They deserve so much more but we’ll leave that up to the AG’s to come up with who deserves what. The BS thing is once CEO’s are aware of any criminal investigations they resign effective immediately for whatever issues….but still walk away with the millions they raked in with the fraud.

In case you’re looking to catch up with LPS news, I’ve had a dedicated section HERE since 2010 because I knew this would always come handy some day.

The Big Picture-

Think back to the giant fraud that was Enron. It was enabled — indeed, it was only possible — by the criminal behavior of their “Big Five” accounting firm, Arthur Andersen. This massive fraud perpetrated on the investing public was only possible due to the cooperation and active participation of their accountant, who were found guilty of “obstructing justice when it destroyed Enron Corp. documents while on notice of a federal investigation” charges. For this sin relating to their handling of Enron’s audits, Arthur Anderson was forced to “decertify,” voluntarily surrendering their license to be Certified Public Accountants in the United States. By voluntary, we mean they had no other choice.

[THE BIG PICTURE]

image: The Big Picture

We question…just how are these organizations still operating even when there is mountains of evidence of massive fraud?

New York Times-

THE authorities have fallen silent lately about a possible settlement over foreclosure abuses at big mortgage servicing companies.

The talks began in earnest last March, and people keep whispering that a deal is nigh. But last week, a spokesman for Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development and a lead negotiator, said that there was nothing new to report.

That’s probably not a terrible thing. After all, no deal is better than a bad deal. State and federal authorities jumped into these talks without conducting serious investigations into foreclosure shenanigans. Why strike a deal — one that would, say, shield banks from new litigation over toxic loans, flawed securitizations and the mess at MERS, the registry that has made such a jumble of land records — without knowing what happened?

[NEW YORK TIMES]

“I will only have the very best, most skilled people on the job; those who embody the highest standards of ethics, responsibility, professionalism, and performance,” Bondi wrote. “These two staff attorneys clearly and repeatedly failed to measure up to these standards.”

With all the evidence, where is Florida’s lawsuit against LPS? Nevada had to take the bull by the horns since you couldn’t. Speaking of “ethics, responsibility, professionalism, and performance” … NEXT!

Orlando Sentinel-

An independent report released Friday cleared Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s office of any wrongdoing in the May firings of two lawyers in her South Florida office who were nationally recognized for exposing foreclosure fraud and unsavory mortgage lending practices.

The long-awaited report from Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater‘s office said no laws or policies were violated in the dismissal of Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson, who had argued that their firings came down to politics, not performance.

“A review of the circumstances surrounding the termination of Edwards and Clarkson, along with the information gathered during this inquiry, did not warrant initiating a formal investigation into a potential violation of law, rule or policy,” the report says. “During the course of the inquiry there was no specific allegation of wrongdoing made by any person, and no discovery of evidence of wrongdoing on the part of anyone involved in the matter.”

[ORLANDO SENTINEL]

image: i-tube.net

Michael Hudson, continues his great series into the subprime fraud mess, this time GE’s turn!

iWATCH-

For General Electric Co., hawking subprime mortgages was a long way from making light bulbs and jet engines.

That didn’t stop the industrial giant from jumping into the subprime business in 2004, lending blue-chip respectability to the market for risky home loans by paying roughly half a billion dollars to buy California-based WMC Mortgage Corp.

What GE got in the bargain, former WMC employees say, was a place where erstwhile shoe salesmen, ex-strippers and even a former porn actress could sign on as sales reps and make big money pushing home loans. WMC’s top salespeople earned a million dollars a year or more and lived fast, swigging $1,000 bottles of Cristal and wheeling around in $100,000 Ferraris and Bentleys.

[iWATCH NEWS]

Oh Boy! What will they do now without these magical words?

NYT-

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a fundamental policy shift, said Friday that it would no longer allow defendants to say they neither admit nor deny civil fraud or insider trading charges when, at the same time, they admit to or have been convicted of criminal violations.

The change is the first time that the S.E.C. has stepped back from its longstanding practice of allowing companies to settle fraud charges by paying a fine without admitting wrongdoing. The new policy will also apply to cases where a company or an individual enters an agreement with criminal authorities to defer prosecution or to not be prosecuted as part of a settlement.

[NEW YORK TIMES]