Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, Ignores Foreclosure Fraud

[FayeforCure]

Yay for Scott Maxwell telling it like it is!!!

Republican rule in Florida doesn't care about the struggling homeowners!!!

In Fact in Florida everything is done to STOP foreclosure fraud investigation!

Those who voted for Bondi, please call her to do what's right for Florida homeowners!!!

Bondi tough on gangster crime, except when it comes to bankster crime.


On foreclosure fraud, Bondi comes up short


December 20, 2011|Scott Maxwell, TAKING NAMES


All of America is suffering. But five states have been hit particularly hard by foreclosures â€" and foreclosure fraud.

In four of those five states, attorneys general have aggressively stood up for their constituents.

A.G.'s in Arizona, California, Michigan and Nevada have used everything from lawsuits to criminal subpoenas to go after the fraudsters trying to improperly evict families from their homes.





And then there's Florida.

Here, the biggest news Pam Bondi's office has made on the foreclosure front was for ousting two of her top fraud investigators.

Oh, and also when one of her top advisors left to work for a firm her office was investigating.

Something stinks. I've said so for months.

And now, as the Sentinel's Mary Shanklin detailed in her Sunday story â€" "Bondi lax in pursuing big lenders amid foreclosure crisis, critics say" â€" more people are noticing the stench.

Today, many of those critics â€" including religious leaders and consumer watchdogs â€" will gather in Orlando and Miami to demand better.

Bondi should pay heed. After all, we're not talking about cutting a break to people who lost their homes simply because they stopped making mortgage payments.

We're talking about banks and foreclosure firms trying to kick families out of their homes using fraudulent techniques and without due process.

Documents have been signed by fictitious bank officers, paperwork was mysteriously "lost," and dates on contracts were off by days, months, even years.

Bondi knows all of that. It was her own office that exposed wrongdoing and earned national praise for doing so.

Except, ******just a few months after investigators June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards issued their report on "unfair, deceptive and unconscionable acts in foreclosure cases," Bondi's lieutenants forced them out.*******

The two women â€" who both had stellar job reviews and netted a record-breaking $2 million settlement â€" were given 90 minutes to clean out their desks.

"Obviously we did our job too well," Edwards told me after it happened. "We were making too much noise."

The oustings were so suspicious that Bondi agreed to let Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater's office investigate.

That's happening now. But I'm not holding my breath. In fact, I bought some rock shrimp this week. And I will broil, butter and salt this column and eat it along with the shrimp if that investigation holds anyone accountable.



Substance and accountability are not the Florida way, especially when one politician is investigating another.

Bondi argues her office did nothing wrong by ousting insolent employees. She claims she's as vigilante as ever. And her office repeatedly notes that she has assigned even more staffers to the fraud unit.

So what? More staff doesn't mean squat. Where are the results?

On Monday, I asked Bondi's office for examples of any major settlements or prosecutions since the office ousted it's top two investigators.

All I received Tuesday was a statement from her office in support of Hannukah.

I also recalled a disturbing conversation I had with the head of Bondi's "economic crimes" division earlier this year. During our talk, Richard Lawson downplayed any expectations of prosecution and big settlements, saying he'd rather work with the firms to change the culture.

I see. So when homeowners don't play by the rules, they lose their homes.

But when the banks don't, they get a second chance and maybe bigger profits.

Hogwash. Bondi should follow the lead of other attorney generals and start going after the fraudsters â€" rather than the employees who expose them.

smaxwell@tribune.com or 407-420-6141

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-12-20/news/os-scott-maxwell-bondi-foreclosure-122111-20111220_1_foreclosure-fraud-acts-in-foreclosure-cases-foreclosure-front

Can I finally hear Republicans tell me they will no longer vote for any Republican who acts like Rick Scott and Pam Bondi?

[FayeforCure]

"It seems like she's balancing the interest of businesses with the interest of Floridians when it comes to principal reduction," said state Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando. "When you're the AG, you have one interest: Floridians. You're supposed to be the consumer advocate, first and foremost."

With foreclosures again rising across the country in recent months, Florida continues to rank among the five hardest-hit U.S. states. About 44 percent of its mortgaged homes are "underwater," their owners owing more on their loans than the properties are worth, according to a recent report by the research company Corelogic Inc.

The nation's four other hardest-hit states, based on Corelogic's ranking, are Nevada, California, Arizona and Michigan. Unlike Bondi, the top law-enforcement officers in those states have been making news for going after mortgage lenders and loan servicers.

Harris, the California attorney general, withdrew from the negotiating group several months ago because of concerns that any settlement would be too lenient on the banks. She has teamed with Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto on investigations involving mishandled documents, shoddy loan servicing, and the bundling of mortgages for sale to investors. Massachusetts' attorney general, Martha Coakley, has said that she, too, has "lost confidence" that any agreement reached by the group would "hold banks accountable for wrongful foreclosures."

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard last year filed a lawsuit against Bank of America following a yearlong investigation into that bank's mortgage-servicing practices. And Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette took the rare step in June of serving criminal subpoenas to out-of-state mortgage processing companies.

Beyond the hardest-hit states, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office recently said it was conducting a banking probe that could lead to criminal charges against financial executives. The attorneys general of Delaware and Illinois are also conducting probes.

In Florida?

Bondi is best known on the foreclosure front for her office's ouster of two tough mortgage-fraud investigators.

So as to protect the Banks at the expense of homeowners!

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-12-18/business/os-bondi-foreclosures-20111212_1_florida-foreclosure-crisis-pico-united-florida-settlement-talks

[FayeforCure]

Aggressive Foreclosure Fraud Investigation in CA vs Ignoring and outright Stopping Foreclosure Fraud Investgation in Florida:

http://www.youtube.com/v/aPVv-yE2ryc

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Answer one question:  Did the people in the house sign a note?

Call it predatory, call it unfair, call a spade a spade....   If these banksters were truly gangsters, then JOI would have a lot more patients with 'knee problems'.  People took the money and can't pay it back.  Period. 

What part didn't the lender explain properly?  Wasn't it all right there:  2-1ARM  This is your rate.  This is the rate that it can be next year.  This is the balloon payment that will be due in year 3.  What's not to get? 

Oh, they had a computer sign the notes in bulk to a mortgage securities warehouse, I don't know who to pay?  Did you take the money?  Yes.  Did you pay anything to anyone?  No.  Simple.

[FayeforCure]

Banks obviously have the right to foreclose..........but not with forged documents.........that's what's considered criminal fraud. Plain and simple.

Here about Pam Bondi firing two fraud investigators who successfully proved forging of documents to illegally speed up foreclosures:

Months later, no word on attorney firing investigation

Gray Rohrer, 12/20/2011 - 02:35 PM


More than four months after an investigation into the firings of two foreclosure fraud attorneys in the Attorney General’s office began, the inquiry carries on.

Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson were forced out this past summer despite stellar performance reviews and a settlement with a law firm accused of using fraudulent foreclosure documents to speed up the cases.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated she stands by the decision, but also called for an investigation into the firings, to be carried out by Ned Luczynski, the inspector general for Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater’s office. The investigation began Aug. 8.

Luczynski is to report his findings to Bondi’s inspector general, James Varnado, when the investigation is completed.

Although typical personnel investigations typically take two to three months, the current inquiry has stretched much longer, and officials are not offering up any information about it, when a report might come out or why it is taking longer than usual. Neither Bondi’s office nor Atwater’s office will comment on the investigation until Luckzynski’s report is complete.

“I assume that once the investigation is over and the report is completed and public record we’ll make it available,” said Alexis Lambert, spokewoman for Atwater.

“Hopefully, when we’ve received the report it will shed some light on the issues surrounding the dismissals,” said Bondi spokeswoman Jennifer Meale.



Reporter Gray Rohrer can be reached at grohrer@thefloridacurrent.com.

http://www.thefloridacurrent.com/article.cfm?id=25861765&utm_source=not_lt_user&utm_medium=article_link&utm_campaign=current_email


http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/457554/matt-dixon/2011-12-21/florida-morning-rick-scott-wants-lottery-sales-schools

Pam Bondi is not being a public servant, she is a bankster servant!!!

[urbaknight]

Florida: The screw you state.

[Moved On]

I'm not new to the site but am new to posting and have a story that I'd like to share and get some feedback from regarding the above subject.  (I guess I can do it, since I'm incognito)

The numbers are made up, but close recollections.  I use them to compare to your own circumstance.

7 Years ago I had a good job as a Project Manager for Mattamy homes - 3 yrs in, approx $76/yr.  My wife worked full time ($40/k) and we have 2 kids - they were 5 & 2 at the time.  We purchased a decent sized bungalow in Murray Hill for $78K after putting $15k down.  We took out the full amount and used the surplus to renovate the house.  Our payment after taxes/ins/etc were around $600/mnth.  Life was really good and we lived day to day - after buying the house and configuring the budget, we didn't plan our savings very well.  We had a really good time. 

Being in the industry, I thought we could make a ton of money by flipping a house in my development.  So we took out another loan $110k on a spec house.  The way prices were climbing daily, I figured within a 8 months (the time to build the house) we could sell it for $140 - $160.  To come up with the down payment, we re-mortgaged our house on a adjustable rate with a 4-1 term, and since things were good, I re-fid for more than the house ws worth - $100k, figuring the way things were going, we could flip the new house in a year and pay back the second note and still pocket about $30k.  Things didn't go as planned. 

In the next year, I lost my job, the economy tanked and we were underwater in both houses for about $200k.  My payment jumped from around $750 ea. to well over $1,000 per home.  There was no way we were making both payments on one income.  All of our dreams were crushed in a full banquet room on baymeadows, when I was let go.

I hear people whine.  I hear people cry.  I don't know how many of those people do it just to do it, or if they have actually been through this.  I have.  I have as much sympathy for the others as I had for myself.  I saw $$$$ and let it get the best of me, and in retrospect, would have made a few different decisions.  I don't blame anyone but myself.  I fucked up.  I owned it.  I'm better for it. 

What ended up happening is both homes were forclosed on.  I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel so I quit.  I started making our original payment of $700 into an account each month, but the mortgage company never saw a dime.  It took over 1 1/2 years for the forclosure to hit and by that time we had enough saved up to make a down payment on another house - which we did - in someone elses' name.  We own the house via a quit-claim deed, a family member owns the mortgage that we will continue to pay until we can get another mortgage and our credit is more than likely shot for another 5-6 years.  The calls have stopped.  We're living a normal life and that shitstorm is behind us. 

It was my fault.  I wish more people would claim that it's their fault instead of blaming everyone else around them.  It will help you sleep easier.

[FayeforCure]

Florida: The screw you state.

Hmmm yeah, how the heck do Florida Republicans condone the screwing of their fellow citizens by the banksters?

Aren't they just a tad embarrassed that they live in the only state that condones fraudulent practices by mortgage banks?

How is it that the nation's four other hardest-hit states, based on Corelogic's ranking, Nevada, California, Arizona and Michigan do protect their citizens from bankster fraud?

Silence by other Republicans is implied consent for fraudulent foreclosures, and fraudulent evictions.

During this Christmas season I urge Republicans of all stripes to protest the goings on in Florida for the sake of your neighbors.

[FayeforCure]

It was my fault.  I wish more people would claim that it's their fault instead of blaming everyone else around them.  It will help you sleep easier.

I think we are mixing up two things..........

The borrower can be at fault or not..........it doesn't really matter. What matters is the fraudulent way banks are foreclosing using forged documents.

A. It doesn't really matter if someone:

1. was flipping house
2. loses their job
3. finds their home underwater due to the market
4. got in over their heads for other reasons, taking out home equity loans during good times, credit card debt
5. predatory lending practices


B. None of that is justification for banks to skirt the law and foreclose using illegally forged documents. 

[Moved On]

Nor does it mean that I have any right to the property.  Does it really matter who owns now?  Or how they went about it?  I quit paying.  Some keep trying.  It doesn't give either of us more of a right to claim the house is ours.  Move on.

[FayeforCure]

Nor does it mean that I have any right to the property.  Does it really matter who owns now?  Or how they went about it?  I quit paying.  Some keep trying.  It doesn't give either of us more of a right to claim the house is ours.  Move on.

Does anyone say that you have any right to the property? But what about the 20% downpayment many people did put into their homes?

I have helped my daughter arrange a short sale 2009-2010 when her army family was transferred to Alaska.  She lost a $15,000 down payment.

I am currently helping a friend with a HAMP modification and finding the same things others have:

lost paperwork
endless delays
repeatedly having to fax the same paperwork to different non-communicating departments 

[Moved On]

No we didn't.  Honestly, when we realized the situation we were in, we thought it best to just regroup and keep moving.  We had advice from close family and they advised against it due to our lack of tangibles.  Cut the losses and keep going, so to speak.

[FayeforCure]

stephendare, I think Florida is a no recourse state...............still I think banks have the right to go after what is owed them.

Anyway, here is a long description of what happens in foreclosures and why forged documents are frequently used:

THE OCTOBER 2008 BAILOUT PAID OFF THE HOLDERS OF MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITES AND DERIVATIVE INSUREDS

The facts indicate that the Federal Reserve "printed" at least 16 trillion dollars as part of the 2008 bailouts. The bigger questions, however, who got it, why and what did the Fed get in return? The Fed doesn’t just print money. It prints money to buy stuff. Most often this is U.S. Treasuries. That changed in October of 2008. In and after October 2008 the Fed printed new money to buy mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that were defaulting at a rapid rate. Want proof? Here is a link to the Federal Reserve balance sheet which shows that the Fed is holding over a trillion dollars in mortgage backed securities that it began acquiring in 2008.


Record Title and Legal Title

Virtually all 62 million securitized notes define the "Noteholder" as "anyone who takes this Note by transfer and who is entitled to receive payment under this Note…" Very few of the holders of securitized mortgages can establish that they both hold (have physical possession of) the note AND are entitled to receive payments on the notes. For whatever reason, if a Bailout Bank has possession of an original note, it is usually endorsed payable to the order of some other (often bankrupt) entity.

If you are a Bailout Bank and you have physical possession of an original securitized note, proving that you are "entitled to receive payment" on the note is nearly impossible. First, you have to explain how you obtained the note when it should be in the hands of a PSA Trustee and it is not endorsed by the PSA Trustee. Second, even if you can show how you obtained the note, explaining why you are entitled to receive payments when you paid nothing for it and when the Fed may have satisfied your original creditors is a very difficult proposition. Third, because a mortgage is security for payments due to the noteholder and only the noteholder, if you cannot establish legal right to receive payments on the note but have a recorded mortgage all you have is "record" title to the mortgage. You have the "power" to foreclose (because courts trust recorded documents) but not necessarily the legal "right" to foreclose. Think FNBER v. IMS.

The "robosigner" controversy, reported by 60 Minutes months ago, is a symptom of the banks’ problem with "legal title" versus "record title." The 60 Minutes reports shows that Bailout Banks are hiring 16 year old, independent contractors from Backwater, Georgia to pose as vice presidents and sign mortgage assignments which they "record" with local county recorders. This is effective in establishing the Bailout Banks’ "record title" to the "mortgage."

Unlike real bank vice presidents subject to Sarbanes-Oxley, Backwater 16-year olds have no reason to ask: "Where is the note?"; "Is my bank the noteholder?"; or "Is my Bank entitled to receive payments on the note?"


NEWT’S FANNIE/FREDDIE ENDGAME: PLANTATION USA

Those of us fighting the banks began to see a disturbing trend starting about a year ago. Fannie and Freddie began showing up claiming title and seeking to evict homeowners from their homes.

The process works like this, using Bank of America as an example. Average Joe had a securitized loan with Countrywide. Countrywide, which might as well have been run by the Gambino family with expertise in "daisy chain" fraud, never followed the PSA, did not care for the original notes and almost never deposited the original notes in the PSA Trust. Countrywide goes belly up. Bank of America (BOA) takes over Countrywide in perhaps the worst deal in the history of corporate America, acquiring more liabilities than assets. Bank of America realizes that it has acquired a big bag of dung (no notes = no mortgages = big problem) and so sets up an entity called "BAC Home Loans LLP" whose general partner is another BOA entity.

The purpose of these BOA entities is to execute the liquidation the Countrywide portfolio as quickly as possible and, at the same time, isolate the liability to two small BOA subsidiaries. BOA uses BAC Home Loans LLP to conduct the foreclosure on Joe’s home. BAC Home Loans LLP feeds local foreclosure lawyers phony, robosigned documents that establish an "of record" transfer of the Countrywide mortgage to BAC Home Loans LLP. BAC Home Loans LLP, "purchases" Joe’s home at a Sheriff’s sale by bidding Joe’s debt owed to Countrywide. BAC Home Loans LLP does not have and cannot prove any connection to Joe’s note so BAC Home Loans LLP quickly deeds Joe’s property to Fannie and Freddie.

When it is time to kick Joe out of his home, Fannie Mae shows up in the eviction action. When compelled to show its cards, Fannie will claim title to Joe’s house via a "quit claim deed" or an assignment of the Sheriff’s Certificate of sale. Adding insult to injury, while Joe may have spent years trying to get BOA to "modify" his loan, and may have begged BOA for the right to pay BOA $1000 a month if only BOA will stop the foreclosure, Fannie now claims that BOA deeded Joe’s property to Fannie for nothing. That right, nothing. All county recorders require that a real estate purchaser claim how much they paid for the property to determine the tax value. Fannie claims on these recorded documents that it paid nothing for Joe’s home and, further, falsely claims that it is exempt because it is a US government agency. It isn’t. It is a government sponsored entity that is currently in conservatorship and run by the US government.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article31789.html

[FayeforCure]

http://www.forecloseddreams.com/recourse_states

Ooooops I was wrong..........Florida IS a recourse state:

Recourse basically means that the lender can come after you (has recourse against you) if your house sold at auction or through a short sale for less than the amount owed the lender. If you borrowed $350,000 to buy your home and it sold at auction for $200,000 there is a deficiency of $150,000. That lender can have recourse against you for that amount depending on your state.

Non-Recourse States
•Alaska (AK)
•Arizona (AZ)
•California (CA)
• Connecticut (CT)
•Idaho (ID)
•Minnesota (MN)
• North Carolina (NC)
•North Dakota (ND)
•Oregon (OR)
•Texas (TX)
•Utah (UT)
•Washington State (WA)

Recourse States
•Alabama (AL)
•Arkansas (AR)
•Colorado (CO)
•Delaware (DE)
•District of Columbia (DC)
•Florida (FL)
•Georgia (GA)
•Hawaii (HI)
•Illinois (IL)
•Iowa (IA)
•Indiana (IN)
•Kansas (KS)
•Kentucky (KY)
•Louisiana (LA)
•Maine (ME)
•Maryland (MD)
•Massachusetts (MA)
•Michigan (MI)
•Montana (MT)
•Mississippi (MS)
•Missouri (MO)
•Ohio(OH)
•Nebraska (NE)
•Nevada (NV)
•New Hampshire (NH)
•New Jersey (NJ)
•New Mexico (NM)
•New York (NY)
•Oklahoma (OK)
•Pennsylvania (PA)
•Puerto Rico (PR)
•Rhode Island (RI)
•South Carolina (SC)
•Tennessee (TN)
•Vermont (VT)
•Virginia (VA)
•West Virginia (WV)
•Wisconsin (WI)
•Wyoming (WY)

[ChriswUfGator]

Answer one question:  Did the people in the house sign a note?

Who the hell knows, when the documents are fake. Kind of the whole point, isn't it?