Jodie Foster's Ancient Father, or 'Bernie Madoff of Sherman Oaks,' to Be Jailed for Bad 1-Percent Behavior

By Simone Wilson Wed., Dec. 7 2011 at 3:15 PM

radaronline.com

Lucias Foster, left -- the most resilient scammer alive.

Today's proceedings in Van Nuys Superior Court could not have gotten any weirder:

Lucius Foster, the 89-year-old father of actress Jodie, was declared "guilty" of concocting a home-building scheme that leeched thousands of dollars off the house-hunting 99 percent. At his sentencing tomorrow, he could get up to 25.5 years in jail, City News Service reports. Prosecutors call him the "Bernie Madoff of Sherman Oaks." (Not to be confused with the Bernie Madoff of Beverly Hills.)

We don't know whether to be mad or amazed.

Foster, who acted as his own lawyer, is almost a century old, yet has succeeded in running a full-time housing scam worthy of "21 counts of grand theft and nine counts of contracting without a license."

He allegedly advertised the cheap modular homes via "his Modernistic Properties website, referrals from Realtors and postings on Craigslist," with the finesse of a modern-day Internet whiz -- and even informed the jury today that he has no plans of stopping.

Wish we could have seen this guy in action. Foster was reportedly defending himself up a storm, dropping Department of Building & Safety disses and insisting: "We're going to get [the money] back to them."

He urged the jury to hurry up and sentence him already, asking only that "I want to be alive when I get out."

Outlook not so good. Even if the maximum sentence is whittled down, we're thinking Occupy Wall Street protesters might storm his house before he can dupe any more innocents. From the City News report:

Each alleged victim gave Foster a deposit of $5,000 toward the home purchase and received a contract stating the house would be completed by a certain date, [Deputy City Attorney Don Cocek] said.
After the completion dates passed, Foster gave various excuses "but no house was ever built," the prosecutor said.

On the more amusing side of this mess is an additional allegation by Gerry Ramirez, Compton resident.

[Ramirez] said previously that Foster had told him of his familial relationship to the two-time Academy Award-winning actress "as validation and to build credibility."

His daughter, on the other hand, has made it very clear that she's not on board, calling her estranged father "the bad guy in [the] family."

Ouch. Even Jodie's got to have a pinch of admiration, deep down, for an 89-year-old geezer who can still scam recession victims like a baby rattlesnake on Wall Street. Another upside to all this: Foster will surely give those brutal bullies at the L.A. County Sheriff's Department a run for their money, come jailtime.

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

home-building scheme, Jodie Foster, Lucias Foster, Occupy Wall Street, scam, Sherman Oaks

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Vicarious1

Yes a "mini Madeoff " as I wrote to the prosecutor myself. I quote you " Wish we could have seen this guy in action." I have and have the photos with him. I'd glady sell it to get back the $10K he made me loose as he never will pay back, contrary to his promises only days ago.He wrote e-mails to myself not later then two days before being sentenced. I had a quite close e-mail, Designer client relationship with him that us used, for free, for me to feed him information and Design improvement suggestions.All this stopped the day he closed the drapes over my pensioner hopes to get one home to pay for two mortgages and one to spend sunny winters instead of cold ones here in Canada.What made myself and other claimants fools in his scheme is his gentlemen and 3rd age old school honor ex WWII Hero and building success int he 1960 Hollywood hills attitude and yes his famous daughter. I was linked to him via a third party who met him through someone she worked for and that is where he told her about his project at a dinner at someone working in the film industry who was his close friend. We both are new immigrant she to USA me to Canada. Looking at the list of claimants names he preyed on people trying to build a new better life.I still doubt he ever flew for RAF in UK before the USA came into the WWII.I wish some would find a way to search for these records I have tried and could not as impersonation of war hero is even more disgusting and punishable in USA.He had very credible answers for everything. Even his cheaper then "successful" (what he called his "Pimped Up" VW pick up. IT stated on the body being fueled by his own grown Bio Fuel. Grown on his Ranch where his daughter's gift "Ferrari" was standing in the garage. Why not in LA so many wealthy people have quirks so it was credible and he would not meet for breakfast as he need to drive into town from the Ranch...also believable. He was good at riding the "green & eco brainwave" of people like myself who dreamed to life without creating more pollution and maybe enjoy a warm winter in an affordable way. A 99 year leased land why not if one has no children.On other blogs some suggest he should do charity work instead of jail. I think he is a danger, as for him charity work, means getting closer to those who aren't celebrities "real people" with real hopes dreams and plans that he is standing up for and he will prey on in what ever new way suits him at 89 he got not much to loose. Years ago at 80s+ he still walked well ad looked "very" fit for his age.