H/T & Congratulations to Nye Lavalle & Attorney Jacqulyn Mack

Thank you Judge Lazarra!

.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION

ELIZABETH H. COURSEN,
Plaintiff,

v.

JP MORGAN CHASE & CO., et al.,
Defendants.

O R D E R

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on Defendant Fidelity National Financial,
Inc.’s (“FNF”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint and Plaintiff’s
Response in Opposition.1 FNF moves to dismiss Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint,
pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, on grounds that: (1) FNF is
not a proper party Defendant to this action because Plaintiff failed to seek and obtain
leave to add additional parties and failed to adequately allege any direct or indirect
liability on the part of FNF and (2) each of the counts in Plaintiff’s complaint fails to state
a claim upon which relief may be granted. After careful consideration of the parties’
submissions, together with the well-pleaded allegations of Plaintiff’s First Amended
Complaint, the Court concludes the motion is due to be denied.

Background Facts & Allegations

On or about September 27, 2001, Plaintiff, Elizabeth H. Coursen (“Plaintiff”),
executed and delivered a promissory note (the “Note”) and a mortgage (the “Mortgage”)
to North American Mortgage Company. Defendant Washington Mutual Bank (“WaMu”)
became the holder of the Note and Mortgage, as successor to North American Mortgage
Company, and it assigned the Mortgage to Defendant Federal National Mortgage
Corporation (“Fannie Mae”) in 2003. Fannie Mae filed a complaint in the Twelfth
Judicial Circuit Court in Sarasota County, Florida, seeking foreclosure of the Mortgage
against Plaintiff on April 23, 2003, in the case of Federal National Mortgage Association
v. Elizabeth H. Coursen, et. al., Case No.: 2003-CA-005846 NC (“the 2003 Foreclosure
Case”), which was eventually dismissed.

On or about October 31, 2006, Fannie Mae assigned the Mortgage back to WaMu
as attorney-in-fact for Fannie Mae. WaMu determined that Plaintiff had defaulted on her
loan payments in 2006, and as a result, filed a foreclosure action against Plaintiff on or
about September 13, 2006, in the case of Washington Mutual Bank v. Elizabeth H.
Coursen, et. al., Case No.: 2006-CA-008521 NC (“the 2006 Foreclosure Case”).

WaMu received a final judgment of foreclosure in the 2006 Foreclosure Case on or
about November 27, 2006 (“the Final Judgment”). In the 2006 Foreclosure Case, WaMu
filed the original Note, which reflected a blank endorsement. In 2008, Defendants JP
Morgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (collectively “Chase”) acquired
WaMu and subsequently became holder of the Note and Mortgage. Following several
failed attempts to settle the 2006 Foreclosure Case through loss mitigation efforts, and
following several pleadings filed by Plaintiff in an attempt to remain in the property
without making mortgage payments, the foreclosure sale was eventually rescheduled for
November 14, 2011.

Plaintiff filed a Motion to Vacate Judgment on or about September 27, 2011. The
state court denied the motion on October 24, 2011, for lack of jurisdiction. Plaintiff
subsequently filed a Motion for Rehearing on or about November 3, 2011, which was
denied. At the foreclosure sale on November 14, 2011, the subject property was sold to
Chase. Plaintiff subsequently filed her Objection to Sale, not raising any irregularity in
the sale or inadequacy of the sale price. In response, Chase filed a Motion to Strike the
Objection to Sale, which was granted on March 6, 2012.

Plaintiff filed a Complaint solely against JP Morgan Chase & Co. in state circuit
court on August 18, 2010, based upon allegations that Defendant lacked standing and
committed fraud in pursuit of the foreclosure. On August 18, 2011, the Complaint was
dismissed with leave to amend, for failure to state the fraud claims with particularity. On
September 27, 2011, Plaintiff filed a motion to vacate judgment in the 2006 mortgage
foreclosure, which was denied on October 24, 2011. She sought rehearing on November
3, 2011, and her motion was denied. The final sale of the property took place on
November 4, 2011, and a certificate of title was issued to Chase. Plaintiff filed an
objection to the sale, which was struck on March 6, 2012, because the motion failed to
raise any irregularity in the sale or inadequacy of the sale price.

Plaintiff then filed her First Amended Complaint on or about March 6, 2012, in
which she seeks relief through five counts for violations of FDUTPA (Count I);
violations of the FDCPA and the FCCPA (Count II); for civil conspiracy (Count III); for
abuse of legal process (Count IV); for damages and declaratory relief under 18 U.S.C. §
1961, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(b), and 18 U.S.C. § 1964 (Count V). (Dkt. 2.) She added
Defendants FNF, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., WaMu, Fannie Mae, Shapiro & Fishman,
GP, Fidelity National Default Solutions (“FNDS”), Fidelity National Information
Services (“FNIS”), Inc., Lender Processing Services, Inc. (“LPS”), Lender Processing
Services Default Solutions, Inc. (“LPSDS”), DocX, and Dory Goebel (“Goebel”), as
Defendants. Defendants Chase, WaMu, and Fannie Mae removed the case to this Court
on March 30, 2012. (Dkt. 1.)

Standard for Dismissal

In determining whether to grant a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the Court shall not
dismiss a complaint if it includes “enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible
on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1974,
167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (dismissing complaint because plaintiffs had not “nudged their
claims across the line from conceivable to plausible”). The Court “must view the
complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accept all of the plaintiff’s wellpleaded
facts as true.” American United Life Ins. Co. v. Martinez, 480 F.3d 1043, 1057
(11th Cir. 2007). “While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does
not need detailed factual allegations, (citations omitted), a plaintiff’s obligation to provide
the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions,
and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly,
550 U.S. at 555, 127 S. Ct. at 1964-65. To survive a motion to dismiss under Twombly, a
complaint’s factual allegations, if assumed to be true, “must be enough to raise the right
to relief above the speculative level.” Id. Plaintiff meets her burden under Twombly.

Discussion

FNF argues that it is not a proper party to this action. At the outset, FNF asserts
that Plaintiff failed to seek and obtain leave to add FNF as a party Defendant. However,
under Rule 1.190(a), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, leave of court or the consent of the
opposing party prior to adding additional parties is not required when a responsive
pleading has not been filed in the case. At the time that Plaintiff amended the complaint,
no responsive pleading had yet been filed. The sole Defendant had only filed a motion to
dismiss. A motion to dismiss is not considered a “responsive pleading” because it is not a
“pleading” under Rule 1.100(a) of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and, therefore,
Plaintiff’s absolute right to amend the complaint “once as a matter of course” had not
terminated. Boca Burger, Inc. v. Forum, 912 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 2005).

FNF next asserts that Plaintiff fails to sufficiently allege FNF’s liability. Plaintiff
does, however, allege that FNF, as well as FNDS, LPS, FNIS, LPSDS, and DocX,
employed the individuals whose illegal acts proximately caused her to suffer the loss of
her homestead through a wrongful foreclosure. (Dkt. 2, ¶¶ 16-18.) Further, Plaintiff sets
out the following allegations of FNF’s vicarious liability:

-FNF is the parent company of FNDS at all times material. (Dkt. 2, ¶11.)
-FNF acquired LPS a/k/a FNIS in 2003, and was its parent until 2008. (Id. at ¶13.)
-LPSDS is an alter ego of LPS. (Id. at ¶14.)
-DocX is/was a wholly owned a subsidiary of LPS and/or LPSDS. (Id. at ¶15.)
-Defendant Dory Goebel (“Goebel”) is an employee of all, or some, of the
aforesaid entities. (Id. at ¶16.)
-Goebel violated Fla. Stat. § 817.54 and § 831.06 by executing an Affidavit of
Indebtedness as “AVP Washington Mutual Bank” on October 23, 2006, in the 2006
foreclosure action. (Id. at ¶18(a).)
-At all times material hereto FNF and/or FNDS and/or FNIS/LPS and/or LPSDS
and/or DocX were instrumentalities of each other and they engaged in improper conduct
by failing to:

a. Observe corporate formalities;
b. By commingling funds;
c. By commingling assets;
d. By failing to adequately capitalize;
e. By using either corporate form to avoid liability for the other;
f. By actively conspiring to defraud Plaintiff of her homestead real property in
violation of her constitutional rights.
(Id. at ¶17.)

Under Florida law, the corporate veil will only be pierced to prevent fraud or
injustice. Eckhardt v. U.S., 463 F.App’x 852, 855 (11th Cir. 2012) (unpublished) (citing
Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. v. Sykes, 450 So. 2d 1114, 1121 (Fla. 1984)). Piercing the
corporate veil is proper if the corporation “is a mere device or sham to accomplish some
ulterior purpose, or is a mere instrumentality or agent of another corporation or individual
owning all or most of its stock, or where the purpose is to evade some statute or to
accomplish some fraud or illegal purpose.” Eckhardt 463 F.App’x at 855 (quoting Aztec
Motel, Inc. v. Faircloth, 251 So. 2d 849, 852 (Fla. 1971)). To pierce the corporate veil in
Florida, a claimant must establish: (1) the shareholder dominated and controlled the
corporation to such an extent that the corporation’s independent existence was in fact
non-existent and the shareholders were in fact alter egos of the corporation; (2) the
corporate form must have been used fraudulently or for an improper purpose; and (3) the
fraudulent or improper use of the corporate form caused injury to the claimant. Eckhardt,
463 F.App’x at 855-56 (quoting Gasparini v. Pordomingo, 972 So. 2d 1053, 1055 (Fla.
Dist. Ct. App. 2008)).

Plaintiff’s allegations sufficiently plead these factors for vicarious liability on the
part of FNF. The Court also takes judicial notice of the Securities and Exchange
Commission filings that Plaintiff provided to support her allegations that the LPS
Defendants are instrumentalities of each other and to devise her flow chart demonstrating
the corporate hierarchy of the LPS Defendants. (See Dkt. 40; Dkt. 39, p. 6.) Therefore,
the First Amended Complaint, taken as true, sufficiently establishes FNF as a proper
Defendant for purposes of this Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal proceeding. Whether Plaintiff’s
allegations can be proven is a question of fact that must be determined after discovery.

FNF also challenges Plaintiff’s claim against it for violation of the Florida
Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (“FDUTPA”), Fla. Stat. § 501.204(1)(2001),
for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. A claim for damages under
FDUTPA has three elements: (1) a deceptive act or unfair practice; (2) causation; and (3)
actual damages. Virgilio v. Ryland Group, Inc., 680 F.3d 1329, 1338 n.25 (11th Cir.
2012) (quoting Rollins, Inc. v. Butland, 951 So. 2d 860, 869 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2006)).
Here, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants, including FNF, violated FDUTPA by using fake
identities and manufactured documents to deprive her of her homestead through
foreclosure of a debt that was not in default2 prior to inception of the foreclosure cases.
(Dkt. 2, pp. 16-19.) The First Amended Complaint identifies FNF as the parent company
of the other LPS Defendants and alleges that FNF is liable for the alleged fraudulent acts
that caused her to lose her homestead. Plaintiff’s allegations are sufficient to withstand a
Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal. She must afforded the opportunity to prove the allegations
through the discovery process.

FNF further argues that Plaintiff fails to state a clam under the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) because FNF was neither owed any part of the loan
debt nor did it attempt to collect any money from Plaintiff on the loan in question.
Notwithstanding, 15 U.S.C. §1692(a)(6) defines the term “debt collector” to include any
person who uses an instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business
the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. Plaintiff alleges
that FNF, through its alleged alter ego, FNDS, “supplies record-keeping and litigation
support for actions brought to foreclose mortgages in Florida, including the preparation
and verification of multitudinous affidavits which are filed with various court clerks in
Florida.” (Dkt. 2, ¶11.) She also alleges that Goebel oversees a section of individuals
who produce thousands of sworn affidavits a day for filing in state and federal litigation
brought by FNF clients and several boilerplate documents used in the foreclosure of
Plaintiff’s home. (Id. at ¶16.) Furthermore, under 15 U.S.C. § 1692f, “[a] debt collector
may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt.
Subparagraph (6) of that section specifically prohibits taking or threatening to take any
nonjudicial action to effect dispossession or disablement of property … if there is no
present right to possession of the property claimed as collateral through an enforceable
security interest. As previously discussed, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants fabricated
documents in furtherance of a conspiracy to unlawfully divest Plaintiff of her homestead.
Consequently, this Court must find that Plaintiff’s allegations present a question of fact as
to whether FNF’s activities violated the FDCPA, and she must be allowed the opportunity
to establish those facts through the course of discovery.

Questions of fact preclude dismissal of Plaintiff’s claim under the Florida
Consumer Collection Practices Act (“FCCPA”), Chapter 559, Florida Statutes, as well,
because she plainly alleges that Defendants, including FNF, knew they did not have the
legal right to collect the alleged debt and created manufactured evidence and sham
pleadings to do so. (Dkt. 2, ¶¶18-19.) Section 559.72, Florida Statutes, provides that “no
person shall” do any of the 19 enumerated items, including collecting a debt which is not
owed or is the result of a “manufactured default.” Section 559.72(9) requires that
Plaintiff must show that FNF asserted a legal right that did not exist, with actual
knowledge that the right did not exist. For these reasons, Plaintiff’s allegations in support
of her FCCPA claim are sufficient to overcome a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal.

Plaintiff’s civil conspiracy claim requires that she prove: (a) the existence of an
agreement between two or more parties; (b) to do an unlawful act or to do a lawful act by
unlawful means; (c) the doing of some overt act in pursuance of the conspiracy; and (d)
damage to Plaintiff as a result of the acts done under the conspiracy. Olson v. Johnson,
961 So. 2d 356, 359 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2007). A cause of action for abuse of process
requires a showing of willful or intentional misuse of process for some wrongful or
unlawful object, or ulterior purpose not intended by law. Peckins v. Kaye, 443 So. 2d
1025, 1026 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1983) (citing Cline v. Flagler Sales Corp., 207 So. 2d 709
(Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1968)). Plaintiff is able to overcome dismissal of her common law
claims for civil conspiracy and abuse of process at this stage of the proceedings through
her factual allegations that Defendants acted unlawfully, and in agreement, with the intent
to defraud her through the use of sham documents and fabricated evidence, and that their
actions caused her damages. (Dkt. 2, ¶¶6-13, 18(e), 23.)

Finally, Plaintiff’s civil RICO claim under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 alleges facts that, at
least for purposes of a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, are adequate to support each of the
statutory elements for the predicate acts that allegedly divested her of her homestead. See
Republic of Panama v. BCCI Holdings (Luxembourg) S.A., 119 F.3d 935, 949 (11th Cir.
1997) (holding that in order to survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must allege facts
sufficient to support each of the statutory elements for at least two of the pleaded
predicate acts) (citing Central Distribs. of Beer, Inc. v. Conn, 5 F.3d 181, 183-84 (6th Cir.
1993)). Plaintiff alleges that Defendants unlawfully employed the United States mail,
Florida state courts, and perjured and fabricated evidence to divest her of her homestead.
(Dkt. 2, ¶¶1-16.) She alleges that Defendants were the principals of, or participated in, the
operation or management of the enterprise itself and that the pattern of racketeering
included at least two acts, transmission through the use of the mail of fake Assignments
of Mortgage and fictitious corporate signatures. (Id. at ¶¶6-12.) Furthermore, Plaintiff’s
civil RICO claim is not time-barred inasmuch as Plaintiff asserts that she was prevented
from discovering that she was the victim of fraud by Defendants’ concealment of the
alleged fraud.

ACCORDINGLY, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED:

Defendant Fidelity National Financial, Inc.’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s First
Amended Complaint (Dkt. 28) is denied. Defendant shall file its answer and any defenses
to the First Amended Complaint within ten (10) days of this Order.

DONE AND ORDERED at Tampa, Florida, on July 25, 2012.

s/Richard A. Lazzara
RICHARD A. LAZZARA
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

COPIES FURNISHED TO:
Counsel of Record
–

H/T Abigail C. Field

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO

LINDA A. CLARK

JEFF DOEHNER

JULIE DOEHNER

NINA LOWERY

JOHN WHITEMAN

LAURA YEAGER

MICHEAL YEAGER

Plaintiffs

vs

LENDER PROCESSING SERVICES, INC

LPS DEFAULT SOLUTIONS

DOCX, LLC

FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICES, INC.

-AND-

AMERICAN HOME MORTGAGE SERVICING, INC.

-AND

LERNER, SAMPSON & ROTHFUSS

-AND-

REIMER, ARNOVITZ, CHERNEK & JEFFREY CO, L.P.A.

-AND

MANLEY DEAS KOCKALSKI LLC

Defendants

[ipaper docId=100930645 access_key=key-1l5pw0hzk9dph096rs26 height=600 width=600 /]

Hopefully, Michigan, Nevada and or Missouri will take them down since Florida’s AG doesn’t know what her job is. It’s only a matter of time.

Miami New Times-

When June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards were called into a meeting last May with their boss at the Office of the Attorney General, they figured it was to talk about their promising new investigation. The two economic crime specialists were onto something big.

Florida was amid a staggering wave of foreclosures, but more and more homeowners were noticing odd problems: strange signatures, missing information, notary seals

with no signatures. With multiple investigations underway, Clarkson and Edwards had zeroed in on a single company — Lender Processing Services — they increasingly believed was illegally feasting on underwater residents.

But as soon as they sat down, their boss cut to the chase: “You’re both done at the end of the day. It’s a done deal, all the way up to Tallahassee. You can either quit or be terminated.”

[MIAMI NEW TIMES]

via: BOSTON67

Jamie Ranney, Esq. vs FRAUDclosures

There is a bill pending in the Massachusetts Legislature called H-04083 that is designed to provide more requirements that lenders work with  borrowers to provide real loan modifications before they can commence foreclosure and to hold lenders accountable where they unlawfully foreclose.  Unfortunately, the bill suffers from some substantial weaknesses which I have tried to remedy with edits and amendments.

Ever since I watched MI Attorney Vanessa Fluker testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee, I saw someone passionate about protecting her community that has been affected by the foreclosure crises. She is a fighter and deserves a mighty hi-5!

Bank did not forge Linda Green’s signature, but Lender Processing Service’s DOCx did!

Bank needs to go after LPS for this fraud!

The Michigan Citizen-

A metro Detroit homeowner received a temporary victory in court April 16 against a possible illegal eviction.

Attorney Vanessa Fluker argued in Wayne County Circuit Court that Deutsche Bank is using forged documents to claim ownership of her client’s home. Fluker’s client, who asked that her name not be released to the press, is facing eviction despite seeking loan modifications and attempting to buy her home after a sheriff’s sale.

Deutshe Bank is one of several large financial institutions foreclosing on homeowners without knowing who legally possesses the title, Fluker argued before Judge John MacDonald. Fluker was in court to defend her client from Deutsche Bank.

Fluker says her client is a victim of an epidemic of robo-signings — the practice of banks signing thousands of documents and affidavits without verifying the information.

[THE MICHIGAN CITIZEN]

Keep in mind, this is LPS  and NOT DocX’s doing. So they cannot try to push the blame on a now defunct sister corp. they once had. Also, who is creating a legal document such as a Quit Claim Deed? Lying to the court with false documents?

Another important tip that needs to be investigated is if LENDER PROCESSING SERVICES (LPS) is BUYING HOMES AT AUCTIONS?

Lender Processing Services (LPS) Internal Email Accidentally Leaked in a Fraudclosure Case

4closureFraud.org has received a very interesting court-certified document to share with our readers. An affidavit from Bank of America representative, Kimberly Sue Daley, refers to attached business records. The documents attached to the affidavit included a printout of email exchanges with the LPS Desktop logo.

The conversation evolves like this:

“Yikes! The name of the foreclosing party (HSBC as Trustee for Deutsche Bank Alt-A 2007-BAR1) matches the name on the affidavit of amount owed BUT that name doesn’t match what is in our system. It’s pretty far into the legal foreclosure process. What should we do now?”

“Hey, no problemo! We have two options; 1) change the name now and possibly be hit with higher homeowner association fees or 2) quit claim deed the home over to the right name after the sale, but that will cost documentary stamp taxes. The doc stamp taxes will probably be less costly than the HOA fees. Please advise.”

“Go with the quit claim deed (QCD). After the foreclosure sale to the trust, just deed the home over to Bank of America! Problem solved.”

Text and PDF copies of the documents below courtesy of 4ClosureFraud.org

Are these going to be the docs they signed at DOCX, LPS, NTC and most using MERS…in other words anything that was signed by 20,000!

Is this even permitted by the PSA’s?

LinkedIn-

For Immediate Release: March 13, 2012
Contact: Ginger Cavanaugh (704) 246-3896
ginger@talcottfranklin.com

Guilford County Sues To Clean Up Banks’ “Mess” at the Register of Deeds

Guilford County, ex rel. Jeff L. Thigpen, Guilford County Register of Deeds, filed suit today against LPS/DocX, MERSCORP, MERS, Inc., and numerous banks, loan servicers, and foreclosure specialists seeking to clean up the “mess” Defendants created in the County’s property records registry.

“Our office uncovered an abundance of falsified, forged, and fraudulently executed mortgage documents,” said Thigpen. “But our investigation only found the tip of the iceberg. We need the banks to clean up their mess.”

The suit cites as evidence, Thigpen’s identification of over 6,100 mortgage documents (4,519 of those by DocX) which were filed with the Register of Deeds and signed in the names of known robo-signer aliases: “Linda Green,” “Christie Baldwin,” “Pat Kingston,” “Korell Harp,” “Jessica Ohde,” “Rita Knowles,” “Linda Thoresen,” and “Brent Bagley.”

“How can we maintain accurate records of title with fraudulent documents? The banks are also maintaining their own private registry called ‘MERS’ that prevents the public from discovering who owns what loans. Because there is no accountability for MERS, its records are also a mess,” said Thigpen. “The system is broken and it needs to be fixed. We’re telling MERS and the banks: you broke it, you fix it.”

In an April 6, 2011 letter, Thigpen and Southern Essex (MA) District Registry of Deeds John O’Brien urged Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller to investigate MERS and its impact on Registers of Deeds as part of the national attorneys general robo-signing investigation. The suit cites numerous reasons why MERS fails to keep reliable chains of title, and notes that the recent attorneys general settlement did not address MERS’s and robo-signing’s impact on Registers of Deeds.

“When you combine the fraudulent documents with MERS, it is difficult if not impossible to trace title for property. Potential title defects hurt Guilford County homeowners and businesses by impacting property values,” said Thigpen. “We need to clean up chains of title to ensure certainty in the land records system.”

Under Thigpen, the Guilford County Register of Deeds strives to serve as a model register. The Register of Deeds implemented electronic filing, created an audit software program to improve indexing and correct filing errors, intensified staff training, redacted social security numbers from land records, and significantly upgraded technology.

In 2009, the Register of Deeds received a Local Government Federal Credit Union Productivity Award from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners for technological innovations.

“It is unbelievably frustrating to expend County resources in an attempt to create an efficient, accurate registry and have these banks wreak havoc on our efforts through fraudulent documents and a secret registry. If we don’t fix this now, the future impact on land records and property values could be severe and incurable.”

“Registries of deeds pre-date the founding of this country and are essential functions of government,” said Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne. “The Guilford County

Register of Deeds has created an outstanding infrastructure, but no registry can work if it is filled with falsified documents.”

The lawsuit, filed by Payne and Deputy County Attorney Matthew Turcola, describes the process by which the Defendants made and sold loans, created and maintained MERS, filed robo-signed documents, and damaged the Register of Deeds and the people of Guilford County. Among other things, the suit seeks the appointment of a special master to oversee an audit of the mortgage documents on file at the Register of Deeds and make necessary corrections.

“While the suit goes into detail on a complex series of transactions, the message is pretty simple,” said Payne. “We’re saying to the banks: ‘You made the mess, you clean it up.’”

Guilford County is located in central North Carolina. Its population is approximately 500,000. Greensboro is the largest city within Guilford County. Guilford County was established in 1771, the same year it began its Registry of Deeds. To assist with the suit, Guilford County retained Talcott Franklin P.C., the nation’s preeminent securitization litigation law firm. Talcott Franklin P.C. has offices in Dallas, Texas and Davidson, North Carolina.
Links:

http://www.restorepublicrecords.com (For copies of the Complaint and associated materials).

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UPDATE: FL is signing.

This is a PR stunt! Don’t buy into the Florida bit here. AG Pam Bondi was/is front and center cheer leading this touchdown and bashed states that rejected nationwide foreclosure settlement. If anything this is to make her look good meanwhile her LPS peers are getting hammered.

So why no lawsuit against LPS? FL AG’s office subpoenaed them for quite some time and 2 states have unleashed royal hell on them.

Business Week-

California, New York, Nevada, Florida and Massachusetts are among the handful of states that haven’t signed a deal with banks over foreclosure abuses, according to state officials and two people familiar with the talks.

The holdouts include some with the highest rates of foreclosures. More than 6 percent of Nevada housing units had at least one foreclosure filing in 2011, giving it the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, according to RealtyTrac. California registered the third highest rate in 2011 with one in every 31 units having at least one foreclosure filing during the year, said the firm, which tracks foreclosures.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who have been some of the most outspoken in pushing for changes to the deal, were among those who hadn’t joined as of yesterday’s deadline. More than 40 states signed on to the accord, according to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is helping to lead talks with the banks.

“Adding more numbers probably improves the political dimension of the settlement from the standpoint of the attorneys general,” said Ken Scott, a Stanford University law professor. “If you can say there were only a handful of diehards that didn’t sign on, that gives you some political protection.”

[BUSINESS WEEK]

–Boone County grand jury indicts Georgia corporation and its president for practices highlighted in 60 Minutes report —

NOTE: The following items are linked below:

New York Times story from this morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/docx-faces-foreclosure-fraud-charges-in-missouri.html?_r=1&ref=business

60 Minutes news story from August 7, 2011: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7375936n&tag=mncol;lst;1

Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster today announced that a Boone County grand jury has handed down 136-count indictments against DOCX, LLC and its founder and former president, Lorraine Brown, for forgery and making a false declaration related to mortgage documents processed by DOCX.

“The grand jury indictment alleges that mass-produced fraudulent signatures on notarized real estate documents constitutes forgery,” Koster said. “Today’s indictment reflects our firm conviction that when you sign your name to a legal document, it matters,” Koster said.

The forgery and false declaration counts each allege that the person whose name appears on 68 notarized deeds of release on behalf of the lender is not the person who actually signed the paperwork. The documents were then submitted to the Boone County Recorder of Deeds as though they were genuine.

Koster’s office requested the indictment, and the Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case.

The indictments are the result of months of investigation by the Attorney General’s Office into the robo-signing scandal that injected thousands of questionable mortgage documents into the market. When the practice began to come to light, several major lenders temporarily suspended foreclosures in 2010. DOCX’s role in the robo-signing process came to national attention when 60 Minutes reported that Linda Green, an employee of DOCX, purportedly signed thousands of mortgage-related documents on behalf of several different banks and in multiple handwritings. The 68 documents on which the indictments are based were purportedly signed by Linda Green, but were allegedly signed by someone else.

Forgery is a Class C felony and False Declaration is a Class B misdemeanor. If convicted on the most serious count, Brown could face up to seven years in prison for each count. DOCX could be fined up to $10,000 for each forgery conviction and $2,000 for each false declaration conviction.

The charges against DOCX and Lorraine Brown are merely accusations and, as in all criminal cases, the defendant is innocent until or unless proved guilty in a court of law.

The Attorney General’s investigation into this practice continues.

source: http://ago.mo.gov

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If this isn’t proof something isn’t smelling right at the Florida’s AG’s office, I don’t know what this is?

When you read David Dayens article, keep in mind where the assignments came from… LPS/DOCx!

FDL-

We’re at T-minus four days for sign-ons to the foreclosure fraud settlement, and we know that Florida’s Pam Bondi is on board, despite pushback from advocates in her state, ground zero for the foreclosure crisis. There’s an interesting nugget buried in this article, though.

Bondi spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said in an email that their concerns are “misguided” because the settlement would provide a historic level of monetary relief and will overhaul the mortgage industry.

“Rather than engaging in political grandstanding, Attorney General Bondi is working hard to reach an agreement that gets Floridians substantial relief now and holds banks accountable for their misconduct,” Meale wrote.

The settlement is expected to provide $1,800 each for about 750,000 families across the country. It is a response to such practices as “robo-signing” by bank employees who often knew little or nothing about the mortgage documents they were hired to sign.

Nevada, New York, Delaware, New Hampshire and Massachusetts contend the deal isn’t strong enough because it would protect banks from future civil liability.

It will not, though, fully release them from future state criminal lawsuits.

Put aside Bondi’s dissembling for a second …

[FIRE DOG LAKE]

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

January 18th, 2012

Contact: Kevin Harvey 1^st Assistant Register

978-542-1724

kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

O’Brien calls for criminal action against the Big Banks

Says they acted like “criminal enterprise”

Saying that the time has come for a full scale criminal investigation, Southern Essex District Register of Deeds John O’Brien, today has sent some 31,897 of what he says are fraudulent documents that have been recorded in the Salem Registry to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz. O’Brien said that he is asking these officials to impanel a Grand Jury to look into the evidence that he has presented. “I am confident that these documents will show a pattern of fraud, uttering and forgery. These documents are signed by known robo or surrogate signers, whose signatures were supposedly witnessed by notary publics.  In addition, these documents may contain fraudulent information in the body of the documents. I believe that a criminal investigation is the next step to hold the perpetrators responsible.” O’Brien praised Attorney General Coakley for her aggressive pursuit of wrongdoing in her civil action but noted that other states such as California, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan have launched criminal investigations, and O’Brien is hopeful that Massachusetts will do the same.  O’Brien strongly  suggests that the Grand Jury should subpoena both the past and present Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Mortgage Electronic Recording Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo,  Countrywide, Washington Mutual among others.  In addition, he is asking that the top officials of DOCX, Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. and LPS also be subpoenaed. “These companies have been retained by MERS and its member-banks to produce the documents that I am alleging contain fraudulent information. It is one thing to go after these institutions with a civil action, but the only way to let them know that you are serious is to call them before a Grand Jury.” O’Brien said, “There is no question in my mind that the officers of these banks and loan processing servicers made a conscious decision to commit fraud and participate in a scheme to deprive the public from knowing the true holder of their mortgage while at the same time avoiding paying billions of dollars in recording fees.  It is my opinion that they acted as a criminal enterprise, crossing state lines to commit their crimes and in most cases using the U.S. Postal Service to send these documents to registries of deeds, thereby committing mail fraud.  We need to know what they knew and when they knew it.  Until the CEOs who allowed these fraudulent activities to happen under their watch are sent to jail for what they did, these types of illegal behaviors will continue.”   Just last week, O’Brien’s Registry received 3 documents from Bank of America, all signed by a known robo-signer, Linda Burton.  O’Brien said, “If they are sending them to me, of all people, it is safe to assume that they are sending them to registries across the country.”  O’Brien refuses to record any documents signed by a robo-signer on his list unless those documents are accompanied by an affidavit attesting to the signature.  So far, he has not received one affidavit. “That clearly shows me that those documents were in fact fraudulent.”  O’Brien said that if he or anyone else went into one of these major banks and forged a signature on a loan document they would be arrested and sent into jail.  So it begs the question, why haven’t these CEO’S been held accountable? O’Brien cited the case of the individual who walked into a Walmart and tried to make a purchase using a fraudulent One Million Dollar bill.  He was arrested and charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretence and uttering a forged instrument.  O’Brien said, “As far as I am concerned, this is what these banks have been doing for years.  Make no mistake, MERS and its member-banks are taking people’s homes using fraudulent documents and that is something we do not do in America.” In addition, O’Brien is zeroing in on the major foreclosure law firms that he believes have acted as a co-conspirator in flooding the registries of deeds with these fraudulent instruments.  “These attorneys should know better. They have acted as co-conspirators in perpetrating this fraud.  I am sending a letter to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers asking that they conduct an independent investigation into the activities of these firms. Unlike our Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, I understand that there are other Attorneys General and other public officials across the country who would like nothing better than to sweep this matter under the rug and grant these lenders, loan servicing companies and their foreclosure-mill attorneys immunity for the damage that they have caused, not only to our economy but to people’s property rights.  They would be willing to accept pennies on the dollar, a slap on the wrist, and a promise to never do it again.  If that should happen, it would be the biggest sellout of the American People that I have ever seen.  It would send the wrong message that the big boys can get away with anything.  As I have been saying all along, they may think they are too big to fail, but as far as I am concerned, they are not to big to go to jail. The top officials at MERS, its member-banks, servicers and foreclosure-mill attorneys must be prosecuted and held accountable for their fraudulent schemes that brought profits to their institutions by cutting corners, circumventing land recordation systems through fraud, uttering and forgery.”

[ipaper docId=78713999 access_key=key-1cvqw4lb1tic32sow6f7 height=600 width=600 /]

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

General Bill by Soto

Foreclosure Debt Relief: Creates “Foreclosure Debt Claims Act”; authorizes creation & administration of deficiency judgment reimbursement program by Florida Housing Finance Corporation contingent upon occurrence of certain conditions precedent; provides for future termination of program; authorizes continuation of program after depletion of funds; provides procedures & eligibility requirements for homeowners & financial institutions to file specified monetary claims.

Effective Date: upon becoming a law

Original Filed Version

[ipaper docId=77032644 access_key=key-gwakxpa8ppkmoa721o2 height=600 width=600 /]

General Bill by Soto

Residential Foreclosure Proceedings: Designates act “Florida Mortgage Collection Fairness Act”; prohibits certain acts by mortgage collection firms; provides that violations are deceptive & unfair trade practices; provides penalties & remedies; provides for award of attorney’s fees & costs.

Effective Date: July 1, 2012

Original Filed Version  

[ipaper docId=77031054 access_key=key-16zod5x7qutjvybvp5sh height=600 width=600 /]

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.

[ORLANDO SENTINEL]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jennifer López
DATE: December 16, 2011 702-486-3782

NEVADA ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES LENDER PROCESSING
SERVICES FOR CONSUMER FRAUD

Carson City, NV – Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today a lawsuit against Lender Processing Services, Inc., DOCX, LLC, LPS Default Solutions,
Inc. and other subsidiaries of LPS (collectively known “LPS”) for engaging in deceptive practices against Nevada consumers.

The lawsuit, filed on December 15, 2011, in the 8th Judicial District of Nevada, follows an extensive investigation into LPS’ default servicing of residential mortgages in
Nevada, specifically loans in foreclosure. The lawsuit includes allegations of widespread document execution fraud, deceptive statements made by LPS about
efforts to correct document fraud, improper control over foreclosure attorneys and the foreclosure process, misrepresentations about LPS’ fees and services, and evidence of an overall press for speed and volume that prevented the necessary and proper focus on accuracy and integrity in the foreclosure process.

“The robo-signing crisis in Nevada has been fueled by two main problems: chaos and
speed,” said Attorney General Masto. “We will protect the integrity of the foreclosure
process. This lawsuit is the next, logical step in holding the key players in the
foreclosure fraud crisis accountable.”

The lawsuit alleges that LPS:

1) Engaged in a pattern and practice of falsifying, forging and/or fraudulently executing foreclosure related documents, resulting in countless foreclosures that were predicated upon deficient documentation;

2) Required employees to execute and/or notarize up to 4,000 foreclosure related documents every day;

3) Fraudulently notarized documents without ensuring that the notary did so in the presence of the person signing the document;

4) Implemented a widespread scheme to forge signatures on key documents, to ensure that volume and speed quotas were met;

5) Concealed the scope and severity of the document execution fraud by misrepresenting that the problems were limited to clerical errors;

6) Improperly directed and/or controlled the work of foreclosure attorneys by imposing inappropriate and arbitrary deadlines that forced attorneys to churn through foreclosures at a rate that sacrificed accuracy for speed;

7) Improperly obstructed communication between foreclosure attorneys and their clients; and

8 ) Demanded a kickback/referral fee from foreclosure firms for each case referred to the firm by LPS and allowed this fee to be misrepresented as “attorney’s fees” on invoices passed on to Nevada consumers and/or submitted to Nevada courts.

LPS’ misconduct was confirmed through testimony of former employees, interviews of servicers and other industry players, and extensive review of more than 1 million pages of relevant documents. Former employees and industry players describe LPS as an assembly-line sweatshop, churning out documents and foreclosures as fast as new
requests came in and punishing network attorneys who failed to keep up the pace.

LPS is the nation’s largest provider of default mortgage services, processing more than fifty percent of all foreclosures annually.

The Office of the Nevada Attorney General recently indicted Gary Trafford and Gerri Sheppard as part of a separate, criminal investigation into the conduct of robo-signing
scheme which resulted in the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents with the Clark County Recorder’s Office between 2005 and 2008.

Nevada homeowners who are in foreclosure or are facing foreclosure are advised to seek assistance as soon as possible. Homeowners can find information for a counseling
agency approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by calling 800-569-4287 or by visiting http://1.usa.gov/NVCounselingAgencies.

Additional information on foreclosure resources can be found at www.foreclosurehelp.nv.gov.

Anyone who has information regarding this case should contact the Attorney General’s Office hotline at 702-486-3132 (when promoted select “0”) to obtain information on how to submit a written complain. Nevada consumers can file a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office about LPS by sending a letter with copies of any supporting documentation to the Nevada Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection: 555 E. Washington Ave Suite 3900, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101

Read the complaint by visiting: http://bit.ly/LPScomplaint
###

[ipaper docId=75880204 access_key=key-2cvrlk1jd7n4d4dbdvk0 height=600 width=600 /]

Excerpts:

Q Do you have any knowledge of why American
Home Servicing, Inc. no longer does business with
DOCX?

A There were deficiencies in the documents
that they were producing.

Q What sort of deficiencies in general?

A They weren’t deficiencies. They weren’t
 prepared correctly

Q Can you give me any more detail about that?
I’m not asking about this specific case yet. Just in
general what sort of deficiencies?

A Some of the assignments weren’t properly
conveying the assignor/assignee appropriate parties.

Q As to the present mortgage that we’re here
on today, do you know whether American Home
Servicing, Inc. has ever had any ownership of the
beneficial interest in the payments due under the
note and secured by the mortgage?

A No, we’re strictly the servicer.

Q So at no time has American Home Servicing,
Inc. actually owned any interest in the mortgage; is
that correct?

MR. COOK: Object to the form.

THE WITNESS: No, we have not.

[…]

Q Now, do you know a person by the name of
Tywanna Thomas?

A No.

Q Have you ever heard that name?

A Yes.

Q In what context have you heard or become
familiar with that name?

A I’ve seen her name on assignments that they
prepared.

Q That DOCX prepared?

A Yes.

Q Has it ever come to your attention that
there are some irregularities with assignments
allegedly signed by Ms. Thomas and prepared by DOCX?

Mr. COOK: Object to the form.

THE WITNESS: Yes.

BY MR. TRENT:

Q What about Korell Harp, K-O-R-E-L-L,
H-A-R-P? Same question. Do you know Korell Harp?
that particular assignment came about?

MR. COOK: Object to the form.

THE WITNESS: How it came about?

BY MR. TRENT:

Q Yes. Isn’t it a fact, ma’am, that this is
a DOCX assignment? I’ll just hand you the exhibit.

MR. TRENT: It’s Exhibit —

THE WITNESS: Two.

MR. TRENT: — two.
(Thereupon, Defendants’ Exhibit Number 2
was marked for identification.)

BY MR. TRENT:

Q It has the Notice of Filing in the front,
but skip that.

MR. COOK: Do you want some time to
review the document?

THE WITNESS: I forgot the question.

BY MR. TRENT:

Q Isn’t it a fact, ma’am, that this document
was prepared by DOCX?

A Yes.

[ipaper docId=75615258 access_key=key-2jpyg47z8nuerlr0h60f height=600 width=600 /]

Mortgage Fraud

Bear Stearns
Lender Processing Services
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems

Action Date: December 11, 2011
Location: Jacksonville, FL

There is substantial evidence that mortgage servicing companies and their lawyers are continuing to file fraudulent mortgage assignments in county recorders offices throughout the country. In April, 2011, the widespread abuses, including massive forgeries, were exposed in a 60 Minutes segment that focused on employees of Docx, a subsidiary of Lender Processing Services, who forged the name “Linda Green” to mortgage assignments used in foreclosures.

Several weeks later, Guilford County, NC County Recorder Jeff Thigpen came forward with a comprehensive study of the “Linda Green” forgeries in his county’s records – finding over 2000 documents signed by Linda Green with 4 – 15 significant signature variations. County Recorder John O’Brien in Massachusetts and Curtis Hertel in Michigan conducted similar comprehensive studies with similar results.

In November, 2011, the Nevada Attorney General’s office filed the first criminal charges against employees of Lender Processing Services for falsifying mortgage documents.

An examination of recent filings by mortgage servicers shows that these companies are exacerbating the problem of fraudulent documents.

Mortgage assignments are now being filed with the following language:

“This Assignment is to supplement and ratify that certain Assignment of Mortgage recorded in Original Records Book 19467 at Page 1710 Original Records Book 19888 at Page 1466 of Hillsborough County, Florida.” (Instrument #2011294512, Hillsborough County, Florida, filed September 12, 2011.)

An examination of the “ratified” Assignment shows that it is one of the Linda Green forged documents. It is very similar to the Linda Green forged signature demonstrated by LPS employee Chris Pendley on the 60 Minutes segment.

Instead of admissions that the documents are forgeries, the mortgage servicers are filing “ratifications.” These ratifications are signed by other employees of mortgage servicing companies, using titles of MERS officers.

The information continues to be false. In the first “Linda Green” Assignment, the mortgage is reported to have been transferred on September 9, 2009. In the “ratified” version, the mortgage is reported to have been transferred on July 13, 2011.

Both Assignments purport to transfer a mortgage made by American Brokers Conduit to a Bear Stearns trust (Bear Stearns ABS, Series 2006-3) that closed in 2006. U.S. Bank is the trustee for this trust. American Home Mortgage Servicing is the servicer. The first assignment was filed on September 16, 2009 – just two weeks before the date on the Lis Pendens (initial foreclosure filing) prepared by the foreclosure mill, Shapiro & Fishman, LLP.

If the 2009 Assignment from MERS to the trust were valid, MERS would have had nothing to transfer in 2011. In Latin, this concept is stated: Nemo dat quod non habet. Translation: one cannot give what one does not have.

The signers on the 2011 Assignment claim to be corporate officers of MERS, though they are not listed as such in the records of the Florida Secretary of State. (The 2011 Assignment was notarized in Duval County, FL.)

These “ratification” filings are a good indication that the Consent Order entered by the FDIC and the OCC on April 13, 2011, are not being adequately monitored.

Why would any trust or mortgage servicer ratify conduct that has been described as criminal conduct by attorneys general?

These filings are a wreck on a wreck.

Isn’t this what LPS’s DOCx called:

Surrogate signers” signing countless foreclosure documents – with someone else’ name?

Many thanks to MYNEWS3 for these.

Begin on page 17:

Excerpt pg 22:

Through the course of this investigation, I’ve learned that the name has been changed a number of times. Chicago Title being one of the names that was used. LPS, Lender Processing Services. LPS, Default Title & Closing, LSI Title, Fidelity National Default. It’s a variety of names.

[ipaper docId=75147180 access_key=key-w5z9m98z00epdany7sc height=600 width=600 /]

All one has to do is read the following deposition below to understand how well orchestrated this enterprise was. Why no R.I.C.O.?

Deposition Transcript of DOCx, LPS CHERYL DENISE THOMAS

MercuryNews-

Nevada state prosecutors are accusing three more Nevada notaries of falsely attesting to signatures on foreclosure documents filed in a broad mortgage fraud scheme.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced Monday that Meghan Shaw, Jennifer Lowe and Joseph Noel were each charged with one charge of notarizing a signature of a person not in their presence. Court records filed last Wednesday refer to Lowe as Jennifer Bloecker.

[ MERCURY NEWS]

Excerpts:

Beginning Pg. 33

that’s when they — well, upon us leaving
anyway, they took up our notary stamps and
everything and destroyed them. But I was
relieved of my duties once moved to
Gwinnett County.

Q. Who — who — I’m sorry, did I miss
that? Who destroyed those documents?

A. I can’t say exactly who destroyed
them. All I know is that Jeffrey
the supervisor in the signing room at that
times, he picked up everyone’s stamp, the
notaries’ stamps.

Q. He took your stamps?

A. He took our stamps. And — and
they were destroying them.

Q. How were they destroying them?

A. I don’t know how. He just said
they were picking up all the stamps, all
of the notary stamps. And they were going
to destroy them, because the company was
closing. And they were only suppose to be
used for that company.

Continue below…

[ipaper docId=51885547 access_key=key-2omhtmjy5z5l5nazqt36 height=600 width=600 /]

Lynn E. Szymoniak, Esq., Fraud Digest,
Thanksgiving
2011

….for Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Chief Deputy Attorney General John Kelleher for filing criminal charges against two employees at Lender Processing Services, alleging that these employees filed thousands of falsified documents relating to foreclosures in Nevada. Attorney General Masto never said “I wish someone would do something about all of this mortgage fraud by servicers and document companies.”

…for Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, representing Maryland’s 7th
District, for his recognition of the importance of keeping families in
their homes, for his battle against fraudulent banking practices and for
being a constant, strong voice against fraudulent foreclosures in
America.

…for Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden for filing a lawsuit
against MERS for unfair and deceptive trade practices that plainly sets
out the fraudulent activities done in the name of MERS, including
obscuring important mortgage ownership information, acting as an
agent of the true owners of mortgage loans without authority, and
failing to properly oversee the MERS registry or enforce its own rules
in foreclosure proceedings. (State of Delaware v. MERSCORP,
Wilmington Division, Delaware Chancery Court). Attorney General
Biden also intervened in the $8.5 billion settlement proposed by Bank
of America to resolve claims by investors in mortgage-backed
securities put together by Countrywide Financial Corporation.

…for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for his
determination to investigate whether securities laws were broken when
mortgage loans were bundled into securities, for intervening in the
Bank of America settlement, and for refusing any deal that would give
immunity for criminal acts to banks or securities companies.

…for New York Judge Arthur Schack, for his intolerance of lies by
banks, for exposing the massive problem of fraudulent documents
used in foreclosures, and for writing the following in response to a
sworn affidavit from a bank lawyer, Margaret Carucci, that an officer
from Downey Savings & Loan could vouch for the accuracy of the
documents: “Ms. Carucci affirmed under the penalties of perjury that
she communicated on Christmas Eve with the officer of a defunct
financial institution. This is a deceptive trick and fraud upon the court.
It cannot be tolerated. This Christmas Eve conduct, in the words of
Ebenezer Scrooge, ins‘Bah, humbug!’” (Downey Savings and Loan
Association, F.A. v. Trujillo, 2011 NY Slip Op 51517 (U)). Judge
Schack has led the way to honesty in courtrooms.

…for New York Times OpEd columnist Joe Nocera for bringing the
photographs of the Steven Baum Halloween party, where firm
employees mocked homeowners in foreclosure, to the attention of the
world.

…for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley for
focusing attention on Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.
and whether MERS impaired the integrity of the state’s recording
system. Attorney General Coakley also made it clear that she would
do an in-depth investigation of MERS, stating, “We want to be clear we
are not prepared to give a release of liability on any broad scope of
MERS issues.”

…for Oscar-winning director Curtis Hanson and his HBO Film, Too
Big To Fail. Can anyone ever look at Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson again without remembering William Hurt’s portrayal? When
we hear the name Ben Bernake, doesn’t Paul Giamatti come
immediately to mind? But James Woods, as Richard Fuld, Chariman
and CEO of Lehman Brothers, will always epitomize the clueless
corporate executive.

…for Florida attorneys Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson who
were fired from the Economic Crimes Division of the Attorney
General’s Office after targets of their foreclosure fraud investigations
complained that these Assistant Attorneys General were too
aggressive. Edwards and Clarkson had gone after some of the most
notorious foreclosure mills in the state, including the law offices of
David Stern and Marshall Watson. They were also conducting an
extensive investigation of Docx and Lender Processing Services at the
time they were forced to resign. Florida Representative Darren
Soto of Orlando called for an investigation of the firings by the U.S.
Department of Justice and by the Inspector General in the Attorney
General’s office.

…for Locke Barkley, the standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the
Northern District of Mississippi, and her attorneys, Nick Wooten
and D.W. Grimsley, for filing a class action complaint in federal court
against Lender Processing Services alleging a kick-back scheme and
unlawful fee splitting between LPS and the attorneys in its network.

…for New York Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert E. Grossman for
issuing the first federal court ruling that MERS cannot transfer and
assign mortgage through its electronic registry system. Judge
Grossman rejected the argument that the banks had the authority to
arbitrarily change state property laws, stating, “This Court does not
accept the argument that because MERS may be involved with 50% of
all residential mortgages in the country, that is reason enough for this
Court to turn a blind eye to the fact that this process does not comply
with the law.” (In re Agard, 10-77338, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern
District of New york (Central Islip).

…for Louisiana Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth W. Magner for
imposing sanctions against Lender Processing Services, stating: “The
fraud perpetrated on the Court, Debtors and trustee would be shocking
if this Court had less experience concerning the conduct of mortgage
servicers. One too many times, this Court has been witness to the
shoddy practices and sloppy accounting of the mortgage service
industry. (In re Wilson, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of
Louisiana.)

…for Guilford County Recorder Jeff Thigpen for showing in
painstaking and incontrovertible detail how foreclosure fraud has
permeated county recording offices, for standing up for the rights of
homeowners, and for explaining how foreclosure fraud affects ALL
homeowners, not just those in foreclosure.

…for Massachusetts Register of Deeds John O’Brien and Marie
McDonnell who studied the records of the Southern Essex County
Registry of Deeds and found massive fraud. O’Brien released findings
that 75% of the mortgage assignments in the registry are fraudulent.
“My registry is a crime scene…” said O’Brien, who also has assisted
other country recorders throughout the United States in understanding
mortgage fraud issues and identifying robo-signers.

…for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Michigan
Attorney General Bill Schuette for issuing subpoenas to mortgage
servicers Lender Processing Services and Nationwide Title Clearing as
part of criminal investigations into the practices of mortgage servicing
companies. Just when the mortgage servicing companies thought they
had worked out a wonderful settlement with the OCC where they were
free to investigate themselves and report back, along came these
serious criminal law enforcement efforts.

…for Ingham County, Michigan Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel,
Jr. for investigating foreclosure fraud and robo-signing and reporting
his findings. Hertel found that banks were continuing to produce
foreclosure paperwork without proper reviews and signatures, despite
promises of reform.

…for Dallas County, Texas, District Attorney Craig Watkins and
Duval County, Florida, Clerk of the Court Jim Fuller for bringing
class action lawsuits against MERS. The lawsuits allege that MERS acts
as a “shadow recording system” for buying and selling mortgages in
the United States. The lawsuits attack the system that lists MERS as
the mortgagee on millions of loans throughout the country when MERS
did not originate the loans, lend any money or own or hold any
promissory notes.

…for Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Ralph Gants who
upheld a lower court ruling that two foreclosures were invalid because
the banks did not prove they owned the mortgages which had been
transferred into residential mortgage-backed trusts. The case was
expected to affect all foreclosures done without proper documents.
Judge Gants wrote, “the mortgages securing these notes are still legal
title to someone’s home or farm and must be treated as such.” The
case was seen as a significant warning to all purchasers of foreclosed
properties to be certain that an unbroken chain-of-title could be
established prior to making any purchase of residential real estate.

…for Scott Pelley, Robert G. Anderson and Daniel Ruetenik of 60
Minutes for their segments “The Hard Time Generation” and “The Next
Housing Shock.” Americans needed to see school buses stopping at
cheap motels in Orlando for children who have lost their homes and to
hear that the poverty rate for children in America would soon hit 25%.
For tens of thousands of people with mortgage documents signed by
Linda Green, the image of Chris Pendley forging Green’s name to
mortgage documents was the best possible confirmation that
something is rotten in the state of Denmark. This segment provided
the impetus for country recorders with conscience to take action
against mortgage fraud.

…for California Attorney General Kamala Harris for her
determination to investigate and expose the root causes of California’s
mortgage crisis by issuing subpoenas to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

…for U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan for
recognizing the significance of the Bank of America settlement when
he wrote, “This action concerns far more than the financial interests of
a few sophisticated investors,” and when he decided, “The intervention
of the state AGs in this action will protect the interests of absent
investors.” (Bank of New York Mellon v. Walnut Place, LLC, 11-cv-
05988, USDC, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

…for Academy Award Winning Director Charles H. Ferguson for
the movie Inside Job which documents the 2008 financial meltdown
and why it was avoidable. Ferguson himself has said that the film is
about the systemic corruption of the United Sates by the financial
services industry. There is a reason this film won the Academy Award
for Best Documentary as well as many other film critic awards. It is
chilling to watch.

…for filmmaker and author Michael Moore and his advocacy on behalf
of a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures and his work to
expose “liar liens.”

…for Florida Appellate Court Judge Juan Ramirez, Jr., who wrote
in his dissent, “I dissent because I cannot condone the unprofessional
and unethical means used by the bank’s counsel, with the trial court’s
complicity, to obtain an amended final judgment in this case…This case
is the quintessential denial of due process. Due process requires
notice and an opportunity to be heard. Here appellant was granted
neither. A final judgment was amended from $216,485.73 to
$529,630.64, and the appellant was only informed after the fact when
he received the conformed copy in the mail…In my view, to affirm
what happened here requires that we turn a blind eye to the Florida
Rules of Civil Procedure, the Florida Bar Rules of Professional Conduct,
and the Code of Judicial Conduct, to say nothing of the Constitutions of
the United States and the State of Florida.” (Phillips v. Centennial
Bank, No. 3D10-2910, (Fla. 3rd DCA 2011).

…for Dylan Ratigan for making the word “fraudclosure” part of the
American vocabulary and for telling the story of tens of thousands of
American families impacted by fraudulent foreclosures when much of
the rest of the country would only focus on investors’ losses.

…for Max, April and Nye – because when everyone in a movement
knows you by your first name, you have fought the longest and been
an inspiration to the most.

…for Jack Wright who gives us MSFraud.org.

…for Massachusetts Land Court Judge Keith C. Long for his
careful, thoughtful common-sense ruling in the case of Antonio Ibanez,
a case eventually upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

…for the Bankruptcy Trustees and Judges including Hon. Tracey
Hope Davis (Northern District of New York), Hon. Martin Glenn
(Southern District of New York), Hon. Harry C. Dees, Jr. (Northern
District of Indiana), Hon. Diane Sigmund Weiss (Eastern District of
Pennsylvania), Hon. Joel B. Rosenthal (Massachusetts), Hon. Joan
M. Feeney (Massachusetts), and, of course, Hon. Christopher Boyko
(Ohio) for carefully scrutinizing the evidence presented by the banks
regarding ownership claims of notes and mortgages.

…for Hon. William G. Young of Massachusetts who put the blame
squarely on the legal profession, stating:

After 43 years at the bar, the saddest thing about this case is
the conduct of the lawyers — all the lawyers. A careful reading
of the briefs in this case reveals only a single recognition that
counsel did anything amiss in their misrepresentations to the
Bankruptcy Court. There’s blame aplenty, of course, each one
blaming everyone else — including the hapless bankrupt
homeowner. … How is it that our profession, the legal
profession —which could have and should have strongly
counseled against the self interested excesses that set up the
collapse — instead has eagerly aided and abetted those very
excesses? How could we (all of us who profess to be lawyers)
have fallen so low?” (In re Nosek, 386 B.R. 374 (Bankr. D.
Mass. 2008)

…for Neil Garfield and his Livinglies weblog for his endless efforts to
educate consumers and their lawyers on “the largest economic fraud in
human history.” Neil is the source of so much valuable information –
he is a one-man Consumer Protection Bureau and THE SOURCE for
foreclosure defense.

…for Michael Olenick of LegalPrise for building Findthefraud.com,
allowing citizen researchers the power to view documents quickly and
thoroughly, eliminating the impediments in the systems set up by
many county recorders.

…for the ACLU for fighting for the rights of homeowners and for
exposing courtroom injustices.

…for Floridians Lisa Epstein, Damian Figueroa, Michael Redman,
and Matt Weidner for speaking the truth on their blogs, at great
personal cost, assisting tens of thousands of citizens across the
country who educate themselves regarding foreclosure fraud and
injustice, and reporting what actually goes in in county courtrooms
every day.

…and finally, for JPM Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon for his definition of
foreclosure as debt relief, for BOA’s CEO Brian “We have a right to
make a profit” Moynihan, for the partiers at the Steven Baum
Halloween party, to Cheryl (“David Stern buys me a new BMW every
year”) Samons, for Stern crony Miriam (“Let ME find the fraud”)
Mendieta and for screaming Representative Joe Walsh, for illustrating
this quotation from historian David C. McCullough:

History is not the story of heroes entirely. It is often the story
of cruelty and injustice and shortsightedness. There are
monsters, there is evil, there is betrayal. That’s why people
should read Shakespeare and Dickens as well as history – they
will find the best, the worst, the height of noble attainment and
the depths of depravity.

#

[ipaper docId=73576469 access_key=key-17v6txu3ss6n2vpgfima height=600 width=600 /]

Bank Fraud

Docx, LLC
Law Offices of David Stern
Lender Processing Services
Cheryl Samons

Action Date: October 24, 2011
Location: West Palm Beach, FL

HURRICANE CHERYL DESTROYS LAND RECORDS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY

In the six month period from September 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009, 502 mortgage assignments, signed by Cheryl Samons, were filed in the official records of Palm Beach County, FL.

Samons was the office manager for the Law Offices of David J. Stern, but she signed as a MERS officer.

Mortgage-backed trusts were the primary beneficiary of these Samons Assignments.

Mortgage Assignments Signed by Cheryl Samons Filed in Palm Beach County from September, 2008, through February, 2009:

September, 2008: 75
October, 2008: 125
November: 2008: 56
December, 2008: 85
January, 2009: 101
February, 2009: 60

Multiplied by three, in the 18-month period from July 4, 2008 though January 4, 2009, Samons is likely to have signed 1,506 Assignments.

This is the same 18-month period that 1,742 Docx Assignments were being filed in Palm Beach County. These had a stated mortgage value of $560,239,797 or an average mortgage value of $321,607 per assignment.

Samons Palm Beach County assignments filed from July 4, 2008 through January 4, 2009 have an estimated value of $484,340,182, nearly half a billion dollars.

This does not include the assignments signed by other Stern employees, associate Beth Cerni or paralegal Carol Wasserman.

The combined value of mortgages, primarily transferred to mortgage-backed trusts, for one county for one 18-month period: $1,044,579,939.

While Docx Assignments were only filed for 18 months in Palm Beach County, Samons assignments appeared regularly from 2007 through 2010.