Oh my, look what we have here…big mistake because I don’t think this is going very far….his franchises that is.
Bill Warner Private Investigator-
My source in Fort Lauderdale tells me that attorney David J. Stern has rolled over his $Millions in foreclosure home profits and the cash he got up front from the DJSP Entreprises Inc. FKA Chardan 2008 China Acquisition Corp deal into at least 150 Five Guys Burger and Fries Franchise’s, will that be fries with your meal sir?
It appears that David J. Stern is buying ”Five Guys Burger and Fries Franchise’s” in bulk, Stern is trying to acquire 500 Burger Joints NATIONWIDE…
Folks, please tweet, forward, whatever. This is a huge story that deserves to be given major coverage in MSM. Local judges need to be aware that they are being handed forged documents.
Stern pocketed some $60 million from that deal. The investors got the company and all its documents, internal procedures and everything you would need in order to find out what really happened within the Stern document mill.
A little after 8 AM EST today, a filing went up on the SEC’s Edgar database. It’s a Complaint in lawsuit, dated yesterday.
Action Date: January 4, 2012 Location: FT. Lauderdale, FL
In the lawsuit filed by DJSP Enterprises against David J. Stern and the Law Offices of David J. Stern, there are also allegations involving ProVest, the process server used by Stern and most of the other major foreclosure mills hired by Lender Processing Services in over 20 states.
36. Prior to the Transaction, the Seller Defendants also knowingly and systematically inflated their process of service costs to the Court. Specifically, Seller Defendants engineered a fraudulent scheme whereby they directed their process servicing work to a process servicing company called ProVest. The Seller Defendants caused each file to generate four or five separate fees for service of process regardless of whether service of process on multiple defendants was necessary or appropriate and regardless of whether service of process for multiple defendants could be achieved at the same address.
37. In exchange for receiving these inflated service of process fees, ProVest, in turn, routinely referred back to PTA servicing requests for “skip tracing” to locate defendants for whom ProVest purportedly did not have accurate street address information to effect service of process. ProVest “hired” and paid fees to PTA for “skip tracing” services despite the fact that ProVest had the ability and resources to perform “skip tracing” itself and routinely did so itself.
38. The Seller Defendants’ arrangement with ProVest amounted to a kickback scheme. DS Law padded and inflated its process servicing costs which were billed to its clients and added to the court costs assessed to foreclosure defendants. In exchange for feeding this work to ProVest, PTA earned manufactured “skip tracing” fees which inflated PTA’s revenues and profits and which represented another way in which the Seller Defendants artificially inflated the revenues of the Target Business prior to the Transaction.
This is hardly the beginning. It’s just getting started.
CBS-
(AP) LAS VEGAS — A lawyer in Las Vegas has filed a civil lawsuit seeking class-action status on behalf of homeowners he says have been hurt by the filing of fraudulent foreclosure documents during an alleged “robo-siging” scheme.
Matthew Callister said he wants a state judge to stop tainted home sales and evictions and order Lender Processing Services Inc. and several bank and mortgage companies to modify loans and pay monetary damages to affected homeowners.
“This is to say, ‘Stop. Let us try to modify the loan appropriately,'” Callister said. “Then we’ll seek damages.”
Someone best remind LPS of what the Nevada Attorney General is capable of!
She has opened the doors for other great AG’s to follow her footsteps. We’re sure to see in the very near future.
LVRJ-
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto called allegations that her office improperly outsourced a foreclosure document robosigning investigation “groundless.”
The claim was made by Lender Processing Services Inc., the nation’s largest lender services company, after Masto filed a lawsuit on Friday claiming the company participated in a widespread fraud involving robosignings and other deceptive practices.
Nevada attorney general accuses the company of document fraud and illegal fee-splitting. Shares are likely to continue to decline.
MSN-
The shares of Lender Processing Services (LPS +1.87%) came under fire Friday, dropping nearly 20% on unusually high volume after Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed fraud charges against the company.
Although LPS, a billion-dollar company by market capitalization, has several business lines, the fraud charges relate to its largest (by revenue) default services division. Given the nature of the charges and the mound of evidence AG Masto cites in the complaint, Friday’s fall in share price is likely only the beginning.
In recent years, LPS’s default servicing division has come under fire for two practices central to the attorney general’s charges: document fraud and illegal fee-splitting. Both types of claims go right to the heart of LPS’s business model.
They will not survive this time around as the complaint is pretty much bulletproof.
PRNEWS-
Unfortunately, the company’s efforts to engage in meaningful discussions with the Nevada Attorney General’s office have been frustrated by the Nevada Attorney General’s decision to outsource its investigation to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a plaintiff’s law firm located in Washington, D.C., in apparent violation of Nevada law. The complaint highlights misconceptions about LPS and seeks to sensationalize a variety of false allegations in a misleading manner.
Lax is a major understatement given the Atomic Bomb Nevada AG just dropped… on an Organization Bondi claims is investigating, with headquarters in Florida!
Orlando Sentinel-
As attorneys general in other foreclosure-battered states step up their investigations into fraudulent mortgage practices by large U.S. banks, some Florida groups are accusing state Attorney General Pam Bondi of being soft on the giant lenders.
Florida’s Democratic state senators recently released a video that targets Bondi, a Republican elected to a nonpartisan office. Titled “Ignoring the Florida Foreclosure Crisis,” the video contrasts new fraud investigations launched by California Attorney General Kamala Harris with controversial forced resignations of two key mortgage-fraud investigators in Bondi’s Fort Lauderdale office.
Document fraud infects many if not most foreclosures across the country, and Lender Processing Services (LPS) is a major reason why. As a result, many are celebrating Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s civil fraud suit against the company. Her suit details, based on numerous witnesses’ testimony, documents, and other evidence, how LPS’s business model was deceptive and fraudulent.
LPS organized its workforce to churn out documents that were replete with lies, improperly directed foreclosure and bankruptcy attorneys, misrepresented its fees, and made numerous misleading statements to investors. Frankly, it’s hard to see how LPS survives this suit and the shareholder and other cases that are sure to follow.
The suit’s tremendous clarity and detail raise several questions beyond “when will LPS declare bankruptcy?”
5. Following the exposure of deceptive document execution practices at DOCX
[…]
15 Georgia, LPS then misrepresented that it had processes and internal controls in place at the LPS 16 Default Solutions office in Minnesota to ensure that affidavits were signed properly and in 17 accordance with industry standard. LPS senior executives expressly contradicted these 18 representations in sworn court testimony.
The National Association of Independent Land Title Agents (NAILTA) filed an Amicus Brief in the Edwards v. First American case currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief is filed in support of Denise Edwards, the Respondent, a consumer who closed a real estate transaction in Cleveland, Ohio with the Petitioner, First American. A copy of the brief is embedded below. Oral arguments for the case are set for November 28, 2011.
Mortgage/ Securitization forensic auditors especially, may want to pay close attention to this case.
WSJ-
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to clarify the circumstances in which home buyers can sue mortgage lenders for allegedly charging them unearned fees during the closing process.
The case centers on a group of lawsuits from Louisiana in which borrowers alleged Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. charged them loan-discount fees but did not provide reduced interest rates in return.
Quicken Loans said the fees were legal and denied allegations that the fees were unearned.
This is a must read. There is no end to this mess. ENJOY!
American Banker-
Many of the country’s largest banks received $6 billion in kickbacks from mortgage insurers over the course of a decade, according to a previously undisclosed investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The allegations, since referred to the Department of Justice, stem from lenders’ demand that insurers cut them in on the lucrative business of insuring the mortgages they produced during the housing boom.
In exchange for the their business, companies such as Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo & Co, SunTrust Banks Inc. and Countrywide allegedly required reinsurance partnerships on generous terms that violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, a 1974 law prohibiting abusive home sales practices.
California lender to pay $3.1 million and dissolve sham joint ventures
WASHINGTON, DC – July 13, 2011 — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced an agreement with Prospect Mortgage, LLC (Prospect) to settle allegations the California-based mortgage lender created sham affiliated business arrangements for the purpose of paying improper kickbacks or referral fees in violation of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guidelines and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Prospect agreed to dissolve these sham joint ventures and pay $3.1 million to resolve the complaint.
HUD claimed Prospect operated as a “series limited liability company,” a business structure unauthorized by FHA, and that Prospect used this business structure to create hundreds of sham joint ventures with real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, servicers and other settlement service providers and to share profits for the referral of real estate settlement services. Through these affiliated business arrangements, Prospect allowed non-approved branch offices to originate FHA-insured mortgages in violation of FHA’s guidelines. Read the full text of the agreement announced today.
“The real test for any bona fide affiliate business arrangement is whether the affiliate has sufficient capital and employees to stand on its own two feet,” said Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante. “In this case, it was clear that these sham companies had neither and were merely sharing profits for the referral of business.”
HUD alleges that Prospect entered into “series” or “subscription agreements” with real estate brokers, agents, banks, mortgage servicers and others to give the appearance that it was creating legitimate joint ventures to provide real and compensable services. HUD discovered these sham businesses had little or no employees, capital and/or offices; that all core mortgage origination services were performed by Prospect itself; and that Prospect had allowed these affiliated businesses to participate in the origination of FHA-insured loans out of branch offices registered with FHA as exclusive to Prospect. In return for the referral of business, Prospect shared 50 percent of its profits with these entities which HUD determined were not bona fide affiliated businesses, and many of which were not FHA-approved lenders.
RESPA was enacted in 1974 to provide consumers advance disclosures of settlement charges and to prohibit illegal kickbacks and excessive fees in the homebuying process. Section 8(a) of RESPA prohibits a person from giving or accepting anything of value in exchange for the referral of settlement service business and Section 8(b) prohibits unearned fees.
###
HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
HUD SETTLES RESPA KICKBACK CASE AGAINST FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL
Title company to pay $4.5 million and cease paying brokers referral fees
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced an agreement with Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF) to settle allegations the title company paid real estate brokers and other settlement service providers improper kickbacks or referral fees in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Read the full text of the agreement announced today.
HUD claimed FNF and its affiliates and subsidiaries engaged in a widespread and years-long campaign to pay real estate brokers kickbacks for the referral of real estate settlement services, including home warranties and title insurance.FNF agreed to cease this practice and pay HUD $4.5 million to resolve the complaint.
“RESPA is very clear that paying fees or providing anything of value for the simple act of referring business is a violation of law,” said Acting FHA Commissioner Robert Ryan. “This agreement should be a signal to others that these business practices won’t be tolerated.”
HUD alleges that FNF, through its subsidiaries, paid fees for the referral of settlement service business in violation of Section 8 of RESPA. To facilitate these payments, real estate brokerages entered into “Application Service Provider Agreements” which provided the real estate brokerages access to TransactionPoint, a web-based platform that automates the real estate transaction from listing to closing. This online system also allows the brokers to select real estate settlement providers for a particular real estate transaction. The real estate brokerages, in turn, entered into Sub-License Agreements with subsidiaries of FNF to enable FNF’s subsidiaries to be listed in TransactionPoint as a provider of settlement services. As part of the Sub-Licensee Agreement, HUD alleges that FNF’s subsidiaries paid the real estate brokerages a fee for each referral of real estate settlement services.
RESPA was enacted in 1974 to provide consumers advance disclosures of settlement charges and to prohibit illegal kickbacks and excessive fees in the homebuying process. Section 8 of RESPA prohibits a person from giving or accepting anything of value in exchange for the referral of settlement service business.
###
HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
Recent Comments