BREAKING: Feds Open Criminal Investigation Into Bank Foreclosure Fraud
Foreclosure law is normally handled by states, so this feels like political posturing set to coincide with the end of the moratorium. Breaking story from the Washington Post plus the latest stories on foreclosure-gate from around the web.
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Federal law enforcement officials are investigating possible criminal violations in connection with the national foreclosure crisis, examining whether financial firms broke federal laws when they filed fraudulent court documents to seize people's homes, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Obama administration's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is in the early stages of an investigation into whether banks and other companies that submitted flawed paperwork in state foreclosure proceedings may also have misled federal housing agencies, which now own or insure a majority of home loans, according to these sources.
The task force, which includes investigators from the Justice Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies, is also looking into whether the submission of flawed paperwork during the foreclosure process violated mail or wire fraud laws. Financial fraud cases often involve these statutes.
The probe is unfolding as the administration seeks to send a public message that banks or other companies that broke the law would be held accountable. After freezing foreclosures in many states amid reports of improper foreclosures, banks are now preparing to submit new paperwork and resume the process of seizing homes. Members of the task force and other administration officials are set to hold a wide-ranging meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue at HUD. That will be followed by a White House briefing by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and the task force executive director, Robb Adkins, an administration official said.
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Related links from around the web:
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Further reading:
Oct 19, 2010 at 6:28 PM
Reader Comments (15)
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LOL Why do I have an image in my head of the Maytag repairman?
http://www.realitista.org/files/page0_blog_entry74_1.jpg
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/08/17/obama-smoking-pot.jpg
Through falsified Bankruptcy Court pleadings, some lawyers wrongfully, illegally impede homeowners’ restructuring debts, and impede discovery of the actual owners of mortgage notes. False bankruptcy “Lift Stay” motions in names of either defunct lenders or lenders with no ownership of property notes not only help illegal property repossessions, any other creditors whom debtors owe, becomes deprived wrongfully of entitled shares of proceeds from those auction frauds; and ILLEGITIMATE “deficiency judgments” ; and third party debt-buyers seeking money after unfairly low auction (straw purchase) bids resulted in large debt balances are also problems.
Plus, dishonest foreclosure mills work in concert with Wells Fargo. Among other things, Wells Fargo has tax advantage from fraudulent foreclosure proceedings after placing distressed homeowners’ names / social security numbers on false IRS (acquisition) form 1099-A’s, even when no lawful “acquisition” of properties occurred; such homeowners wrongfully become forced to explain these turn of events to the IRS after surprise receipts of tax bills. “Fee-splitting” is also an element of intentional, fraudulent foreclosure. *read about fee splitting: “Lender Processing Services Discusses Legal Issues” @ http://quicktake.morningstar.com/Stocknet/san.aspx?id=354567
People who think that people who can no longer afford their mortgage should pack up and move out, ignore that it is unjust to render people homeless by use of intentional, dishonest, illegal foreclosure proceedings. Foreclosure mill illegalities accounts for “illegal foreclosures” and “Tent Cities” which could be Anyplace, USA.
Foreclosure fraud (on farmers, businesses, as well as residences) MUST become investigated;” it can cripple peoples’ abilities to move forward with their lives for a very long time –and the cloaked perpetrators are often millionaires; those perpetrators are as bad as, or worse than Bernie Madoff.
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“Case In Point: Foreclosure Mills, Judicial Fraud, Consumer Exploitation. . .” http://open.salon.com/blog/wwwlawgraceorg/2010/08/18/case_in_point_foreclosure_mills_judicial_fraud_consumer
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA on Foreclosure Crisis (concerning Wells Fargo)
http://www.pr-inside.com/open-letter-to-president-obama-on-foreclosure-crisis-r1505916.html
Lehman Brothers, Wells Fargo Foreclosure and Insurance Claims
http://www.lawgrace.org/2008/09/14/lehman-brothers%E2%80%99-mortgage-troubles-nationally-evidence-of-foreclosure-fraud-deception-and-conspiracy-with-wells-fargo-deceptive-judicial-filings/
Important Facts About Foreclosure and Mortgage Fraud
http://www.lawgrace.org/2010/09/30/important-facts-about-foreclosure-and-mortgage-fraud/
The snarky comments are easy (see mine above), but what do you folks think?
NO MENTION OF DEBT OR NOTE ON ASSIGNMENT, DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE: WACHOVIA v. VARGAS NYSC
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2010/10/18/no-mention-of-debt-or-note-on-assignment-dismissed-with-prejudice-wachovia-v-vargas-nysc/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ForeclosureFraudByDinsfla+%28FORECLOSURE+FRAUD+|+by+DinSFLA%29
No way is an Obama Task Force anything other than Kabuki Theater--something the empty suit-in-chief can point to as evidence that he's tough on banks. It ranks up there with his "fatcat bankers" remark and his photo ops with Paul Volcker. It is all so tiresome.
No one from either political party is even remotely serious about the massive frauds that have drained trillions of wealth from Americans and are now illegally evicting people from their homes. We live in a banana republic controlled by banking sociopaths and abetted by lawyers paid handsomely to piss on the law.
Ratigan and Denninger talked about fraudclosure and politics today:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=169695
But Cheyenne, if this really is just more Kabuki, then how do they pull it off? It's almost to the point where they've painted themselves into a corner -- they keep talking the talk, the evidence of fraud keeps piling up...how do they credibly say nothing to see here, move along?
Who other than Ratigan would call Obama out on it? Republicans love the banksters too.
I suspect the game plan is something like this: until the election, feed the usual media hacks a steady diet of articles about paperwork problems, process issues, illegal Mexican homosexual deadbeat lovers getting to stay in their homes for free--whatever it takes to avoid the real issue. Meanwhile, let the fraudulent foreclosures continue; deadbeats don't have money to fight anyway. Just get to the election, not much longer now. After that, a lame duck congress will pass legislation that tries to sweep the mess under the rug.
Remember: we're dealing with sociopaths; their capacity to lie and deny is boundless.
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Yeah, after I asked the question, that's pretty much what I came up with. But what about Obama himself? He's not up for re-election. Or maybe he knows he's a lame duck already anyway. Or maybe they don't even think that far ahead, assuming we'll forget the whole thing by 2012.
Of course, that's what they thought about TARP ;-)
I would bet the only real action taken will be to investigate every possible avenue to bury as much of the foreclosure fraud problem as they can. How to block lawsuits and delay judgments against the banks till the bankster Congress can pass emergency legislation to allow all the crooked paperwork to go forward unchallenged. This will be the Administrations Goal. The MSM will tell us everything is on the up and up and our interests are being protected.
Actually we will be bent over and screwed big time again by the banks and the government.
That is what Obama's task-force will accomplish and nothing more.
Vote The Worthless Bast**ds out, I Am!