Homeowners say Beverly Hills businesswoman is wrongfully hitting their homes with massive liens

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- A group of homeowners in the Beverly Hills area say they have a warning for all property owners. They claim their homes have all been hit with massive, multimillion-dollar liens by someone they've never done business with.

Marjorie Josaphat bought a three-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot home in Benedict Canyon last year. After a top-down renovation, she's ready to sell the home in hopes of making a profit.

But when 7 On Your Side Investigates met Josaphat three weeks ago, she just found out she had two mechanics liens that have been recorded against the property.

Each one of those liens claim more than $24 million worth of work, including "cleaning services" and "business consulting services" that were done but never paid for.

All were recorded by "Ortiz Consulting LLC" - whose registered agent is "Rita Ortiz."

"I don't know who Rita Ortiz is," Josaphat told ABC7.

"This place was abandoned. There's nothing to clean. If she did a job of $24 million, then she owes me money because this place was really a mess."

After we met Josaphat, a fourth mechanics lien was recorded by Ortiz against Josaphat's property.

In that one, Ortiz claims she's owed more than $98 million for various work and "10 contracts" and "80 agreements."

Mary Tosky owns a home right next door to Josaphat's that Ortiz also hit with two $24 million+ liens for alleged unpaid "cleaning services, labor, (and) materials"

7 On Your Side Investigates asked Tosky if she ever spent more than $24 million on cleaning services to Ortiz Consulting LLC.

"Never," responded Tosky.

"It's like a joke. It's ridiculous. I mean, we're not cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil spill"

In fact, Tosky says she's never spent a dime with Ortiz.

Andrea Knowles is another neighbor and she too has a more than $24 million mechanics lien against her home for "cleaning service and equipments" thanks to Ortiz.

"I can tell you that I know how much I pay someone to clean my house and it's not $25 million," she said.

Just like Tosky and Josaphat, Knowles says she never contracted with Ortiz to do any work on her home.

After we spoke with the homeowners, we went to the Los Angeles County Recorder's property records room to find all the mechanics liens recorded under Ortiz's company.

We found Ortiz Consulting LLC has recorded 35 mechanics liens since 2023.

They all add up to more than $568 million worth of claims of unpaid work.

Just on Benedict Canyon Drive, Ortiz has recorded 10 liens against six homes totaling more than $317 million worth of liens - all with descriptions of labor and services Ortiz claims went unpaid.

"I've only seen her when she sued me in small claims court," Tosky told 7 On Your Side Investigates.

"That's where I met her, and that's the only time I've seen her."

Ortiz sued both Tosky and Knowles in 2020. At the time, Ortiz claimed the home that's now Josaphat's was hers.

In court documents, Ortiz claimed neighbors "mislead the LAPD" and told police Ortiz "did not own the property."

Ortiz's lawsuit was dismissed and the court ruled the quit-claim deed showing Ortiz owned the home was "void."

"She took revenge on all of us," said Knowles.

Ortiz describes herself on her Instagram page as a business and real estate coach.

Two weeks ago, she showed up outside the ABC7 newsroom asking for a meeting, but declined our request for an on-camera interview.

She also did not accept an invite to later meet off-camera.

Over text messaging, she didn't deny recording any of the liens and told us, "... for all Benedict Canyon Dr. the Neighbors stole my property when I have agreement with the bank, I cleaning this property for around 10 years working for this property for over 10 years, they neighbors Benedict Canyon Dr. destroyed my property several times."

"Because the neighbors knows I cleaned for years this property, the committed fraud against me ..." Ortiz continued to text.

In the same text message, Ortiz said all the other liens we found are for work she did, but was never paid for.

"I have Business and projects with the owners, I did work for them with protects over 10 years, after hard work the owners discriminated me did not paid me," said Ortiz.

So just how easy is it to file a mechanics lien in California?

"Unbelievably easy," says attorney David Beitchman.

"You print a piece of paper, it's a one-page form, and you walk down to their county recorder's office and hand it across the counter."

"Could I go down right now and file one if I wanted to against you?" we asked Beitchman.

"You absolutely could file a mechanics lien against my home," Beitchman answered.

Beitchman represents a homeowner who Ortiz filed a $9.5 million lien against, claiming a variety of alleged services including "cleaning," "paint," and "business consultant solutions" were not paid for.

Beitchman got the lien expunged, but only by going to court, and that's because under California Civil Code, "... erroneous information contained in a claim of lien...does not invalidate the claim of lien."

"There is a remedy. Unfortunately, for some, that remedy may be expensive," said Attorney Bruce Rudman.

Rudman is not connected to this case but specializes in mechanics liens. He says there's only two ways to get rid of one.

The person who recorded the lien can lift it or the homeowner needs to convince a court the lien is erroneous, which usually takes thousands of dollars in attorney fees.

We also showed Rudman the liens Ortiz recorded to get his independent take.

"I've never seen anything like this," Rudman said to 7 On Your Side Investigates.

Now, those impacted by these liens want state law to change so these liens are not so easy to record.

"It's time that the system gets revamped," said Beitchman. "It's a time that some safeguards and protocols are put in place to prevent this."

Josaphat wants the law to change too.

"We can't sell with the cloud on the title, and this is a cloud on a title," Josaphat said.

"We have to make sure it's clear for the person buying it. Nobody's going to buy a house with a $24 million lien on it."

Meanwhile, 7 On Your Side Investigates has confirmed that there is an active criminal investigation into these liens.

"The LAPD's Commercial Crimes Division, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, is actively investigating this case impacting multiple homeowners," said LAPD Capt. Mike Bland.

The Beverly Hills Police Department confirms to us they also have an active criminal investigation connected to this.

In California, mechanics liens are only valid for 90 days, unless the person who filed them then files a lawsuit.

No homeowner we spoke with for this story told us Ortiz has filed a lawsuit connected to a lien. But even so, an invalid lien could still impact a title and slow down a home sale or refinancing.

7 On Your Side Investigates also learned a lien with potentially erroneous information can be recorded into county records.

The L.A. County Recorder's Office told us it does not determine the merits of a lien. Under California Civil Code, it's up to a court to decide those merits.