asked her for her legal opinion - the legal opinion that had circumvented the HOA and been used against fiduciary laws to alter the 2017 election - she "refused to provide it citing attorney-client privilege."

For over a decade Avece Higbee has charged the Meridian HOA through her law firm Marquis Aurbach and Coffing and yet there is no record of her legal opinion in the HOA. How can this not be HOA fraud? 

It's truly shocking she has avoided accountability but when an HOA is completely taken over by a President, BOD and lawyer all acting in sync for a criminal operation it can be very difficult to even begin a proper investigation.

Avece Higbee has charged the Meridian not to uphold the law but to subvert it. Avece Higbee has charged the HOA not to support the rules, but as she actively worked around the rules. Avece Higbee has charged the HOA not to be transparent about a state investigation, but to provide an obscure, incomplete and entirely false narrative that concealed her involvement in a corrupt law-breaking HOA.

The NRED has no authority to disbar or send Avece Higbee to prison for HOA fraud. It's also outside the jurisdiction of the state bar. The AG refers complaints to the state bar. The cunning Avece Higbee has operated with impunity within the safe space of legal loopholes within in the Meridian HOA. And it seems - by her multiple vacation homes and lavish lifestyle - has grown enormously wealthy in doing so. 

A forensic audit or state investigation would almost certainly lead to Avece Higbee being disbarred and sent to prison, but - with the help of the Meridian Board of Directors and her "client" Mr Schurer - she continues to this day to evade an investigation.

Justice will come for Avece Higbee. Eventually.

If you have any additional information to add to the investigation into Avece Higbee and Michael Schurer's HOA fraud scheme please email us at meridianhoalasvegas@gmail.com

The Concerned Meridian Homeowner Group