Just when you’ve thought you seen, heard and been hurt by this all, Abigail has another jackpot story on her site…besides what’s to stop them since they aren’t protecting the homeowners!

Abigail C. Field-

A shocking aspect of the proposed foreclosure fraud settlement among Bailed-Out Banks, the state attorneys general, and the Feds has rightly gotten a lot of attention, namely the Bailed-Out Banks’ ability to use other people’s money to pay their “penalty.” I confess, when I first heard about it, I figured it was a testament to the federal government’s craven capitulation to the Bailed Out Banks. (Let’s call them the B.O.B.s, rhymes with S.O.Bs.) But now I know it’s much worse than that, thanks to excellent reporting by David Dayen. The federal government really wants the B.O.Bs to use pension fund money to pay their “penalty.”

[REALITY CHECK]

The Never Ending Story… of smoke and mirrors.

HuffPO-

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama said and proposed many reasonable-sounding things. One of them was this:

We’ll also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud… financial firms violate major anti-fraud laws because there’s no real penalty for being a repeat offender… So pass legislation that makes the penalties for fraud count.

And tonight, I’m asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorney general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis.

Now, how could you be against that? In his speech, and indeed as has been true for his entire career, Mr. Obama deserves an A for rhetoric. But what grade does he deserve for action? Alas, he flunks.

[HUFFINGTONPOST]

image: fixturescloseup

It’s ON Like Donkey Kong!! No Settlement Going Down Now!

Will this end up with the one & only Judge Schack since it’s in his district?

“Plaintiffs Designate Kings County as place of TRIAL!!”

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK by ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN

vs.

MERSCORP, MERS, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Bank of America, N.A., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A

Scribd

Complaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings  

Servicers And MERS Filed Improper Foreclosure Actions Where Authority To Sue Was Questionable

Schneiderman: MERS And Servicers Engaged In Deceptive and Fraudulent Practices That Harmed Homeowners And Undermined Judicial Foreclosure Process

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a lawsuit against several of the nation’s largest banks charging that the creation and use of a private national mortgage electronic registry system known as MERS has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings in New York state and federal courts, harming homeowners and undermining the integrity of the judicial foreclosure process. The lawsuit asserts that employees and agents of Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, acting as “MERS certifying officers,” have repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have. The lawsuit names JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Bank of America, N.A., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as well as Virginia-based MERSCORP, Inc. and its subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.

The lawsuit further asserts that the MERS System has effectively eliminated homeowners’ and the public’s ability to track property transfers through the traditional public records system. Instead, this information is now stored only in a private database – which is plagued with inaccuracies and errors – over which MERS and its financial institution members exercise sole control. Additional defendants include BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, Chase Home Finance LLC, EMC Mortgage Corporation, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc.

“The banks created the MERS system as an end-run around the property recording system, to facilitate the rapid securitization and sale of mortgages. Once the mortgages went sour, these same banks brought foreclosure proceedings en masse based on deceptive and fraudulent court submissions, seeking to take homes away from people with little regard for basic legal requirements or the rule of law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Our action demonstrates that there is one set of rules for all – no matter how big or powerful the institution may be – and that those rules will be enforced vigorously. Only through real accountability for the illegal and deceptive conduct in the foreclosure crisis will there be justice for New York’s homeowners.”

The financial industry created MERS in 1995 to allow financial institutions to evade local county recording fees, avoid the hassle and paperwork of publicly recording mortgage transfers, and facilitate the rapid sale and securitization of mortgages. MERS operates as a membership organization, and most large companies that participate in the mortgage industry – by originating loans, buying or investing in loans, or servicing loans – are members, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Over 70 million loans nationally have been registered in MERS System, including about 30 million currently active loans.

Through their membership in MERS, these companies avoided publicly recording the purchase and sale of mortgages by designating MERS Inc. – a shell company with no economic interest in any mortgage loan – as the “nominal” mortgagee of the loan in the public records. Instead, MERS members were supposed to log mortgage transfers in the MERS private electronic registry. The basic theory behind MERS is that, because MERS Inc. serves as a “nominee” (or agent) for most major lenders, it remains the “mortgagee” in the public records regardless of how often the loan is sold or transferred among MERS members. Thus, although MERSCORP has only about 70 employees, MERS Inc. serves as the mortgagee of record for tens of millions of loans registered in the MERS System.

MERS has granted over 20,000 “certifying officers” the authority to act on its behalf, including the authority to assign mortgages, to execute paperwork necessary to foreclose, and to submit filings on behalf of MERS in bankruptcy proceedings. These certifying officers are not MERS employees, but instead are employed by MERS members, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

[...]

The lawsuit specifically charges that the defendants have engaged in the following fraudulent and deceptive practices:

• MERS has filed over 13,000 foreclosure actions against New York homeowners listing itself as the plaintiff, but in many instances, MERS lacked the legal authority to foreclose and did not own or hold the promissory note, despite saying otherwise in court submissions.
• MERS certifying officers, including employees and agents of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, have repeatedly executed and submitted in court legal documents purporting to assign the mortgage and/or note to the foreclosing party. These documents contain numerous defects, including affirmative misrepresentations of fact, which render them false, deceptive, and/or invalid. These assignments were often automatically generated and “robosigned” by individuals who did not review the underlying property ownership records, confirm the documents’ accuracy, or even read the documents. These false and defective assignments often masked gaps in the chain of title and the foreclosing party’s inability to establish its authority to foreclose, and as a result have misled homeowners and the courts.
• MERS’ indiscriminate use of non-employee “certifying officers” to execute vital legal documents has confused, misled, and deceived homeowners and the courts and made it difficult to ascertain whether a party actually has the right to foreclose. MERS certifying officers have regularly executed and submitted in court mortgage assignments and other legal documents on behalf of MERS without disclosing that they are not MERS employees, but instead are employed by other entities, such as the mortgage servicer filing the case or its counsel. The signature line just indicates that the individual is an “Assistant Secretary,” “Vice President,” or other officer of MERS. Indeed, these documents often purport to assign the mortgage to the certifying officer’s own employer. Moreover, as a result of the defendants’ failure to track the designation of certifying officers and the scope of their authority to act, individuals have executed legal documents on behalf of MERS, such as mortgage assignments and loan modifications, when they were either not designated as a MERS certifying officer at the time or were not authorized to execute documents on behalf of MERS with respect to the subject loan.
• MERS and its members have deceived and misled borrowers about the importance and ramifications of MERS’ role with respect to their loan by providing inadequate disclosures.
• The MERS System is riddled with inaccuracies which make it difficult to verify the chain of title for a loan or the current note-holder, and creates confusion among stakeholders who rely on the information. In addition, as a result of these inaccuracies, MERS has filed mortgage satisfactions against the wrong property.

[ag.ny.gov]

Abigail C. Field-

WARNING: Attention homeowners: Do not read this post as legal advice. Although the information in this post is true, securitization fail, even of your loan, will not typically prevent the bank from foreclosing on you, unless you have a good lawyer. Even then, realistic end game is a sustainable modification, not a free house. More after the post.

—

The criminal securities fraud at the heart of the financial crisis has one very under-reported aspect: “securitization fail.” Once you understand the securitization fail concept, you can instantly, with tremendous clarity, see the scale of the fraud the Bailed Out Banks and Wall Street firms committed and commit every day. Get securitization fail, and the bankers’ crimes stand out like a vast herd of bison on the South Dakota prairie, a herd much bigger than this one.

[REALITY CHECK]

John O’Brien to MA AG Martha Coakley urging her not to sign onto the 50 state settlement with the banks.

Scribd

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden has said he won’t sign on to the settlement and Nevada AG Masto wants her 38 questions answered and CA AG Kamala D. Harris said thanks but she isn’t signing either!

Bloomberg-

The deadline for states to decide whether to join a proposed nationwide foreclosure settlement with banks was postponed to Feb. 6 from Feb. 3, according to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

States were given more time to evaluate the proposal, which may total $25 billion, after at least one asked for a delay, Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, said today in a phone interview. Miller is helping to lead negotiations.

State and federal officials have been negotiating an agreement with mortgage servicers that would provide mortgage relief to homeowners and set requirements for how banks conduct foreclosures.

[BLOOMBERG]

Some states have raised concerns about the releases, saying they shouldn’t protect banks from claims that haven’t been investigated.

It would be nice to see the AG’s grow some ***** and treat this as a crime scene and not bow down. I disagree with Kroger.

Bloomberg-

Oregon’s attorney general agreed to join a proposed multistate settlement over foreclosure and mortgage-servicing, saying it penalizes banks and offers relief to homeowners.

The settlement will provide $30 million to the state and as much as $200 million in relief to Oregon homeowners, including those facing foreclosure, Attorney General John Kroger said today in a statement.

“This agreement penalizes banks that engaged in wrongful foreclosure practices and brings badly needed relief for distressed homeowners,” he said. “I am not confident we could get a better agreement on this limited set of issues if we litigated for several more years.”

[...]

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said in an e- mailed statement yesterday that he would also sign on to the agreement. The deal “would impose tough new servicing standards on banks and hold them accountable for what have become familiar abuses,” he said.

[BLOOMBERG]

How many settlements have already taken place? This won’t stop the banks either!

REUTERS-

A proposed settlement to resolve mortgage abuses by top U.S. banks will give states broad authority to punish firms that mistreat borrowers in the future, according to documents seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Under the settlement, which states are currently reviewing to decide whether they will join, the states and a separate “monitoring committee” will have the authority to go to court to enforce the terms and seek penalties of up to $5 million per violation.

A strong enforcement mechanism could help the states and the Obama administration sell the deal to the public, after left-leaning activist groups have questioned whether the negotiations were too lenient on the banks.

States have just a few more days to make a decision, and an announcement of a settlement could come as early as next week, people familiar with the talks said.

[REUTERS/YAHOO]

New Economic Perspectives-

By William K. Black

The Obama administration’s record of prosecuting elite financial frauds is worse than the Bush administration’s record, which is a very large statement. Syracuse University’s TRAC issued a report on November 11, 2011 entitled “Criminal Prosecutions for Financial Institution Fraud Continue to Fall.”

Neither administration has prosecuted any elite CEO for the epidemic of mortgage fraud that drove the ongoing crisis. This contrasts with over 1,000 elite felony convictions arising from the S&L debacle. The ongoing crisis caused losses more than 70 times greater than the S&L debacle and the amount of elite fraud driving this crisis is also vastly greater than during the S&L debacle. Bank CEOs leading “accounting control frauds” now do so with impunity from the criminal laws. They become wealthy through fraud and even if they are sued civilly they almost invariably walk away wealthy with the proceeds of their frauds.

The Obama Administration Prefers Politics and Propaganda to Prosecutions

Elite financial institutions officers engaged in fraud face a dramatically reduced risk of prosecution compared to 20 years ago when financial fraud was far less common. TRAC reports that the number of financial institution fraud prosecutions under Obama is less than one-half the number 20 years ago. Bush (II) was slightly better than Obama in prosecuting non-elite financial institution frauds, but both were pathetically bad.

[NEW ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES]

FDL-

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…

[FIRE DOG LAKE]

image: sodahead

Via The American Independent -

AN OPEN LETTER TO BILL SCHUETTE

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

Scribd

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.

Credit Suisse itself won’t be …

[WALL STREET JOURNAL]

Miami Herald-

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.

[MIAMI HERALD]