Will NOT sign any agreement with other State AG’s and Banks to let MERS off the Hook!

In a letter dated Monday, Coakley said, “We have focused particularly on creditors’ reliance on MERS and whether MERS conforms to the requirements of Massachusetts Law, in the context of foreclosures and otherwise.”

Stay tuned for more info as it develops.

By MICHELLE CONLIN, AP Business Writers –

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawmakers and enforcement agencies called for hearings and further investigation Tuesday after learning that the illegal practice known as robo-signing has continued in the mortgage industry.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that county officials in at least three states — Massachusetts, North Carolina and Michigan — say they have received thousands of mortgage documents with questionable signatures since last fall. That’s when forged signatures and false affidavits — also called robo-signing — led to a temporary halt to foreclosures. Banks and mortgage processers promised to stop the practice. But the findings of the county officials indicate that robo-signing is still a widespread problem.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio., chair of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, said the subcommittee will hold a hearing on the robo-signing issue.

“Wall Street and some in Washington want us to believe that robo-signing is a thing of the past,” said Brown. “But the same risky practices that put our economy on the brink of collapse continue to infect the housing market.”

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a senior member of the House Committee on Financial Services said the lenders who continue the practice “need to be investigated and prosecuted.” She told The Associated Press that she believed regulators should step in and that the absence of stronger regulation is “the reason why the system broke down in the first place.” She said the county officials’ findings show lenders will not stop practices like robo-signing on their own.

“(The lenders) have complete disregard for the damage they have already caused and have no intention of changing their ways,” said Waters, who also called for more hearings on the issue.

County officials who are responsible for keeping land records, including property deeds, say that they have received thousands of robo-signed documents filed in their offices since October.

In Essex County, Mass., the office that handles property deeds has received almost 1,300 documents since October with the signature of “Linda Green,” but in 22 different handwriting styles and with many different titles.

In Guilford County, N.C., the office that records deeds says it received 456 documents with suspect signatures from Oct. 1, 2010, through June 30. And in Michigan, a fraud investigator who works on behalf of homeowners says he has uncovered documents filed this year bearing the purported signature of Marshall Isaacs, an attorney with foreclosure law firm Orlans Associates.

Early Tuesday, an official from the office of Minnesota attorney general, Lori Swanson, contacted the Essex County’s John O’Brien to get more information for its own investigation into robo-signing. The Massachusetts attorney general’s office also confirmed that it is meeting with several of the state’s 21 registers of deeds to assess the extent of robo-signing in the state.

Also on Tuesday, nine recorders of deeds in Illinois held a press conference to say they will assist the state’s attorney general Lisa Madigan who is investigating robo-signing in her state.

Rep. Waters, meanwhile, says the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or the OCC, is the main federal regulator for banks. As such, it’s the OCC’s responsibility to investigate the banks.

The OCC has been criticized by lawmakers and consumer advocates for going easy on banks in the past. The same criticism has resurfaced since the robo-signing scandal broke in September. Last fall, The Associated Press found that robo-signed documents led to banks wrongfully foreclosing on people who had paid their mortgages in full. When asked about the issue, an OCC spokesman flatly denied that any such thing had ever occurred.

The OCC partnered with other federal regulators and conducted a review of bank procedures including robo-signing in December. In April, the 14 largest national banks entered into a consent decree with the OCC in which they vowed to submit action plans as to how they would address such systemic issues as robo-signing.

Last week, the banks delivered those action plans to the OCC, which is now reviewing them, a spokesman said.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By MICHELLE CONLIN, AP Business Writers –

Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven’t read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures.

County officials in at least three states say they have received thousands of mortgage documents with questionable signatures since last fall, suggesting that the practices, known collectively as “robo-signing,” remain widespread in the industry.

The documents have come from several companies that process mortgage paperwork, and have been filed on behalf of several major banks. One name, “Linda Green,” was signed almost two dozen different ways.

Lenders say they are working with regulators to fix the problem but cannot explain why it has persisted.

Last fall, the nation’s largest banks and mortgage lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and an arm of Goldman Sachs, suspended foreclosures while they investigated how corners were cut to keep pace with the crush of foreclosure paperwork.

Critics say the new findings point to a systemic problem with the paperwork involved in home mortgages and titles. And they say it shows that banks and mortgage processors haven’t acted aggressively enough to put an end to widespread document fraud in the mortgage industry.

“Robo-signing is not even close to over,” says Curtis Hertel, the recorder of deeds in Ingham County, Mich., which includes Lansing. “It’s still an epidemic.”

In Essex County, Mass., the office that handles property deeds has received almost 1,300 documents since October with the signature of “Linda Green,” but in 22 different handwriting styles and with many different titles.

Linda Green worked for a company called DocX that processed mortgage paperwork and was shut down in the spring of 2010. County officials say they believe Green hasn’t worked in the industry since. Why her signature remains in use is not clear.

“My office is a crime scene,” says John O’Brien, the registrar of deeds in Essex County, which is north of Boston and includes the city of Salem.

In Guilford County, N.C., the office that records deeds says it received 456 documents with suspect signatures from Oct. 1, 2010, through June 30. The documents, mortgage assignments and certificates of satisfaction, transfer loans from one bank to another or certify a loan has been paid off.

Suspect signatures on the paperwork include 290 signed by Bryan Bly and 155 by Crystal Moore. In the mortgage investigations last fall, both admitted signing their names to mortgage documents without having read them. Neither was charged with a crime.

And in Michigan, a fraud investigator who works on behalf of homeowners says he has uncovered documents filed this year bearing the purported signature of Marshall Isaacs, an attorney with foreclosure law firm Orlans Associates. Isaacs’ name did not come up in last year’s investigations, but county officials across Michigan believe his name is being robo-signed.

O’Brien caused a stir in June at a national convention of county clerks by presenting his findings and encouraging his counterparts to investigate continued robo-signing.

The nation’s foreclosure machine almost came to a standstill when the nation’s largest banks suspended foreclosures last fall. Part of the problem, banks contended, was that foreclosures became so rampant in 2009 and 2010 that they were overwhelmed with paperwork.

The banks reviewed thousands of foreclosure filings, and where they found problems, they submitted new paperwork to courts handling the cases, with signatures they said were valid. The banks slowly started to resume foreclosures this winter and spring.

The 14 biggest U.S. banks reached a settlement with federal regulators in April in which they promised to clean up their mistakes and pay restitution to homeowners who had been wrongly foreclosed upon. The full amount of the settlement has not been determined. But it will not involve independent mortgage processing firms, the companies that some banks use to handle and file paperwork for mortgages.

So far, no individuals, lenders or paperwork processors have been charged with a crime over the robo-signed signatures found on documents last year. Critics such as April Charney, a Florida homeowner and defense lawyer, called the settlement a farce because no real punishment was meted out, making it easy for lenders and mortgage processors to continue the practice of robo-signing.

Robo-signing refers to a variety of practices. It can mean a qualified executive in the mortgage industry signs a mortgage affidavit document without verifying the information. It can mean someone forges an executive’s signature, or a lower-level employee signs his or her own name with a fake title. It can mean failing to comply with notary procedures. In all of these cases, robo-signing involves people signing documents and swearing to their accuracy without verifying any of the information.

Most of the tainted mortgage documents in question last fall were related to homes in foreclosure. But much of the suspect paperwork that has been filed since then is for refinancing or for new purchases by people who are in good standing in the eyes of the bank. In addition, foreclosures are down 30 percent this year from last. Home sales have also fallen. So the new suspect documents come at a time when much less paperwork is streaming through the nation’s mortgage machinery.

None of the almost 1,300 suspect Linda Green-signed documents from O’Brien’s office, for example, involve foreclosures. And Jeff Thigpen, the register of deeds in North Carolina’s Guilford County, says fewer than 40 of the 456 suspect documents filed to his office since October involved foreclosures.

Banks and their partner firms file mortgage documents with county deeds offices to prove that there are no liens on a property, that the bank owns a mortgage or that a bank filing for foreclosure has the authority to do so.

The signature of a qualified bank or mortgage official on these legal documents is supposed to guarantee that this information is accurate. The paper trail ensures a legal chain of title on a property and has been the backbone of U.S. property ownership for more than 300 years.

The county officials say the problem could be even worse than what they’re reporting. That’s because they are working off lists of known robo-signed names, such as Linda Green and Crystal Moore, that were identified during the investigation that began last fall. Officials suspect that other names on documents they have received since then are also robo-signed.

It is a federal crime to sign someone else’s name to a legal document. It is also illegal to sign your name to an affidavit if you have not verified the information you’re swearing to. Both are punishable by prison.

In Michigan, the attorney general took the rare step in June of filing criminal subpoenas to out-of-state mortgage processing companies after 23 county registers of deeds filed a criminal complaint with his office over robo-signed documents they say they have received. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office has said it is conducting a banking probe that could lead to criminal charges against financial executives. The attorneys general of Delaware, California and Illinois are conducting their own probes.

The legal issues are grave, deeds officials across the country say. At worst, legal experts say, the document debacle has opened the property system to legal liability well beyond the nation’s foreclosure crisis. So someone buying a home and trying to obtain title insurance might be delayed or denied if robo-signed documents turn up in the property’s history. That’s because forged signatures call into question who owns mortgages and the properties they are attached to.

“The banks have completely screwed up property records,” says L. Randall Wray, an economics professor and senior scholar at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

In the Massachusetts case, The Associated Press tried to reach Linda Green, whose name was purportedly signed 1,300 times since October. The AP, using a phone number provided by lawyers who have been investigating the documents since last year, reached a person who said she was Linda Green, but not the Linda Green involved in the mortgage investigation.

In the Michigan case, a lawyer for the Orlans Associates law firm, where Isaacs works, denies that Isaacs or the firm has done anything wrong. “People have signatures that change,” says Terry Cramer, general counsel for the firm. “We do not engage in ‘robo-signing’ at Orlans.”

To combat the stream of suspect filings, O’Brien and Jeff Thigpen, the register of deeds in North Carolina’s Guilford County, stopped accepting questionable paperwork June 7. They say they had no choice after complaining to federal and state authorities for months without getting anywhere.

Since then, O’Brien has received nine documents from Bank of America purportedly signed by Linda Burton, another name on authorities’ list of known robo-signers. For years, his office has regularly received documents signed with Burton’s name but written in such vastly different handwriting that two forensic investigators say it’s highly unlikely it all came from the same person.

O’Brien returned the nine Burton documents to Bank of America in mid-June. He told the bank he would not file them unless the bank signed an affidavit certifying the signature and accepting responsibility if the title was called into question down the road. Instead, Bank of America sent new documents with new signatures and new notaries.

A Bank of America spokesman says Burton is an assistant vice president with a subsidiary, ReconTrust. That company handles mortgage paperwork processing for Bank of America.

“She signed the documents on behalf of the bank,” spokesman Richard Simon says. The bank says providing the affidavit O’Brien asked for would have been costly and time-consuming. Instead, Simon says Bank of America sent a new set of documents “signed by an authorized associate who Mr. O’Brien wasn’t challenging.”

The bank didn’t respond to questions about why Burton’s name has been signed in different ways or why her signature appeared on documents that investigators in at least two states have deemed invalid.

Several attempts by the AP to reach Burton at ReconTrust were unsuccessful.

O’Brien says the bank’s actions show “consciousness of guilt.” Earlier this year, he hired Marie McDonnell, a mortgage fraud investigator and forensic document analyst, to verify his suspicions about Burton’s and other names on suspect paperwork.

She compared valid copies of Burton’s signature with the documents O’Brien had received in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and found that Burton’s name was fraudulently signed on hundreds of documents.

Most of the documents reviewed by McDonnell were mortgage discharges, which are issued when a home changes hands or is refinanced by a new lender and are supposed to confirm that the previous mortgage has been paid off. Bank of America declined comment on McDonnell’s findings.

In Michigan, recorder of deeds Hertel and his counterparts in 23 other counties found numerous suspect signatures on documents filed since the beginning of the year.

In June, their findings led the Michigan attorney general to issue criminal subpoenas to several firms that process mortgages for banks, including Lender Processing Services, the parent company of DocX, where Linda Green worked. On July 6, the CEO of that company, which is also under investigation by the Florida Attorney General’s office, resigned, citing health reasons.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds
Shetland Park
45 Congress Street
Suite 4100
Salem, Massachusetts 01970

JOHN L. O’BRIEN, JR.
Register of Deeds
Phone: 978-542-1704
Fax: 978-542-1706
website: www.salemdeeds.com

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, MA
June 29th, 2011

Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1^st Assistant Register
978-542-1724
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

Marie McDonnell, President, McDonnell Property Analytics, Inc.
508-694-6866
marie@mcdonnellanalytics.com

Southern Essex Registry of Deeds Audit Reveals That 75% of Assignments of Mortgage Are Invalid; O’Brien Says Banks Responsible for an Epidemic of Fraud.  Once again urges Attorney’s General to stop Bank settlement talks.

Yesterday at the Annual Conference of The International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT), Register John O’Brien revealed the results of an independent audit of his registry.  The audit, which is released as a legal affidavit was performed by McDonnell Property Analytics, examined assignments of mortgage recorded in the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds issued to and from JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and Bank of America during 2010.  In total, 565 assignments related to 473 unique mortgages were analyzed.

McDonnell’s Report includes the following key findings:

–          Only 16% of assignments of mortgage are valid

–          75% of assignments of mortgage are invalid.

–          9% of assignments of mortgage are questionable

–          27% of the invalid assignments are fraudulent, 35% are “robo-signed” and 10% violate the Massachusetts Mortgage Fraud Statute.

–          The identity of financial institutions that are current owners of the mortgages could only be determined for 287 out of 473 (60%)

–          There are 683 missing assignments for the 287 traced mortgages, representing approximately $180,000 in lost recording fees per 1,000 mortgages whose current ownership can be traced.

McDonnell told O’Brien, “I have been auditing residential mortgage loans for the past twenty years on a one-by-one basis.  In the process, I have been cataloging the ramp up in predatory lending and mortgage fraud for all of those years, but I was not prepared for the shocking results of my audit.  What this means is that the degradation in standards of commerce by which the banks originated, sold and securitized these mortgages are so fatally flawed that the institutions, including many pension funds, that purchased these mortgages don’t actually own them because the assignments of mortgage were never prepared, executed and delivered to them in the normal course of business at the time of the transaction.  In a blatant attempt to engineer a ‘fix’ to the problem, the banks set up in-house document execution teams, or outsourced the preparation of their assignments to third parties who manufactured them out of thin air without researching who really owns the mortgage.”

O’Brien asked McDonnell what this means for his constituents.  “It is vitally important for your constituents to know that if they are in foreclosure now or if their homes have been foreclosed upon, they can stop the foreclosure from proceeding, or institute a court action to vacate a completed foreclosure. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has established the law of the land in its decisions U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Ibanez and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. LaRace and I can tell you that every single assignment of mortgage that was recorded for the purpose of foreclosing the homeowner is invalid, overtly fraudulent, or criminally fraudulent. My findings also show that your constituents who are not in foreclosure, and have never been delinquent in their payments also have clouds on title due to the recording of defective and invalid discharges and assignments of mortgage.”

“My registry is a crime scene as evidenced by this forensic examination,” stated John O’Brien. “This crime that has affected thousands of homeowners in Essex County who, through no fault of their own, have had their property rights trampled on and their chain of title compromised. This evidence has made it clear to me that the only way we can ever determine the total economic loss and the amount damage done to the taxpayers is by conducting a full forensic audit of all registry of deeds in Massachusetts. I suspect that at the end of the day we are going to find that the taxpayers have been bilked in this state alone of over 400 million dollars not including the accrued interest plus costs and penalties. The Audit makes the finding that this was not only a MERS problem, but a scheme also perpetuated by MERS shareholder banks such Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and others. I am stunned and appalled by the fact that America’s biggest banks have played fast and loose with people’s biggest asset – their homes.  This is disgusting, and this is criminal,” said O’Brien.

O’Brien continued “Once again I am asking Attorney General Martha Coakley and the other state Attorney’s General to follow the lead of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and stop any settlement talks with the banks. The results of this report are only for my registry, but I can assure you that this type of criminal fraud is rampant across the nation. This leaves me to question why anyone would consider settling with these banks until we know the full extent of the damage that they have caused to the homeowners chain of title across this country and the amount of money they have bilked the taxpayers for their failure to pay recording fees.”

The Full Report is included with this release and may also be requested at www.mcdonnellanalytics.com.

This report was published with Marie McDonnell’s permission. Please note: This hard work was done on a pro bono basis and Marie’s contribution to you all.

Please email Marie and say thank you!

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MEMO

TO: John O’Brien
Register of Deeds Southern Essex County, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

FROM: Jamie Ranney, Esq.
Jamie Ranney, PC
4 Thirty Acres Lane
Nantucket, MA 02554
508.228.9224 (tel)
508.228-4752 (fax)

DATE: June 18, 2011

RE: Legal authority of Registers of Deeds in Massachusetts to reject document(s) and/or instrument(s) for recording in their registries

QUESTION PRESENTED

What legal authority does a Register of Deeds in Massachusetts have to reject for recording (unregistered land) or registration (Land Court registered land) document(s) and/or instrument(s) in his Registry and where is such legal authority derived from?

SUMMARY

It is without question that a Register of Deeds has an important and fiduciary relationship and responsibility – especially in the Commonwealth where his position is elected – to all of his constituents, as well as to the public at large, all of whom rely and who should be able to rely on the Register’s efforts, supervision, and oversight in assuring, maintaining and promoting the integrity, transparency, accuracy, and consistency of a County’s land records.
The Register’s work and supervision of his registry most often revolves around tasks and responsibilities that are generally ministerial in nature. The Register is typically concerned with the daily task of recording of legal document(s) and/or instrument(s) affecting real property where such document(s) and/or instrument(s) are properly presented to the registry for recording on the public land records.

However, the Register’s fiduciary duty goes well beyond these usual ministerial acts in circumstances where the Register has actual knowledge or a subjective good-faith belief/basis for believing that document(s) and/or instrument(s) being presented for recording or registration in the registry for which he has responsibility are fraudulent or otherwise not executed or acknowledged under applicable law. In such cases the Register may lawfully refuse to record such document(s) and/or instrument(s).

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© 2010-19 FORECLOSURE FRAUD | by DinSFLA. All rights reserved.

HuffPO’s Richard Zombeck:

With the exception of Elizabeth Warren, there are very few heroes fighting for the little guy when it comes to consumer rights and mortgage malpractice. Tom Miller, the Ohio Attorney General, had a brief moment of righteous advocacy until he received $261,445 in campaign contributions from out-of-state law firms and donors from the finance, insurance, and real estate sector shortly after he announced he was seeking criminal charges and retribution from the banks for mortgage fraud — that’s 88 times what he has received in the past decade.

continue reading [HUFFINGTONPOST]

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds
Shetland Park
45 Congress Street
Suite 4100
Salem, Massachusetts 01970

JOHN L. O’BRIEN, JR.
Register of Deeds
Phone: 978-542-1704
Fax: 978-542-1706
website: www.salemdeeds.com

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, MA
June 9th, 2011

Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register
978-542-1724
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

Marie McDonnell, President McDonnell Property Analytics, Inc.
508-694-6866
marie@mcdonnellanalytics.com

Massachusetts Register of Deeds John O’Brien and Forensic Mortgage Fraud Examiner Marie McDonnell find former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is victim of potential mortgage fraud; expert says chain of title to new Arizona home clouded by robo-signers.

In what is an ironic twist of fate today Register of Deeds John O’Brien and nationally renowned mortgage fraud examiner Marie McDonnell, President of McDonnell Property Analytics, Inc., announce that former Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is an unwitting victim of mortgage fraud and has purchased a home in Arizona that contains flaws in the chain of title.

Register O’Brien said, “If fundamental property principles still matter in this country, Sarah Palin may have legal issues that could affect the ownership of her home. Through no fault of her own, Sarah Palin has become a victim like thousands of others across the country that have the same problem with their chain of title. I feel bad for Governor Palin and all the homeowners who have been victimized by this scheme, it just goes to show you that no one is immune from this type of fraud and irresponsible behavior that these banks participated in.”

Marie McDonnell added, “Sarah Palin’s chain of title has been swept up into the eye of the ‘perfect storm’ where robo-signer Linda Green’s fraudulent Deed of Release on behalf of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is eclipsed by robo-signer Deborah Brignac’s fraudulent foreclosure documents. Brignac, a Vice President of California Reconveyance Company (a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase Bank), assigned the homeowner’s Deed of Trust to JPMorgan Chase Bank in her capacity as a Vice President of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”); in the same breath, Brignac executed a document appointing California Reconveyance Company (her real employer) as Substitute Trustee in her alleged capacity as a Vice President of JPMorgan Chase.”

Sound confusing? McDonnell explained, “This is a shell game where Brignac purports to be Vice President of three (3) different entities so that she can manufacture the paperwork necessary for JPMorgan Chase Bank to hijack the mortgage and then foreclose on the property. This is an excellent example of how MERS is being used by its Members to perpetrate a fraud. I have laid out a timeline that illustrates the defects in Sara Palin’s chain of title which shows that it is seriously, if not fatally impaired.” McDonnell whose firm performed the extensive forensic analysis. (See McDonnell’s Mortgage Map)

O’Brien, who recently announced that he found 6047 fraudulent Linda Green documents recorded in the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds which had 22 different variations of a Linda Green signature has been the National Leader in blowing the whistle on banks such as Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo for their business practices. O’Brien said “These banks have participated in a national epidemic of fraud that has clouded or damaged the chain of title of hundreds of thousands of American homeowners all across the country”. O’Brien further said “Sadly, Sarah Palin’s misfortune will however, hopefully shine the national spotlight on this issue. Given her position in the country, I am sure that she will use her influence to stand up for homeowners and their property rights”.

[Click image below to see McDonnell’s Palin Mortgage Map]

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[Sarah Image: VARIGHT.com]

Mortgage Fraud

Lender Processing Services/DocX

Action Date: June 8, 2011
Location: Guilford County, NC

An Open Letter to Jeff Thigpen, Guilford County, NC Register of Deeds and John O’Brien, Southern Essex County, Massachusetts Register of Deeds

Dear Jeff and John,

I want to remind you exactly who you stood up for yesterday. I get emails – hundreds each week – from sick, unemployed, elderly people, young families and veterans who are frightened, too broke to afford a lawyer, and being foreclosed by banks that are using badly forged documents to claim their homes.

This week, judges across the country will grant foreclosures – based on mortgage assignments signed by Linda Green, Korell Harp, Tywanna Thomas and others like them who were following orders from the banks.

A Miami judge said to me “I know who you are – you’re that woman who thinks she can stop a foreclosure because the notary signed her name upside-down.”

The hostility in the courtrooms is really amazing. I expect I will get thrown in jail in Miami some day for contempt for even suggesting a bank committed fraud.

Most days, it is my ragtag, never-say-die colleagues in foreclosure (wonderful people) and some non-bank-owned journalists who are willing to speak the truth about the bank documents used to steal homes.

You two were the first two public officials in the country who were willing to do more than “investigate” – who actually took action.

You will never know how much your act gave me encouragement when I needed it most.

Thank you from me, and on behalf of thousands of people across the country who doubted any public official would ever stand up, speak the truth and take action.

With admiration,

Lynn Szymoniak

Highlight of these incredible documents:

MGL Chapter 266, Section 35A (b) (4) provides that:

“Whoever intentionally: files or causes to be filed with a registrar of deeds any document that contains a material statement that is false or a material omission, knowing such document to contain a material statement that is false or a material omission, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2 and one-half years or by a fine of not more than $10,000 in the case of a natural person or not more than $100,000 in the case of any other person, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

Once the Affidavit is prepared and notarized, please forward it and your Recording to my attention with a recording fee of $75 for each document, and I will make sure the documents are put on record forthwith.

[…]

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Register O’Brien said, “Knowing what I now know, it would be a dereliction of my duties as the keeper of the records to record these documents and any other documents that contain questionable signatures. To do so, would make me a willing participant in a continuing scheme which has corrupted the chain of title of thousands of Essex County property owners. I have decided to put a stop to this reckless behavior and hold these lenders and their agents accountable for the authenticity of what they are attempting to record in my Registry. I do not believe this to be unreasonable.”

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So much for the RegiSTARS, who requested to be included in discussions…and being ignored.

BLOOMBERG-

U.S. banks and state attorneys general, seeking to avoid $17 billion in court claims over faulty foreclosures, are discussing a settlement framework that may let firms choose from a menu of options for helping borrowers, two people briefed on the talks said.

Under the proposal, Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Ally Financial Inc. would pay penalties and pledge billions of dollars in relief to home buyers, one of the people said, asking not to be named because the talks are private. Firms may fulfill obligations to borrowers over time, choosing among options such as reducing loan principal, cutting fees or paying moving costs, the people said.

If you’ve ever bought or sold a home…you need to hear this. Hank found a signature buried deep in your mortgage documents could be a ticking time bomb for thousands of Massachusetts homeowners. For those in foreclosure: it could be a lifesaver. It’s a shocking, amazing, unbelievable story. Hank Investigates.

http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/hank/BO145706/

The board also gave the reminder that the Bristol County Advisory Board meeting is coming up. It will take place on June 23 at 6 p.m. at the Taunton Superior Courthouse.

The Taunton Gazette-

The Bristol County Board of Commissioners sent a letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley on Tuesday concerning the “deceptive practices” of a mortgage process streamlining corporation, which it says cost county registries millions of dollars in the last decade.

The commissioners say Mortgage Electronic Registration System, commonly known as MERS, skirt public recording laws about recording mortgage assignments with the Registry of Deeds. The board says MERS is able to do this by keeping a secretive recording system for its participants that is not accessible to others.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MAY 13th, 2011

Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register
978-542-1724
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

To: Members of the Media
Fr: Massachusetts Register of Deeds John O’Brien and North Carolina Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen
Re: FDIC Chair Shelia Bair concurs with O’Brien and Thigpen that damages to consumer’s “has yet to be quantified”

This story has to be told: No settlements with the Big Banks until we know the “extent of the problem” and until the amount of exposure is “quantified”.

Bloomberg News
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair

The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is warning that flaws may have “infected millions of foreclosures” and questioned whether other regulators’ inquiries into problems at the nation’s mortgage-servicing companies have been thorough enough.

“We do not yet really know the full extent of the problem,” FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Thursday in written remarks submitted to a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee. “Flawed mortgage-banking processes have potentially infected millions of foreclosures, and the damages to be assessed against these operations could be significant and take years to materialize.”

Federal and state officials launched numerous investigations last autumn after revelations that, to process foreclosures, banks used “robo-signers” who didn’t review documents prepared by their colleagues. Banking regulators’ have said their reviews of a sample of 2,800 foreclosure cases have found a small number of improper foreclosures.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh said last month that the problems were limited in scope. They include cases that shouldn’t have gone forward under a law blocking foreclosures on military personnel, ones in which the borrower was in bankruptcy and cases in which borrowers were already on the verge of having their loans modified.

But Ms. Bair, who is departing her position in July, argued that other regulators likely missed homeowners who should have been provided loan assistance but who were improperly denied such help. The FDIC, she said, has found a “not insignificant” number of such cases. “There needs to be much more aggressive action,” she told lawmakers.

Under consent orders that 14 banks and thrifts reached with regulators in March, financial institutions are required to hire a consultant to review their foreclosures over the past two years to identify any borrowers who were harmed by foreclosure-processing problems.

Ms. Bair, however, questioned whether those reviews will truly be independent. Such consultants “may have other business with [banks] or future business they would like to do with them,” Ms. Bair said. “This is a huge issue.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in response to questions from lawmakers at the hearing, didn’t address this criticism directly, but reiterated that regulators plan to fine banks as a result of the inquiry into foreclosure problems. He noted that the foreclosure crisis is “at some level” a problem of bank regulation, but noted it is “also a macroeconomic problem.”

Ms. Bair also raised the possibility that banks may be forced by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy back more defaulted loans.
Fannie and Freddie have been pressing banks to do so, and numerous investors have filed lawsuits with similar demands. “A significant amount of this exposure has yet to be quantified,” she said in her prepared remarks.

REGISTERS O’BRIEN & THIGPEN SAY “PUT THE BRAKES ON ANY SETTLEMENT WITH THE BIG BANKS … REGISTERS OF DEEDS NEED TO BE AT THE TABLE”

Southern Essex County (MA) Register of Deeds, John O’Brien and Guilford County (NC) Register of Deeds, Jeff Thigpen, are today publicly asking Iowa’s Attorney General, Tom Miller, who has been coordinating the National Association of Attorneys General (“NAAG”) investigation into the banks’ improper mortgage dealings to stop settlement negotiations until there is a full accounting of the damage that the bank’s practices have inflicted upon the land recordation system and consumers chains of title across the nation and have again asked for the Registers of Deeds to have a seat at the negotiation table.

O’Brien and Thigpen, wrote to Miller in early April, asking that the Registers of Deeds be represented at any settlement talks. They have not heard back from Miller, and they find that very disturbing. “We represent Main Street, in contrast to Wall Street, and that constituency needs to be heard” said O’Brien.

Register O’Brien, who is leading the nationwide effort against the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”) and its member banks said, “We need to take a long hard look at the damage that these banks have caused, not only to our economy but also to people’s chains of title. There can be no settlement for pennies on the dollar.” O’Brien points to MERS and their failure to record documents in the local registry of deeds in order to avoid paying billions of dollars in recording fees, thereby corrupting the chains of title of hundreds of thousands of homeowners across the country, as well as the alleged fraud associated with the robo-signing, as reasons for putting on the breaks. “That is why it is so important that the Registers of Deeds be brought into the room. We need to bring our knowledge of the land recordation system and consumer’s problematic chain of title issues to the table.” Common sense mandates that if a bridge collapses and there is a meeting to re-build that bridge, that the structural engineers must be invited to the table. “Why the Registers of Deeds have not been involved in these negotiations is puzzling” according to O’Brien and Thigpen

Thigpen’s office sent Attorney General Miller and Federal Regulators 4,500 potentially fraudulent and/or forged documents recorded in his Registry by Doc X. Doc X is owned by Lender Processing Services, which was acting on behalf of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and MERS, among others. “I am but one county, however I feel confident based upon my research that this is a disaster of epic proportions, for homeowner’s chains of title in the United States. As a result, it needs to be clearly established that citizens can no longer be harmed by the reckless disregard that the major banks and MERS have had for the American consumer and the integrity of public recording offices. People need to be assured that their ownership rights are secure and protected, that people who sign legal documents are who they say they are, and that there is transparency and fair dealing by all. I don’t think we are there yet.” stated Thigpen.

In addition, O’Brien and Thigpen are concerned about the reports that Miller has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from banks, finance, insurance, and real estate contributors since he announced that he was leading the NAAG investigation. O’Brien and Thigpen said, “Without questioning Millers integrity, Miller should consider either returning the contributions or voluntarily stepping aside so that there would not be even the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.”

These Registers want to know “Why is there such a rush to have a settlement? “How can the consumers be fully protected when the extent of the damages are still unknown?”

JOHN L. O’BRIEN, JR.
Register of Deeds
Phone: 978-542-1704
Fax: 978-542-1706
website: www.salemdeeds.com
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds Shetland Park
45 Congress Street
Suite 4100
Salem, Massachusetts 01970

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, MA
May 12th, 2011

Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register
978-542-1724
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

REGISTERS O’BRIEN & THIGPEN SAY “PUT THE BRAKES ON ANY SETTLEMENT WITH THE BIG BANKS … REGISTERS OF DEEDS NEED TO BE AT THE TABLE”

Southern Essex County (MA) Register of Deeds, John O’Brien and Guilford County (NC) Register of Deeds, Jeff Thigpen, are today publicly asking Iowa’s Attorney General, Tom Miller, who has been coordinating the National Association of Attorneys General (“NAAG”) investigation into the banks’ improper mortgage dealings to stop settlement negotiations until there is a full accounting of the damage that the bank’s practices have inflicted upon the land recordation system and consumers chains of title across the nation and have again asked for the Registers of Deeds to have a seat at the negotiation table.

O’Brien and Thigpen, wrote to Miller in early April, asking that the Registers of Deeds be represented at any settlement talks. They have not heard back from Miller, and they find that very disturbing. “We represent Main Street, in contrast to Wall Street, and that constituency needs to be heard” said O’Brien.

Register O’Brien, who is leading the nationwide effort against the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”) and its member banks said, “We need to take a long hard look at the damage that these banks have caused, not only to our economy but also to people’s chains of title. There can be no settlement for pennies on the dollar.” O’Brien points to MERS and their failure to record documents in the local registry of deeds in order to avoid paying billions of dollars in recording fees, thereby corrupting the chains of title of hundreds of thousands of homeowners across the country, as well as the alleged fraud associated with the robo-signing, as reasons for putting on the breaks. “That is why it is so important that the Registers of Deeds be brought into the room. We need to bring our knowledge of the land recordation system and consumer’s problematic chain of title issues to the table.” Common sense mandates that if a bridge collapses and there is a meeting to re-build that bridge, that the structural engineers must be invited to the table. “Why the Registers of Deeds have not been involved in these negotiations is puzzling” according to O’Brien and Thigpen

Thigpen’s office sent Attorney General Miller and Federal Regulators 4,500 potentially fraudulent and/or forged documents recorded in his Registry by Doc X. Doc X is owned by Lender Processing Services, which was acting on behalf of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and MERS, among others. “I am but one county, however I feel confident based upon my research that this is a disaster of epic proportions, for homeowner’s chains of title in the United States. As a result, it needs to be clearly established that citizens can no longer be harmed by the reckless disregard that the major banks and MERS have had for the American consumer and the integrity of public recording offices. People need to be assured that their ownership rights are secure and protected, that people who sign legal documents are who they say they are, and that there is transparency and fair dealing by all. I don’t think we are there yet.” stated Thigpen.

In addition, O’Brien and Thigpen are concerned about the reports that Miller has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from banks, finance, insurance, and real estate contributors since he announced that he was leading the NAAG investigation. O’Brien and Thigpen said, “Without questioning Millers integrity, Miller should consider either returning the contributions or voluntarily stepping aside so that there would not be even the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.”

These Registers want to know “Why is there such a rush to have a settlement? “How can the consumers be fully protected when the extent of the damages are still unknown?”

LegalNews-

If someone does not pay their mortgage they will lose their home. But banks have to play by the rules, too.” Hertel further stated,

“We are looking at a massive fraud committed against the people of the state of Michigan.”

From previous post below:

NC Reg. of Deeds Thigpen Releases Approx. 4,500 DocX Signature Spread Sheet

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BLOOMBERG-

The signatures of the same names on more than 4,500 documents handled by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) for real estate valued at $624.8 million varied enough to raise doubts about their validity, Jeff Thigpen, register of deeds in Guilford County, North Carolina, told reporters today in Greensboro.

Check out the link to documents below…

NC Reg. of Deeds Thigpen Releases Approx. 4,500 DocX Signature Spread Sheet

Take a look at all these residents with DocX signatures…this is only the beginning to his quest. In matter of fact he’s found about 2,300 others.

[ipaper docId=54630751 access_key=key-18dtymzwmp9dng31z6jd height=600 width=600 /]

At the hearing, after watching the 60 Minutes segment on DocX forged documents, they seem to appear in shock…  “This is Compelling,” Rep. Knollenberg said.

Michigan Messenger-

LANSING — The growing controversy over allegedly fraudulent foreclosure documents will receive a hearing Wednesday in the state House Banking Committee. The controversy has also prompted some public officials to call for repeal of Michigan’s foreclosure by advertisement process, and instead adopt a judicial foreclosure act.

Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x916857902/Bristol-County-Board-of-Commissioners-ask-AG-Martha-Coakley-about-possible-lawsuit-against-mortgage-corporation#ixzz1LM9hlvuD

JOHN L. O’BRIEN, JR.
Register of Deeds Phone: 978-542-1704 Fax: 978-542-1706
website: www.salemdeeds.com
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds
Shetland Park 45 Congress Street Suite 4100
Salem, Massachusetts 01970

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, MA May 3rd, 2011
Contact: Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register 978-542-1724
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

The 1960’s television show “To Tell the Truth”, where imposters pretend to be the central character, is playing out today at the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds and Register John O’Brien is not happy about it. After the 60 Minutes’ expose on Mortgage Fraud was aired and showed that leading mortgage services have been using forged documents to foreclose on homeowners, Register John O’Brien reviewed mortgage discharges recorded in his Registry. To view the 60 Minutes Article and a link to the video, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/01/60minutes/main20049646.shtml

What he found astonished him. In 2010 alone, 286 Bank of America’s mortgage discharges were recorded with what he calls “questionable and possibly fraudulent signatures of the notorious Linda Green.” O’Brien said that he has found at least four variations of Green’s signature recorded in his Registry.

Green, who was spotlighted in the 60 Minutes Episode, had her name signed by various individuals on thousands of documents recorded at Registries of Deeds throughout the state of Massachusetts and across the nation. In Register O’Brien’s opinion, these documents have corrupted Essex County homeowner’s chains of title. “I have a responsibility to ensure that the documents recorded in my Registry meet the statutory requirements of recording. If, however, I am presented with evidence that clearly shows that fraud may have been committed then it is my responsibility as the keeper of records to turn these documents over to the appropriate authorities for their review and action.”

O’Brien has today forwarded certified copies of these discharges to United States Attorney, Carmen Ortez, Attorney General, Martha Coakley, and Essex County District Attorney, Jonathan Blodgett. “If what I suspect has happened, then the people who have committed this fraud should be held accountable for their actions” commented O’Brien. O’Brien fears that this fraudulent behavior is only the tip of the iceberg and feels strongly that lenders and mortgage servicers should be held accountable for their actions. Actions which he originally only thought involved a scheme to circumvent the land recordation system by creating a private, for profit cyber-registry to benefit the big bank’s pocketbooks. Now it seems that MERS, and its member banks may have added fraud to their repertoire of services that they offer.

Register O’Brien questions if a good portion of this foreclosure mess could have been avoided in the first place, if the big banks did what they were supposed to do and recorded assignments like other lenders do. Register O’Brien believes: 1) Homeowners deserve to know who owns their mortgages; 2) Assignments should be recorded in the appropriate registry of deeds, each and every time a mortgage is sold, to provided transparency and public disclosure of ownership; and 3) Any and all documents should be signed by an authorized authority at the entity that actually owns and holds the note secured by the mortgage.