Kathy Nealy Gets Her Condo Back After New Marketing Career — Oh, Also a Free Lawyer

WFAA-TV Channel 8’s Brett Shipp had an exclusive report on Thursday night’s 10 p.m. news that mentioned our little find we posted that Kathy Nealy, a Dallas political consultant who was indicted last Friday, is back in her Victory park condo after  her 2013 mortgage default was rescinded. 

Channel 8’s report may shed some light on how she made those mortgage reparations: Looks like Kathy Neal is in some sort of multi-level marketing recruiting business. She’s “the top performer in a national wealth building enterprise,” according to Channel 8, and she has apparently made enough money to get her condo back and then some:

Last September, Nealy was celebrated as the newest senior vice president of 5Linx, a national, multi-level marketing company she joined in 2010.

Nealy got there, in part, by becoming a top recruiter and producer of the technology products and services sold by 5Linx.

A Facebook photo shows Nealy posing with an over-sized $10,000 check she received in 2010 just after joining the group.

A YouTube video shows Nealy’s promotion to senior vice president before a crowd of cheering admirers. There’s also a picture on Facebook of a new BMW Nealy supposedly received with her promotion.

Why in Little Rock in April, she was giving seminars called “Get Your Piece of the Rock”.

Well, Nealy has done just that by asking the state for a free attorney, and getting one:

On Friday, hours after she was arrested, Nealy asked U.S. Magistrate Paul Stickney to have her lawyer, Cheryl Wattley, who is also a law professor, appointed to represent her at taxpayer expense. Stickney asked Nealy to fill out a financial affidavit, which requires her to provide information about her employer, income and debts. On Tuesday, the judge agreed Nealy was unable to pay for an attorney and approved her application.

Another part of the report that made me cry wince was reading how the last big Dallas corruption case cost taxpayers more than a million dollars. Brett interviewed Attorney Vic Sasso, who represented Jibreel Rashad, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion. Sasso told Shipp he received “more than $180,000” which was on the low end of what other defense attorneys billed the government at a $126 an hour reimbursement rate.

DCAD has Kathy’s condo valued at $287,040. Last one of similar size sold for $270,000 in May, but that was a unit on the top floor. Nealy might want to go down to DCAD and fight her appraisal next spring. In January, she will need to come up with $7847. in taxes. I looked, but could not find, any mortgages on the property. We don’t know what she paid for the condo as it was not in MLS. Looks like her first loan from Morgan Stanley was for $352,800, so that’s a clue. The notice of Trustee’s sale was $242,254 last August. IF she paid that off, she had to pay the note balance, interest, fees, legal fees, etc. on top of the note balance.

But the taxpayers are going to cover her legal fees.