How people are weaponizing state systems: ‘We file liens that crush their credit’

Los Angeles Times ^ | July 30, 2025 3 AM PT | Melody Gutierrez

[E. Pluribus Unum]

SACRAMENTO — Texas real estate agent Tara Jarrett opened the online class with a prayer, bowing her head and closing her eyes.

“Dear Heavenly Father,” she began. “I ask that you would just speak to me and through me as I deliver this detailed message tonight.”

What followed was a lesson on revenge.

Jarrett walked the attendees, logged in from California and other states, through the process of filing liens to punish public officials, such as politicians and judges, who they alleged aren’t upholding their oaths of office. Those liens are recorded in state Uniform Commercial Code databases, public filings intended to alert creditors about business debts and financial obligations.

“This is how we level the playing field,” Jarrett, 52, told her class in a video uploaded last year. “We don’t sue government officials. We file liens that crush their credit until they cooperate.”

Across the country, antagonists and antigovernment “sovereign citizens” are flooding states and counties with liens like the ones Jarrett and others show how to file. In the claims, they often allege government officials owe them money or property, a tactic the U.S. Justice Department and nonpartisan Congressional Research Service have identified as a form of “paper terrorism.” Other filings aren’t about retribution. Instead, they’re financial maneuvers aimed at businesses, claiming to be owed cash, cars and homes.

Consumer credit expert John Ulzheimer said these liens can complicate a person’s ability to obtain a mortgage or a business’ chances of securing lines of credit. In some cases, he said, these filings can even derail job applications for positions that require thorough background checks.

“It seems too easy to me that someone can do this,” Ulzheimer said.

A Times investigation found that these claims, which were designed to be straightforward and quick to file, are inherently...

[Red Badger]

Florida has a law against that because it was tried here back in the eighties.................

[BenLurkin]

What’s the 21st whiz-bang high tech equivalent of Postal Fraud?

[rottndog]

Just another form of lawfare...and illegal to boot.

[hanamizu]

Is it kind of like charging Trump with RICO crimes for making a phone call into Fulton County, Georgia?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“Slander of credit” is a civil offense in most jurisdictions. I’d suggest this is and will be an exceptionally dangerous and ultimately ineffective strategy that will massively backfire on plaintiffs.

Sure. You’re gonna stymie a judge from pursuing legal remedies against a falsely filed lien. I’m sure the plaintiffs will be able to show the various contracts under which they performed work for a judge entitling them to payment.

Slander of credit, also known as credit defamation, refers to a legal claim seeking damages for false, misleading, or derogatory entries on a credit report. Essentially, it’s about false statements that harm a person’s credit reputation and, consequently, their ability to obtain loans, credit, or other financial services. These false statements can negatively impact various aspects of a credit score, such as payment history and amount owed.

It’s a form of defamation.

[ChronicMA]

squatters make up false documents to show that they have a renter’s right to live in a house.

this seems very similar to that, filing documents claiming a debt is owed

[for-q-clinton]

Meh, I have enough money I don’t give a rats behind about my credit score. But I can see where this can screw over other people.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Meh, I have enough money I don’t give a rats behind about my credit score. But I can see where this can screw over other people.

Au contraire. If they put a lein on your house, you can't sell it until you clear the lein.

[for-q-clinton]

True, but I’m not selling anytime soon.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[isthisnickcool]

Simple, do it right back to them.

[liberalh8ter]

She prays to God and then instructs people to wreak personal havoc on their political enemies (in a probable illegal way, to boot). I’m going to go with,”Nope, God wouldn’t be good with this”.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

False Liens & The Consequences of Paper Terrorism

[A strike]

La Times writer Gutierrez just absolutely, positively had to begin her piece by maligning Christianity..

[shooter223]

I am 75 yrs old. I have never had a credit card. Debit card yes, credit card no. I have owned at least 30-35 vehicles. Never financed one of them. Bought some property once, 7.5 acres, paid cash. Sold it a few yrs later for a small profit. The house I own and live in was inherited. I don’t think I even have a credit score.

[jagusafr]

This is why there are big signs up at every public filing office warning that filing an unfounded legal document is a felony. Sovereign citizens are ignorant and a pain in the ass.

[fruser1]

You can also go to a police station and accuse them of rape.

[lastchance]

I do believe you are correct.

[lastchance]

She’s not the one maligning Christianity.