* How Serious is the GMAC Problem? Pretty Serious and Not Just GMAC – 09/21/2010 – Yves Smith
* Steve Keen: Deleveraging With a Twist – 09/21/2010 – Yves Smith
Monday, September 20, 2010
Grayson Calls on Florida Supreme Court to Halt Foreclosures
Representative Alan Grayson of Florida has asked the Florida Supreme Court to halt all foreclosures in the state in light of an investigation by its attorney general into allegations of pervasive foreclosure fraud by so-called “foreclosure mills”.
Text below:
September 20, 2010
Chief Justice Charles T. Canady
Florida Supreme Court
500 South Duval Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1900
Dear Chief Justice Canady,
I am disturbed by the increasing reports of predatory ‘foreclosure mills’ in Florida. The New York Times and Mother Jones have both recently reported on the rampant and widespread practices of document fraud and forgery involved in mortgage assignments. My staff has spoken with multiple foreclosure specialists and attorneys in Florida who confirm these reports.
Three foreclosure mills – the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, Shapiro & Fishman, and the Law Offices of David J. Stern – constitute roughly 80% of all foreclosure proceedings in the state of Florida. All are under investigation by Attorney General Bill McCollum. If the reports I am hearing are true, the illegal foreclosures taking place represent the largest seizure of private property ever attempted by banks and government entities. This is lawlessness.
I respectfully request that you abate all foreclosures involving these firms until the Attorney General of the state of Florida has finished his investigations of those firms for document fraud.
I have included a court order, in which Chase, WAMU, and Shapiro and Fishman are excoriated by a judge for document fraud on the court. In this case, Chase attempted to foreclose on a home, when the mortgage note was actually owned by Fannie Mae.
Taking someone’s home should not be done lightly. And it should certainly be done in accordance with the law.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Alan Grayson
Member of Congress
Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: Alan Grayson, Canady, Chase, Florida Supreme Court, Shapiro and Fishman, Stern, WAMU, Watson |
Can you say November Elections?
The A Man
I agree with you comments. figure apprx $40 trillion
dollars is now in the wrong hands..and locked up in a secret account off shore…Do not worry the Government got their share..but they act like they have nothing…Consider the bail a slap in the face as an intention to assist.
Now they have the means to manipulate the economy,
wars to come and construct their New World order. for the generations to come.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38003693/Beazer-Home-Fraud-Mortgage-Origination-letter-From-Senator-Grassley-and-HUD-Asking-Why-So-Easy-on-Them-09-22-10
THE LETTERS SEND FROM HUD AND SENATOR GRASSLEY
The inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has accused the Department of Justice blocked an investigation into Beazer Homes, CNBC has learned.
According to documents obtained by CNBC, the inspector general claims the Department of Justice blocked an investigation and watered down the settlement amount that Beazer ultimately paid.
That 2009 $50 million settlement “provided too little restitution” compared to losses suffered, the inspector general said.
The story began in 2007, when Beazer—which was one of the country’s 10 largest home builders—first came under investigation after allegations of mortgage fraud.
That year, an article in the Charlotte Observer revealed that 77 buyers in a Beazer development of 406 homes had gone into foreclosure, a rate well above the national average.
In a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the inspector general said that’s when he began investigating allegations that Beazer engaged in fraud against the Federal Housing Administration.
Inspector General Kenneth Donohue also complains that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has not responded to a letter he sent on this matter in July. Today, Grassley sent his own letter to Holder asking for a response to the inspector general’s allegations.
Representatives for Beazer and the Department of Justice did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38000885/Banks-Pressed-on-Sour-Home-Loans-Certificate-holder-want-rescission-of-loans-WSJ-reps-and-warranties-make-these-loans-recourse-they-are-signed
Reps and warranties. Certificate holder want these loans returned for faulty underwriting. Tal Franklin and I have talked. He is moving $500 Billion of Certificate Holders interest. This is recourse loan–not without recourse.
Big U.S. banks are facing legal pressure to make up for losses tied to pools of soured low-end mortgage loans.
In the latest effort, a group of investors in 2,300 mortgage securities worth roughly $500 billion is seeking to force several banks that originated or are now servicing faulty subprime-mortgage loans to repurchase or modify them.Some investors ‘had no idea that their money was being invested in mortgage-backed securities,’ says Talcott Franklin, a Dallas lawyer.The move follows other similar efforts. Bond and mortgage insurers, hard hit in the housing crisis, have filed lawsuits accusing lenders and banks of sticking them with flawed loans marred by poor underwriting and faulty appraisals.Federal Home Loan Banks in Pittsburgh, Seattle and San Francisco have sued Wall Street banks, seeking to force them to buy back mortgage-backed bonds. In July, the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued 64 subpoenas to obtain information about loans underpinning securities sold to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
msoliman,
Not sure what you are saying. Are you saying that these guys who are producing forgeries are immune from prosecution??
And, that they will be allowed to continue??
Everyone should, of course, file their own claim. But, what I think you are saying is these law firms are well protected by the government. Not that I doubt you, just very alarming.
Three foreclosure mills – the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, Shapiro & Fishman, and the Law Offices of David J. Stern – constitute roughly 80% of all foreclosure proceedings in the state of Florida.
NOTHING THERE …..I TELL YOU ….
————————————————————–
All are under investigation by Attorney General Bill McCollum. If the reports I am hearing are true, the illegal foreclosures taking place represent the largest seizure of private property ever attempted by banks and government entities.
NOTHING THERE …I AM TELLING YOU NOW….
——————————————————————
This is lawlessness.
NOTHING….NOTHING AT ALL WILL COME OF THIS …..(it’s called a FED indeminification from prosecution …)
Aint nothing there …….File your claims folks…
Stop fighting the “morons fight” against MERS deamons, lender ghosts and servicer gobblins. . .aint NO bankers left to fight . . . Okay?
Get smart . File a claim NOW . . .or it will be too late. Think people Think! ! ! File a claim NOW
expert.witness@live.com
M.Soliman
Immunity from prosecution …..foreclosure mills …immunity from prosecution ….forgery …..immunity from prosecution ….MERS….immunity from prosecution …..Cut and Paste documents ….immunity from prosecution .
WHATS HAPPENING HERE !
trustees are ….not trustees or servicing agents are …what ? Subrogation agents for theFED Under a certain FDIC program …Hmmmm…… immunity from prosecution!
FILE YOUR CLAIM OR BE SILENT … Pro tanto Baby; its Pro tanto . . . . Shhhh Keep it a secret .
Whaaaaaaaaaaa Whats this mean Whaaaaaaa Make him stop…..Oh please make him Stop …
Mr. McCain was asked before the republican convention one last time …by bankers —will you take our endorsement and money to elect you . He said NO ! Hell No ! Move out of my way ! Ill take my chances
The other candidiate was asked before the Democratic convention the same thing….and he said . .. . “Foreclosure – I’ll show you how to foreclose –get them dead beat s out! Sho me da Money !
TO BSE, WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT. WE ALL GOT WIPED OUT. IF WE ADMIT IT OR NOT. THE BANKSTERS OWN US.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE THE BANKS OWN US. WE ARE ALL “KUNTE KINTE” FROM ROOTS. WE ARE ALL SLAVES TO THE BANKSTERS. THEY OWN US.
REGARDING MCCAIN YOU DID NOT UNDERSTAND MY HUMOR. BUT I PROBABLY AGREE WITH ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING MCCAIN. HE IS A SICK INDIVIDUAL. ANYBODY WHO WAS IN A P.O.W. CAMP AS LONG AS HE WAS HAS SERIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES.
WE SHALL OVERCOME. PHAROAH (BANKSTERS) LET MY PEOPLE GO.
K Pooley
It is true McCain was slapped around during the Frank Keating S&L scandal, A zebra never changes his stripes. The past can predict the future.
All I can say, I am madder than hell and will never get over this.
BE a Patriot !, Stop your mortgage payment ! and fight these usurious bastards.
A MAN,
McCain is a piece of shit. His involvement in the S&L crisis should have told you something. He was on the take then and he is on the take now. How dare you say that he is upstanding. Do you think his attitude has changed much as far as money is concerned???
His father in law is a mafia man. WTF???? McCain and his ilk are slime.
Funds Seek Countrywide, Bear Stearns Home Mortgage Buybacks
By Jody Shenn – Sep 22, 2010 6:47 PM ET
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Mortgage-bond trustees Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. should demand lenders buy back home loans underlying securities owned by two hedge funds, a lawyer for the investors said.
The funds sent separate requests to the three banks that serve as trustees for 14 securitizations at issue with $11.6 billion in outstanding debt, said David J. Grais, a partner in the law firm Grais & Ellsworth LLP. He declined to name the funds in a Sept. 20 interview at his New York offices.
An increasing number of investors are taking action after the worst housing recession since the 1930s sparked a record drop in the value of mortgage debt. Banks face as much as $51 billion in losses tied to loan repurchases from poorly performing securities, FBR Capital Markets Corp. analysts said in a Sept. 20 report.
“The loss of patience has taken longer than we expected,” said Grais, whose hedge-fund clients are using data from real estate researcher CoreLogic Inc. to press their cause with the trustees. Grais said he has “been endlessly surprised” that more investors haven’t moved faster to assert contract rights.
His hedge-fund clients are looking to recoup money on loans in bonds from issuers including Countrywide Financial Corp., now part of BofA, and a unit of Bear Stearns Co., which was bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Grais also represents the Federal Home Loan Banks of San Francisco and Seattle and Charles Schwab Corp. in separate lawsuits against securities underwriters, as well as hedge funds Ellington Management Group LLC and Greenwich Financial Services LLC in suits involving the servicing of mortgages within bonds.
Can’t Sue Underwriters
The hedge funds he’s representing in the request sent about 45 days ago to bond trustees can’t sue the securities’ underwriters because the funds bought the mortgage bonds in the secondary market, Grais said.
Kevin Heine, a spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, and Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, declined to comment.
Elise Wilkinson, a spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, and Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan in Chicago, also declined to comment.
Investors face an “obstacle course” of challenges in attempting to get banks to repurchase loans that failed to match their description in bond documents, Grais said. The funds he represents that are seeking buybacks used data from Santa Ana, California-based CoreLogic to show the quality of specific loans didn’t meet sellers’ contractual promises, Grais said.
Scraping Data
CoreLogic’s data is culled from bond reports, tax records, property-valuation models and credit services, Grais said. Typically, only bond trustees can review actual mortgage files, seek loan repurchases and file lawsuits if the demands aren’t met.
Earlier this month, Houston-based law firm Gibbs & Bruns LLP said its clients had demanded Bank of New York investigate mortgages backing $26 billion of Countrywide-issued bonds, a request the bank denied because it said it failed to meet multiple requirements.
Kathy Patrick, a partner at Gibbs & Bruns, said her unnamed clients are evaluating the response.
Who Has Power
In that case, bondholders said they have the power to order the trustee for the securities to start probes because the investors own 25 percent of the debt in particular bond issues.
Grais’s clients are relying on a different approach, in part because they don’t own 25 percent in all the cases they are pursuing, he said. Some contracts require not only that investors demanding trustee action own 25 percent of the overall deal, but rather 25 percent of each class of securities in a given issuance, he said.
So far Grais’s clients are relying on CoreLogic’s data, which he said costs about $5 per loan, to make the case for them. Gibbs & Bruns’ Sept. 3 statement didn’t mention offering such research to the bank.
CoreLogic’s information on 48 securitizations showed about 28 percent of properties were valued at least 5 percent more than they should have been, Grais said. About 21 percent inaccurately described consumers as planning to live in homes rather than rent or flip them, which can be determined in part through where borrowers’ tax and other bills get sent, he said.
While Grais said he’s having a “constructive dialogue” with Wells Fargo, he expects the push will end in court as trustees either balk at the requests or complete probes and demand repurchases that the mortgage lenders then dispute.
The next step may be to file so-called derivative lawsuits on behalf of bondholders, which Grais said is an untested approach that would rely partly on court precedent involving family trust cases.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jody Shenn in New York at jshenn@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net
THE A MAN,
I use to hold McCain in high regard. But I live in Arizona and my eyes are wide open. Congress and Senators ( Phil Graham) created this mess. Clinton approved it .
Now I have lost 30 years of savings, my home and retirement fleeced. I am 50 and starting over. These Senators hold no regard for the US tax payer, and the families that were displaced to the streets. Further they go home every night with no worries for themselves nor their families. They have no clue and no apologies for the destruction of this country,
As far as I am concerned they are heartless S.O.Bs. Never again !
BSE LEAV MCCAIN ALONE. HE IS A HAS BEEN.
HE WAS A PRISONER OF WAR. THEY DID SOMETHING TO F–CK WITH HIS BRAIN. THE ONLY REASON HE BECAME A SENATOR IS BECAUSE OF HIS LAST NAME.
I WISH MCCAIN ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD. HIS DAUGHTER IS CUTE AND AVAILABLE. I’M ALREADY TAKEN BUT FOR ALL YOU SINGLE GUYS SHE IS HOT.
NEVER AGAIN
WE NEED TO HELP OBAMA NOT CRITICIZE HIM
FACEBOOK PAGE TWEETER MR GARFIELD.
THE CITY OF BELL CASE STUDY IT WAS DONE AT THE LOCAL LEVEL ONLY THEN DID THE BIG BOYS INTERVENE. NOW THE 8 MEMBERS OF THE CITY OF BELL ARE NOW IN JAIL.
RICHARD FINE WAS FREED ONLY AFTER THE SO CALLED JUDGE YAFFE REALIZED THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE HAD ENOUGH AND HE IS RETIRING EARLY (RESIGNING) AND RELEASED RICHARD FINE AN AMERICAN HERO.
IT HAS TO BE DONE AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. ONLY THEN WILL THE BIG BOYS STATE OR FEDS WILL GET INVOLVED.
FACEBOOK PAGE MR GARFIELD. GET THE WORD TO THE MASSES.
THIS WILL NOT BE WON BY THE PEOPLE. WE NEED TO GET THE WORD OUT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN.
FACEBOOK. YOUTUBE TWEETER MYSPACE. MR GARFIELD NEEDS TO GET A PAGE ON FACEBOOK
NEVER AGAIN
McCain has done nothing in Arizona accept promote his fence on the Mexican border. I wonder how many dollars he took from the banksters to run his Senator and Presidential campaign ? It will take alot to change my mind but he will not get my vote nor will I ever drink Budweiser again !
Firedoglake also has a good article today about GMAC:
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/09/22/warren-works-on-mortgage-disclosure-she-needs-to-work-on-foreclosure-fraud/
And Karl Denninger posted some tough words about GMAC on Seeking Alpha yesterday:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/226362-more-on-gmac-ally-foreclosures
I’ve seen enough of Grayson to conclude that he is a total fraud. He could care less about homeowners in foreclosure. He’s only interested in saving his seat next month. You should listen to him and watch video clips of him. In my opinion, he’s evil and gives even slime a bad name.
I think the foreclosure teat is dry, and the last refuge now of recovering wealth is from the rightly villianized middle architectures, which the long gone middleman new would be composed of shortsighted frauds who would now, you guessed it, have set themselves up for the redistribution of their wealth too, TRULY legally backed, by indicting people on the switchboard, so they will cough up the illegal company copies of the protocols they enacted to the point of overkill, avoid prosecution, nark the poor CEO’s who watched the movie Wallstreet 7 times, add to the chime now of global indignation and American shameless shame and vulturous, I mean virtuous greed, while keeping an eye on the possibility of the guy at Los Betos having an off-green card, and calling the zombie Jan Brewer for this weeks lotto numbers, and the latest count of companies fleeing Arizona, while John McCain ups his daily med count to 14 pills of 4 varying pastel colors not including white, and we can join Ev: Blame it on Arizona’s blackman, Nazi Phoenix’s Jew, the Poor Mexican Kingpin and burrito roller, bricklayer, meth alchemyst, salad tosser, gun runner, Chong’s Cheech, and what not, it’s the Mexican! Looky everyone, looky on Phoenix TV, LOOK, it’s the illegal Mexican!!, and not your prescription med addicted governmental zombies, working for the cash heroine junkie of Wallstreet and the Federal Reserve Pimp factory! Look! It’s Chico! He did it!, LOL. The hand and TV are quicker than the numb American eye, eye tell you! LOL
JPMorgan Brings Foreclosure Case In Mortgage In Which It Was Just A Servicer, Court Finds Bank Committed Fraud | zero hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/jpmorgan-brings-foreclosure-case-mortgage-which-it-was-just-servicer-court-finds-bank-commit
Where the other states? What are the AG’s in other states doing? Foreclosure mills are across the country.
LET US FORCE AND PUSH THE MEDIA TO REPORT ON THE ISSUE!!!!!!
IT IS THE RIGHT TIME TO START THE FINAL PUSH FOR JUSTICE, LET US TAKE THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY, NOW THAT THE CAT IS FINALLY OUT OF THE BAG TO TELL THE WORLD WHO THE REAL VICTIMS ARE AND HOW THE EVIL BANKSTERS AND THEIR CRIMINAL ELEMENT FORECLOSURE MILL MINIONS HAVE MASTERED THE SYSTEM OF FRAUDS AND HALF TRUTHS THE JUDGES HAVE BEEN SO EAGER TO RUBBER STAMP.
IT IS THE RIGHT TIME TO OPRGANIZE AND PUT ALL THOSE POLITICIAN WHO ARE RUNNING FOR OFFICE ON NOTICE ABOUT OF PLIGHT. iT IS THE RIGHT TIME TO STORM THE MEDIA WITH OUR STORIES, WITH ALL THE FACTS WE HAVE GATHERED. WE CANNOT LET THE ENEMY REGAIN THEIR COMPOSURE AND FUDGE THE ISSUE.
THIS IS THE TIME TO DEMAND FOR RESTITUTION, THIS IS THE TIME FOR ALL TO JOIN FORCES AND DEMAND FROM OUR JUDGES, OUR LEGISLATORS, OUR LOCAL COUNTY AND CITY OFFICIALS TO WAKE UP AND STEP ASIDE FROM COLLUDING WITH THE REAL CRIMINALS HERE.
IT IS TME.
LET US NOT WASTE THIS GREAT WINDOW THAT gmac HAS OPENED FOR ALL OF US.
HOW MUCH BAD LAW, HOW MUCH INJUSTICE, HOW MANY PEOPLE HOMELESS, RUINED. HOW MUCH ARE WE TO ENDURE. IT IS TIME TO FIGHT BACK.
CALL YOUR FRIENDS AND SHARE THE NEWS, CALL YOUR FAMILY AND SHARE THE NEWS.
LET US START THE GRIEVANCE FILING CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE OWNERS, PARTNERS, ASSOCIATES, PARALEGALS OF ALL THE FORECLOSURE MILLS IN THE NATION. LET US RING THE BELL OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE.
LET US ALL GET OUR BATTLE PLAN READY AND WORK ON THE PLAN JUDICIOUSLY.
THEY ARE STILL FORECLOSING ON YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND COWORKERS.
THEY MUST STOP.
THE FRAUD MUST STOP.
PELUCHEVEN@HOTMAIL.COM
THE GSE BUSINESS MODEL
The affidavits were a breach of warranties and representations in seller servicer agreements (see FNMA Guidelines). The breach makes all the loans subject to repurchase from GSE (mortgagee). How does the “repurchase demand” effect the loan? Ask the congress people the same thing.
I encourage all of you to call your Reps and your Senators and demand the same from them. We homeowners have to use this momentum and push this through.
Call and demand a halt to all foreclosures! Demand an investigation nationwide into this fraudulent and forged documentation practice!
Mr. Grayson left out “The Florida Default Law Group”
they are just as guilty if not more so then the firms he’s already cited.
Hear hear! Long overdue. And in the case Grayson cited, Fannie Mae probably wasn’t even the Noteholder.