Government Lawsuit Says Bank Of America Mortgage Fraud Even WORSE Than Countrywide

This story (from Sep. 2011) has never been published here.  I've been saving it for the right time, and news earlier this week that BofA CEO Brian Moynihan has been named as a defendant in a federal foreclosure lawsuit, makes now a pretty good time for a BofA pile-on.

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Marketwatch

By Al Lewis

Federal lawsuit says even Angelo Mozilo was shocked...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Bank of America Corp.’s story has long been that Countrywide did it. But a lawsuit filed last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency tells a different tale.

The lawsuit claims that when former Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo marveled at the dizzying recklessness of the mortgage-lending business, he was in fact looking at Charlotte-based Bank of America.

This is perhaps one of the most insulting claims ever leveled in a mortgage-fraud lawsuit.  Bank of America would probably feel outraged if it weren’t so overwhelmed with its nauseating plunge on the stock market.  Mozilo has easily eclipsed Enron’s brass as one of the most-hated executives of all time. He has become the poster child for the fraudulent mortgage-lending practices that torpedoed the U.S. banking system and the entire global economy.

But he was smart enough to sell Countrywide as it nearly collapsed in January 2008. And Bank of America was dumb enough to buy it for $4.1 billion.

Since then, Bank of America has been blaming Countrywide for a litany of problems.

You’ve heard the allegations before: These banks sold billions worth of mortgage-backed securities while lying about the thousands of funny little mortgages behind them.

Since Bank of America bought Countrywide, it will indeed pay for things Countrywide did. But it will pay for things it did, too.

The government is suing Bank of America for Countrywide, and it is suing Bank of America, separately, for things it did without Countrywide.

Bank of America issued a statement in response to the lawsuits, essentially saying Fannie and Freddie knew the risks of the securities they bought, and that the losses are due to a downturn in the housing market. But the United States of America would rather blame the Bank of America.

“BOA was one of the most aggressive competitors in the mortgage-origination market,” the government’s lawsuit reads.

And that’s where it hints that Bank of America was even worse than Countrywide:

“Even the top executives of Countrywide Financial Corp., the notorious mortgage lender ...complained to each other...that BOA’s appetite for risky products was greater than that of Countrywide,” the lawsuit reads.

“In a June 13, 2005, email, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo wrote to President and COO David Sambol: “This is the third deal in the last 10 days that BOA has offered that is impossible to beat. In fact, the other two were substantially worse than this one. It appears to me that BOA is making an aggressive move into mortgages once again.’”

Imagine that. Bank of America doing mortgage deals that even Mozilo found shocking.

Read the whole thing at Marketwatch...

Comments

[DailyBail]

Max Keiser: "Pitchforks & Torches See Higher Prices, Where Are The Guillotines For Wall Street?"

http://dailybail.com/home/max-keiser-pitchforks-torches-see-higher-prices-where-are-th.html

[TA]

Anyone who believes a single thing that Mozilo says is a moron. The article is garbage.

[Sagebrush]

Max Keiser: "Pitchforks & Torches See Higher Prices, Where Are The Guillotines For Wall Street?"

Hopefully they are being built as we speak. They do need to be portable and easy to set up. When the crap hits the fan they'll be bouncing back and forth between D.C. and Wall Street like Ping-Pong balls.

[Jamie]

WHY IS SOMEONE NOT HELPING THE UNFORTUNATE PEOPLE THAT ARE MADE TO DEAL WITH BANK OF AMERICA AND HAS CAUSED SUCH STRESS AND GRIEF THAT FAMILIES ARE BEING TORN APART! BANK OF AMERICA ARE CROOKS AND LIARS! THEY HAVE CAUSED MY FAMILY SUCH GRIEF AND STRESS THAT I AM NOW SUFFERING FROM MEMORY LOSS! I do not have the money to hire an attorney! PLEASE HELP US!

[Brenda Brown]

Please!!!! someone help me I have tried to modify my mortgage twice. Each time I 've tried I"ve had to keep refaxing information.

[Tim K. Missouri]

I'm one of those people who lost their job do to the economy. I've been trying to get a loan modification for six months and Bank of America kept lossing paperwork and Tax returns, said couldn't find or never received. Everytime you call get passed from person to person, different story each time. They called week before last and said they had all paperwork and put in for foreclosure sale to be stopped. They crooks sold my house on the courthouse steps four days later, Bank of America stole my home! We can't let them get away with their corrupt ways!

[DailyBail]

Tim, Brenda, Jamie

I would refer you to 2 websites:

Foreclosure Hamlet and Stop Foreclosure Fraud

Look them both up on google.

There is a community of readers and commenters at both sites who can perhaps give you some help and advice.

[Beverly Thomas]

I would like for us to get a class action suit together. I have been trying to get my loan corrected forever and NO one has helped me. I get great customer service but when I'm transferred to the department that can make the change - THEY DO NOTHING. HANG UP. I HAVE A COPY OF MY PAYMENT HISTORY AND THEY HAVE DONE SOME FRAUDLENT THINGS. THEY TOOK A PAYMENT AND REAPPLIED IT WITHOUT MY APPROVAL. THEY REVERSED SO MANY PAYMENTS. I BELIEVE SOMEONE IS STEALING MONEY FROM THE COMPANY WITHOUT THE COMPANY KNOWING IT.

[SKINFLINT]

http://www.bsis.ca.gov/forms_pubs/poa.pdf Beverly, on page 48 of this document starts the explanation on citizens arrest in the State of California.

[LadyLiberty]

Sorry but you are just beating a dead horse no one is going to jail Fannie/Freddie Statute of Limitations was only 3 years most financial crime is 5 years so if people were going to jail they would have been charged already

Federal laws require the SEC to file official charges within five years of the alleged crimes due to a statute of limitations

The statute of limitations defense for federal crimes

http://www.federalcriminallawyer.us/2010/12/05/the-statute-of-limitations-defense-for-federal-crimes/

Statute of Limitations for Federal vs. State Crimes

http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/statute-of-limitations-federal-vs-state-crimes


Will Bankers Ever Go to Jail? 10 Questions Answered

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/02/will-bankers-ever-go-to-jail-10-questions-answered.html

Eric Schneiderman Will Have to Do Better Than This

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-02/eric-schneiderman-will-have-to-do-better-than-this.html

If they use FIRREA,(which is 10 years and untested in these kinds of cases) the best they would do is more Bribes er I mean fines

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE83B1MR20120413?irpc=932

[lisa gross]

I am writing to let people know that in a case such as mine in Ohio case a0909754 where I showed the magistrate proof that I cured my default, in Jan 2006 modified my loan and the bank never owned the property nor did I because it never legally transferred out of my grandmothers ownership to me for lack of a survivorship deed. They still illegally attached our family home to this illegal loan and let bank of america take my house. I proved robosigning was involved, broken chain of title, manipulation of payment records, refusal to reinstate loan and the courts simply dont care.

Now I owe 93,000 dollars for a property that was never legally mine on a 51,000 loan this is happening in America and this is supposed to be the land of the free and justice for all. Unbelievable!

[BL Brandt]

Into my home came a broker who said he reped Countrywide (2008). Finally I found a solution to save my home. I had been struggling. I only owed $88K but GMAC would not help me refinance. Constant ordeal. I lost my career at age 58 (2002) and finally decided to try to sell. The broker was asked about the sale of Countrywide to Bank of America and he assured me "my bank is not that bank." That was just the beginning of false info. He was selling a convesion mortgage. And according to him, FHA had totally different standards for my home because I owened it. No set aside required after appraiser from Landsafe determined my home was sufficent. A 1926 home with updating in 1951 was later updated by me with my equity. Wiring, plumbing, roof, windows, heatig system -- none of which would have been sufficient for Fannie Mae -- but then no one mentioned Fannie Mae and they were skillful to hide that contract at closing. I wanted to talk to BOA about the appraiser and then learned that the broker was their employee in 2007. I received a scathing letter telling me I had bought a damaged house after I asked about the broker and was transfered to Champion Mortgage. So, when I hear that Bank of America had no knowledge of the Hustle, I can only conclude that perhaps only their broker was able to work for two banks at once, providing underwriters with no information evidently and Landsafe evidently doing no due diligence with appraisers. The Department of Justice should dig deep -- this is not just one bank and one scam. This was organized crime.