Now, why didn’t they sell them back to the families at these prices?

Jacksonville.com–

On March 8, a San Diego company purchased a group of foreclosed Jacksonville homes from government-backed Fannie Mae, getting two for $200 each and another three for $1,000, $2,500 and $3,500.

Last fall, Dallas-based Harbour Portfolio VI purchased at least six foreclosed Jacksonville houses, also all on the same day. The price for two was as low as $2,400. One of the six, at 3046 Columbus Ave. on Jacksonville’s Northside, which sold for $14,700, stood vacant and wide open March 30. The knob on its front door had been jimmied off.

[Read Complaint Below]

PRESS RELEASES

Saxena White P.A. Files Securities Fraud Class Action Against Lender Processing Services, Inc.

Boca Raton, January 12, 2011

Boca Raton, FL, January 12, 2011:  In recent months, various government investigations and media reports on mortgage service companies have exposed an industry that increasingly relied on deceptive and fraudulent business practices, including the use of so-called “robo-signers” that falsified mortgage ownership documents.  Lender Processing Services, Inc. (“LPS” or the “Company”), a mortgage servicer based in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of the companies facing government scrutiny.

In connection with the Florida Attorney General’s investigation into the Company, former Florida AG Bill McCollum has indicated that LPS and other similar companies have produced “numerous documents in foreclosure cases that appear to be fabricated.”  As a result of the rampant use of these and other unscrupulous business practices, investors have suffered millions of dollars in losses.

Saxena White P.A. has filed a class action lawsuit for an institutional investor in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on behalf of all investors who purchased LPS securities during the period between July 29, 2009 and October 4, 2010, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s true financial condition, business and prospects. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants failed to disclose: (i) that the Company had engaged in improper and deceptive business practices; (ii) that a subsidiary of LPS, Docx, had been falsifying mortgage documents through the use of “robo-signers”; (iii) that the Company had engaged in improper fee sharing arrangements with foreclosure law firms, including the use of undisclosed contractual arrangements for impermissible legal fee splitting, which are camouflaged as various types of fees; and (iv) that as a result of the Company’s deceptive business practices, LPS reported materially false and misleading financial results.

On October 4, 2010, after continued media reports and various government investigations calling into question LPS’s default-related services that it provides to mortgage lenders, the market price of LPS stock fell $2.72, or 8.6% per share, to close at $28.76 per share. The price of LPS stock fell another $1.45, or 5.04%, on October 5, 2010, to close at $27.31 per share, on unusually heavy trading volume.

You may obtain a copy of the complaint and join the class action at www.saxenawhite.com.  If you purchased LPS stock between July 29, 2009 and October 4, 2010, you may contact Joe White or Greg Stone at Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights and interests:

Joseph E. White, III                       Greg Stone
jwhite@saxenawhite.com                gstone@saxenawhite.com

Saxena White P.A.
2424 North Federal Highway, Suite 257
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Tel: (561) 394-3399
Fax: (561) 394-3382
www.saxenawhite.com

If you purchased LPS shares during the Class Period and wish to apply to be the lead plaintiff in this action, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the Court no later than January 24, 2011.  You may contact Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff and your interest in the class action.  Please note that you may also retain counsel of your choice and need not take any action at this time to be a class member.

Saxena White P.A., which has offices in Boca Raton, Boston and Montana, specializes in prosecuting securities fraud and complex class actions on behalf of institutions and individuals.  Currently serving as lead counsel in numerous securities fraud class actions nationwide, the firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of injured investors and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States.

Continue to complaint below…

[ipaper docId=46766055 access_key=key-22a2tb1bsjcggfh2scys height=600 width=600 /]

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Lender Processing Services is riding the waves of foreclosures sweeping the United States, but in late October its CEO, Jeff Carbiener, found himself needing to reassure investors in the $2.8 billion company.

Although profits were rolling in, LPS’s stock had taken a hit in the wake of revelations that mortgage companies across the country had filed fraudulent documents in foreclosures cases. Earlier in the year, the company, which handles more than half of the nation’s foreclosures, had disclosed that it was under federal criminal investigation and admitted that employees at a small subsidiary had falsely signed foreclosure documents.

Still, Carbiener told the Wall Street analysts in an October 29 conference call that LPS’s legal concerns were overblown, and the stock has jumped 13 percent since its close the day before the call.

But a Reuters investigation shows that LPS’s legal woes are more serious than he let on. Public records reveal that the company’s LPS Default Solutions unit produced documents of dubious authenticity in far larger quantities than it has disclosed, and over a much longer timespan.

Questionable signing and notarization practices weren’t limited to its subsidiary, called DocX, but occurred in at least one of LPS’s own offices, mortgage assignments filed in county recorders’ offices show. And rather than halt such practices after the federal investigation got underway, the company shifted the signing to firms with which it has close business ties. LPS provided personnel to work in the new signing operations, according to information from an LPS spokeswoman and court records including an October 21 ruling by a judge in Brooklyn, New York. Records in county recorders’ offices, and in the judge’s opinion, show that “robosigning” and preparation of apparently false documents went on at these sites on a large scale.

In one instance, it helped set up a massive signing operation at the nearby office of a major client, a spokeswoman for the client, American Home Mortgage Servicing, confirmed. LPS-hired notaries who worked there said in interviews that troves of documents were improperly handled. They said that about 200 affidavits per day were robosigned during the two months the two notaries remained there.

A spokeswoman for LPS confirmed to Reuters that it had helped other firms establish operations that performed the same function. LPS spokeswoman Michelle Kersch didn’t specify which firms. But beginning early in 2010, county recorders’ records show, signing shifted also to law firms under contract with LPS.

Interviews with key players and court records also show that pending investigations and lawsuits pose a bigger threat to the company than Carbiener let on.

The criminal investigation in Jacksonville by federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is intensifying. The same goes for a separate inquiry by the Florida attorney general’s office. Individuals with direct knowledge of the federal inquiry said that prosecutors have impaneled a grand jury, begun calling witnesses and subpoenaed records from LPS.

The company confirmed to Reuters that it has hired Paul McNulty, former deputy U.S. attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, to represent it in the investigation. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on the probe.

The U.S. Comptroller of the Currency’s office, which is responsible for supervising national banks, also announced in November that it had teamed up with the Federal Reserve to conduct an on-site examination of LPS.

Retired judges are rushing through complex cases to speed foreclosures in Florida

The following is an article from the November 11, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. This issue is available Friday on newsstands, as well online in Rolling Stone’s digital archive. Click here to subscribe.

The foreclosure lawyers down in Jacksonville had warned me, but I was skeptical. They told me the state of Florida had created a special super-high-speed housing court with a specific mandate to rubber-stamp the legally dicey foreclosures by corporate mortgage pushers like Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase. This “rocket docket,” as it is called in town, is presided over by retired judges who seem to have no clue about the insanely complex financial instruments they are ruling on — securitized mortgages and laby­rinthine derivative deals of a type that didn’t even exist when most of them were active members of the bench. Their stated mission isn’t to decide right and wrong, but to clear cases and blast human beings out of their homes with ultimate velocity. They certainly have no incentive to penetrate the profound criminal mysteries of the great American mortgage bubble of the 2000s, perhaps the most complex Ponzi scheme in human history — an epic mountain range of corporate fraud in which Wall Street megabanks conspired first to collect huge numbers of subprime mortgages, then to unload them on unsuspecting third parties like pensions, trade unions and insurance companies (and, ultimately, you and me, as taxpayers) in the guise of AAA-rated investments. Selling lead as gold, shit as Chanel No. 5, was the essence of the booming international fraud scheme that created most all of these now-failing home mortgages.

Reply: Mortgage documents: Placeholder items were innocent

Posted: May 20, 2010 – 4:35pm Jacksonville.com

LPS is very involved in the Jacksonville community and highly values its role and reputation as a good corporate citizen.

Therefore, I believe it is vitally important to provide clarification to the May 14 article in The Florida Times-Union, “Florida Investigating ‘Bogus’ Foreclosure Records.”

The article discusses LPS’ subsidiary, Docx LLC, which provided a document preparation service to its customers and/or their attorneys from 2008 to 2009.

When a customer or its attorney requested that Docx prepare a document, Docx downloaded the information provided in the customer or attorney order into a pre-approved form provided by the customer or its attorney.

When preparing the documents, if specific pieces of information were not provided by the customer or attorney, Docx used the phrases “Bogus Assignee” and “Bad Bene” as highly visible placeholders that would then be replaced when the missing information was provided to Docx. 

Unfortunately, on a few occasions, documents containing the placeholder phrases were inadvertently recorded before the field was updated.

While to our knowledge, none of these documents have been used in actual court proceedings, LPS deeply regrets this error.

However, these placeholder phrases had no other meaning other than to indicate that more information was needed. Docx is not a party to any court proceedings and our role ends when the prepared documents are returned to the attorney or customer.

In a separate matter, LPS reported in February that it identified a business process that caused an error in the notarization of certain documents, some of which were used in foreclosure proceedings. LPS immediately corrected the business process and believes it has completed the remedial actions necessary to minimize the impact of the error.

Finally, although LPS has not been contacted by the Florida attorney general regarding this or any other matter, LPS continues to express its willingness to cooperate with any governmental agency that contacts us.

JEFF CARBIENER,

president and CEO,

Lender Processing Services,

Jacksonville

MAY 17, 2010, 10:55 P.M. ET

BY PETER LATTMAN: The Wall Street Journal

The pending takeover of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. collapsed late Monday, with a Blackstone Group-led consortium dropping its plan to acquire the financial-data processor, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Fidelity National’s board had asked for a “substantial increase” above the $32-per-share bid the private-equity firms had proposed, said a person familiar with the deal talks. The two sides couldn’t reach an agreement on price, this person said, and the investor group backed out of the deal.

Late Monday, Fidelity National shares dropped nearly 10% in after-hours trading, to roughly $26 each. (Fidelity National is unrelated to

Continue reading HERE

RELATED STORY: Reports say buyout firms looking to acquire Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS)

VIA: Adrian Lofton

Consumer ID thefts or consumer identity thefts is one of the main crimes that cause financial as well as emotional anguish. The rubber-stamping of Assignments of Mortgage and the Double Dipping of foreclosure fees and cost expedite the foreclosure process and line the silk pockets of these attorneys, banks and LPS executives.

This is a copy of the September 14, 2009 e-mail from Adrian Lofton to Bradley Johnson, lead Attorney at Taylor, Day, Currie, Boyd and Johnson apprizing him of their TARP fund violations.

Brad, your firm has created a conflict of interest by representing these banks. In addition to the aforementioned, you are not legally entitled to accept TARP funds to represent these banks after your firm implicated them in these federal violations.

continue reading…

[ipaper docId=19731605 access_key=key-lcitz7hu33tqlm9b248 height=600 width=600 /]

Posted: May 6, 2010 – 1:19pm Jacksonville.com

By Mark Basch

Two large private equity firms are in talks to buy out Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc., according to news reports today.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Blackstone Group LP was considering the deal along with other firms. Bloomberg News later reported that Thomas H. Lee Partners LP is joining Blackstone in the bid.

Fidelity said the company’s policy is to not comment on speculation about acquisitions.

Fidelity National Information Services, or FIS, provide technology services for financial companies. It was spun off from title insurance company Fidelity National Financial Inc. Another publicly-traded company, Lender Processing Services Inc., was spun off from FIS.

The two Fidelity companies and LPS are all headquartered in Jacksonville, but all three operate independently.

Bloomberg reported that “two people with knowledge of the situation” said the deal is “under discussion and may not happen.”

mark.basch@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4308

RELATED STORIES: HERE