If you want to know where the bodies are buried, look no further. Here are a few snips from Marie’s brief:
In what has become common parlance among those investigating these securitization failures (including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice), we refer to this type of transfer as an “A to D” assignment because it skips over parties “B” and “C” and creates a “wild deed” (especially in title theory states such as Massachusetts).
The assignment of mortgage is the “breeder document” from which all other paperwork necessary to bring the foreclosure action; notice the sale; obtain judgment; and transfer title depends.
“The Eaton Defect” as described in our amicus brief occurs when an entity, such as Green Tree Servicing LLC takes the mortgage by assignment and prosecutes a foreclosure in itsown name when it neither owns nor holds the note.
“The Ibanez Defect” as described in this amicus brief occurs when an entity, such as OptionOne Mortgage Corporation, sells the loan for securitization purposes and later, after the loan has been sold multiple times, assigns the Note and Mortgage (or just the Mortgage) directlyto the Trustee of the Issuing Entity (securitized trust).
Supreme Judicial Court FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS NO. SJC-11041 SUFFOLK COUNTY
HENRIETTA EATON, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
v.
FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION & ANOTHER, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
ON APPEAL FROM AN INTERLOCUTORY ORDER OF THE SUFFOLK SUPERIOR COURT
SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE MARIE MCDONNELL, CFE
GMAC MORTGAGE, and MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., Defendants-Appellees. _________________________________________/
By order of December 29, 2011, the proceedings in this case were automatically stayed by the filing of a petition in bankruptcy. On order of the Court, the bankruptcy stay having been lifted and the case having been reopened, the application for leave to appeal the August 25, 2011 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we VACATE the judgment of the Court of Appeals and we REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals for reconsideration in light of Residential Funding Co, LLC, f/k/a Residential Funding Corp v Saurman, 490 Mich ___ (decided November 16, 2011).
There are a few voices emerging suggesting that the current iteration of the “50 AG settlement” is somehow wonderful, or at least OK, because it only immunizes robosigning. “Only,” as if robosigning was some relatively benign peccadillo, instead of a massive conspiracy to commit forgery and perjury that is systematically driving our population into homelessness AND continuing to drive down the value of our homes…
The Honorable Bill Schuette Attorney General of Michigan
Mr. Schuette –
I have the utmost respect for you and your office, and I wish to commend your hard work on the recent mortgage robo-signing crisis. The challenges we have faced in Michigan concerning property fraud have been unlike anything we have ever seen before, and you have been actively engaged in this fight with myself and the other Michigan Registers of Deeds.
As you know, the deadline for Michigan to sign on to the 50-state mortgage fraud settlement is February 3rd. I recognize that this is a difficult decision, and that there are many factors to consider.
I am writing to ask that you stand firm, and refuse to add Michigan to any settlement that would give criminal immunity to the defendants. Our ongoing investigations have demonstrated that the major banks in this settlement, and their hired document mills, were engaged in the practice of robo-signing. Hundreds of residents here in Ingham County, and thousands of residents across the state, were illegally foreclosed upon because of this practice.
These illegalities have stolen due process from our own citizens, and robbed them of precious time that could have been used to recover and resume their mortgages, or obtain a modification. A family who is facing a foreclosure is already vulnerable; this practice insured that they could not possibly reclaim their home.
We have even received information in recent days that shows LPS, a document mill included in the proposed settlement, specifically requested to have this criminal investigation converted to a civil lawsuit. It seems clear that they are aware of their vulnerability to these charges, and are attempting to save their company’s stock price by avoiding responsibility.
All I am asking is that we treat the banks in the same way we would treat our own citizens. If a person in Michigan were to commit fraud and forgery, and use these practices to take someone’s property, that person would go to jail. I respectfully request that we leave that same possibility open for the banks and corporations that have committed those same crimes here in our state.
Sincerely, Curtis Hertel Ingham County Register of Deeds
THIS is only the beginning, expect many many more in months to come.
WSJ-
Federal prosecutors are preparing to file criminal charges against former Wall Street traders alleging they misstated the value of mortgage bonds, an issue central to the 2008 financial crisis, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office is planning to allege in a criminal complaint that several former traders at Credit Suisse Group AG, a major global investment bank, misled the bank’s investors by booking inflated prices of mortgage bonds to boost their bonuses, despite knowing the values of those securities had dropped, according to the people familiar with the matter.
If this isn’t proof something isn’t smelling right at the Florida’s AG’s office, I don’t know what this is?
When you read David Dayens article, keep in mind where the assignments came from… LPS/DOCx!
FDL-
We’re at T-minus four days for sign-ons to the foreclosure fraud settlement, and we know that Florida’s Pam Bondi is on board, despite pushback from advocates in her state, ground zero for the foreclosure crisis. There’s an interesting nugget buried in this article, though.
Bondi spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said in an email that their concerns are “misguided” because the settlement would provide a historic level of monetary relief and will overhaul the mortgage industry.
“Rather than engaging in political grandstanding, Attorney General Bondi is working hard to reach an agreement that gets Floridians substantial relief now and holds banks accountable for their misconduct,” Meale wrote.
The settlement is expected to provide $1,800 each for about 750,000 families across the country. It is a response to such practices as “robo-signing” by bank employees who often knew little or nothing about the mortgage documents they were hired to sign.
Nevada, New York, Delaware, New Hampshire and Massachusetts contend the deal isn’t strong enough because it would protect banks from future civil liability.
It will not, though, fully release them from future state criminal lawsuits.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS), a leading provider of integrated technology, data, and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, today responded to the civil complaint filed by the Nevada Attorney General against the company in December 2011.
In the company’s Motion to Dismiss, LPS makes clear that the Attorney General’s complaint contains significant legal defects which require the court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice. Perhaps most significantly, LPS points out that the Attorney General’s complaint fails to allege that any document executed by subsidiaries of LPS was incorrect, contained errors, or caused any borrower financial harm.
“LPS filed this Motion to Dismiss in response to the allegations made by the Nevada Attorney General,” said Hugh Harris, LPS president and chief executive officer. “Although we have to defend ourselves against allegations that we believe are untrue, we remain committed to working with the Attorney General’s office to resolve these matters.”
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is a leading provider of integrated technology, services and mortgage performance data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries. LPS offers solutions that span the mortgage continuum, including lead generation, origination, servicing, workflow automation, portfolio retention and default, augmented by the company’s award-winning customer support and professional services. Approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using LPS’ loan servicing platform, MSP. LPS also offers proprietary mortgage and real estate data and analytics for the mortgage and capital markets industries. For more information about LPS, visit www.lpsvcs.com.
The Treasury Department is investigating a report that Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, bet against homeowners’ ability to refinance their loans even as it was making it more difficult for them to do so, Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, said on Monday.
The report came just as the Obama administration had been escalating its efforts to push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease conditions for homeowners, including those who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
Last Friday, the Treasury announced that it would offer increased incentives to lenders to forgive portions of homeowner debt, saying pointedly that for the first time the incentives would be offered on loans held by Fannie and Freddie.
JULIA FELTUS, Appellant, v. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, as TRUSTEE of MASTR ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES TRUST 2007-3, Appellee.
Case No. 2D10-3727.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District
The properly filed pleadings before the court when it heard U.S. Bank’s motion for summary judgment were a complaint seeking to reestablish a lost note to which was attached a copy of a note made payable to Countrywide, N.A., Feltus’s answer and affirmative defenses alleging that the note attached to the complaint contradicts the allegation of the complaint that U.S. Bank is the owner of the note, a motion for summary judgment alleging a lost note of which U.S. Bank is the owner, and an affidavit of indebtedness alleging that U.S. Bank was the owner and holder of the note described in the complaint. The endorsed note that U.S. Bank claimed was now in its possession was not properly before the court at the summary judgment hearing because U.S. Bank never properly amended its complaint.2 In addition, the complaint failed to allege that U.S. Bank “was entitled to enforce the instrument when loss of possession occurred, or has directly or indirectly acquired ownership of the instrument from a person who was entitled to enforce the instrument when loss of possession occurred.” § 673.3091(a). The affidavit of indebtedness provided no assistance in this regard because the affiant did not assert any personal knowledge of how U.S. Bank would have come to own or hold the note. See Shafran v. Parrish, 787 So. 2d 177, 179 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (“When affidavits are filed to establish the factual basis of the motion [for summary judgment], they must be made on personal knowledge, demonstrate the affiant’s competency to testify, and be otherwise admissible in evidence.”).
The trial court erred in entering final judgment of foreclosure because the documents before it did not establish conclusively that there was no genuine issue of material fact and that U.S. Bank was entitled to foreclose Feltus’s mortgage as a matter of law. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Religious and community groups urged Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday to take a tougher stance on a proposed settlement with the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders over deceptive foreclosure practices.
A pair of ministers and an evicted former homeowner delivered a letter after holding a news conference outside Bondi’s office at the Capitol.
They contend the proposed $25 billion national deal that Bondi supports doesn’t go far enough. They say that’s because the negative equity on homes in Florida alone is about $120 billion.
The BIG question remains, What happens if there is origination fraud? Will there be a separate fund for victims in this instance?
HuffPO-
In a letter dated Friday, emailed to federal officials and obtained by The Huffington Post, Nevada’s attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto, asked 38 questions referencing a variety of concerns, including fears that states would play second fiddle to the federal government in making decisions. She also questioned if the states would lose their ability to pursue certain types of lawsuits against banks and whether the states would get their fair share of the housing assistance for their borrowers.
“What would happen if all of the state attorney general representatives had one view and the federal agencies disagreed?” Masto asked in her letter.
Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.
Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late 2010, the same time that the company was making it harder for homeowners to get out of such high-interest mortgages.
No evidence has emerged that these decisions were coordinated. The company is a key gatekeeper for home loans but says its traders are “walled off” from the officials who have restricted homeowners from taking advantage of historically low interest rates by imposing higher fees and new rules.
“It’s not common to have a combined regulatory and enforcement function,” he said, adding, “It’s effectively very competitive with the attorney general’s jurisdiction.”
The two agencies are publicly cordial, but behind the scenes they are much like two boxers feeling each other out in an opening round. Already, turfs are overlapping.
But one could be forgiven for being confused. Since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo installed him as superintendent of a new state agency, the Department of Financial Services, which became active in October, Mr. Lawsky has been making headlines normally associated with attorneys general.
He has forced insurers to turn over more than $100 million in unpaid death benefits to surviving family members, dispatched rafts of subpoenas to banks, and pressed lenders to curb abusive foreclosure practices.
I’ve watched several of Chris’s videos and he has a way of explaining foreclosure fraud very well & always asks the right questions. This is a great video for those who are just in the beginning stages.
Must watch in its entirety…
New York Attorney General and co-chair of President Obama’s new mortgage crisis unit Eric Schneiderman talks with Chris about his expectations for the new mortgage crisis investigations.
