Art Levine
Contributing editor of The Washington Monthly
Posted: March 3, 2011 08:21 PM

Led by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has apparently abandoned promises to put bank officials in jail, dozens of state officials from around the country are meeting in Washington next week to finalize a multibillion-dollar settlement with bank executives for allegedly widespread mortgage and foreclosure abuses. But with two million homeowners already evicted and five million more facing foreclosure this year, advocacy and policy groups, including BanksterUSA and the National People’s Action network, are stepping up pressure for a settlement that imposes stiff sanctions, criminal penalties and forces banks to renegotiate mortgages—and helps financially those who were alreadly illegally forced from their homes.

But there are mounting signs of disputes among federal oversight agencies over the scope of any punishment and fines for bank officials, and that’s considered an ominous sign by critics of a likely weakening of the ongoing state attorneys-general settlement talks with the banks. As George Groehl, the executive director of National People’s Action told The Huffington Post: “There’s no reason to go to all this trouble and not take that final step. It’s mind-boggling for them to be considering letting all these guys off the hook.”

Continue reading … Huffington Post