Richard Zombeck: Mass Register John O’Brien’s Presentation Draws Crowd of Recorders in Atlantic City

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“I am stunned and appalled by the fact that America’s biggest banks have played fast and loose with people’s biggest asset — their homes. This is disgusting, and this is criminal,” O’Brien said.

Mass Register John O’Brien’s Presentation Draws Crowd of Recorders in Atlantic City

07/ 5/11 05:06 PM ET

Registers, registrars and recorders from across the country gathered in Atlantic City on Tuesday for the Annual Conference of The International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT).

Several of those attending made the trip specifically to see Massachusetts Register John O’Brien’s presentation on his findings of massive fraud he and Marie McDonnell of McDonnell Property Analytics, uncovered at the Massachusetts Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds

According to O’Brien, McDonnell discovered that 75 percent of the assignments in the registry are fraudulent.

The audit examined assignments of mortgage recorded in the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds issued to and from JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and Bank of America during 2010. In total, 565 assignments related to 473 unique mortgages were analyzed.

McDonnell’s Report includes the following key findings:

  • Only 16% of assignments of mortgage are valid
  • 75% of assignments of mortgage are invalid.
  • 9% of assignments of mortgage are questionable
  • 27% of the invalid assignments are fraudulent, 35% are “robo-signed” and 10% violate the Massachusetts Mortgage Fraud Statute.
  • The identity of financial institutions that are current owners of the mortgages could only be determined for 287 out of 473 (60%)
  • There are 683 missing assignments for the 287 traced mortgages, representing approximately180,000 in lost recording fees per 1,000 mortgages whose current ownership can be traced.

You can Download the PDF of the report at http://www.homepreservationnetwork.com/cat_view/132-press-releases-and-memos or request a copy at http://www.mcdonnellanalytics.com

“My registry is a crime scene as evidenced by this forensic examination,” O’Brien said. “This evidence has made it clear to me that the only way we can ever determine the total economic loss and the amount damage done to the taxpayers is by conducting a full forensic audit of all registry of deeds in Massachusetts. I suspect that at the end of the day we are going to find that the taxpayers have been bilked in this state alone of over 400 million dollars not including the accrued interest plus costs and penalties. ”

After the presentation O’Brien was inundated by nearly 150 recorders asking questions and wanting to conduct investigations of their own.

“I’m a hard person to please,” said Kevin Harvey, O’Brien’s first Assistant. “This was nothing short of extraordinary.”

Jeff Thigpen, the register of deeds for Guilford County, North Carolina is another early trail blazer in this effort. While he did not attend the conference, I spoke with him on Wednesday.

“What [O’Brien] is pointing out in a fundamental way is that the assignments are fraudulent and people need to look at the findings. It goes to the heart of where we are in all this, Thigpen said, “These institutions were once transparent and trusted, we now have a system that stacks the deck in favor of the financial services industry.”

The report, along with the overwhelming response to it, comes in the midst of settlement talks with banks by the 50 attorney’s general. A settlement that to many homeowner advocates is unacceptable and premature based on how little is actually known about the overall depth and impact of the fraud.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is expected to lead opposition to what he called a “quick, cheap settlement” of the 50-state investigation into foreclosure practices.

Schneiderman launched his own investigation in April and has found the problem is much deeper. He said he was “stunned” to find the multi-state probe so lacking that no documents or witness depositions had been obtained.

“We have no leverage,” Schneiderman said in an interview with the Democrat and Chronicle.

O’Brien’s report could represent the catalyst to gaining that leverage.

Earlier this month O’Brien vowed not to record fraudulent documents, so the banks started submitting replacement documents, including five from Bank of America, all with new signature and notaries. An obvious and sloppy whitewash of the documents O’Brien initially refused.

“These lenders chose not to sign my affidavit, but rather to submit completely new documents,” O’Brien said. “I believe the Bank’s actions speak louder than words and show their consciousness of guilt.”

O’Brien also told homeowners in his district to check the records at his website to see if their home mortgage documentation has been robo-signed. He’s facilitating consumer protection complaints through the Massachusetts AG. He has provided letters that homeowners can print out and send to their servicers, demanding their full chain of title pursuant to federal law.

In an article today in the Boston Herald Edward Bloom of the Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association said it’s not clear that robo-signed documents are invalid — or that O’Brien can legally reject them.

“Mr. O’Brien is grinding the real estate business to a halt and he doesn’t have any right to do that,” Bloom said.

But according to Nantucket attorney Jamie Ranney, who points out in a 15 page memo citing Massachusetts law, O’Brien not only has every right to refuse fraudulent assignments, he has a duty to his constituents to do so.

It is without question that a Register of Deeds has an important and fiduciary relationship and responsibility — especially in the Commonwealth where his position is elected — to all of his constituents, as well as to the public at large, all of whom rely and who should be able to rely on the Register’s efforts, supervision, and oversight in assuring, maintaining and promoting the integrity, transparency, accuracy, and consistency of a County’s land records.The Register’s work and supervision of his registry most often revolves around tasks and responsibilities that are generally ministerial in nature. The Register is typically concerned with the daily task of recording of legal document(s) and/or instrument(s) affecting real property where such document(s) and/or instrument(s) are properly presented to the registry for recording on the public land records.

However, the Register’s fiduciary duty goes well beyond these usual ministerial acts in circumstances where the Register has actual knowledge or a subjective good-faith belief/basis for believing that document(s) and/or instrument(s) being presented for recording or registration in the registry for which he has responsibility are fraudulent or otherwise not executed or acknowledged under applicable law. In such cases the Register may lawfully refuse to record such document(s) and/or instrument(s).

O’Brien is calling on the Massachusetts Attorney General to look into his finding and many of the attendees at last weeks conference are planning to do the same.

In a press release Wednesday, O’Brien said:

Once again I am asking Attorney General Martha Coakley and the other state Attorney’s General to follow the lead of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and stop any settlement talks with the banks. The results of this report are only for my registry, but I can assure you that this type of criminal fraud is rampant across the nation. This leaves me to question why anyone would consider settling with these banks until we know the full extent of the damage that they have caused to the homeowners chain of title across this country and the amount of money they have bilked the taxpayers for their failure to pay recording fees.

Fortunately, as Georgetown Law Professor Adam Levetin points out in a recent piece at Credit Slips Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley has no problem going after banks and mortgage servicers. In fact Levetin says, “These settlements have received very little notice in the press, but I think they provide a real template for future AG settlements and are worth examining.”

As with any settlement, one has to be a bit a skeptical when multi-billion dollar industries are willing to part with substantial chunks of change. And since the settlement with the AGs looks like it would release lenders from future claims and hinder law suits on the part of the individual states, O’ Brien’s and Thigpen’s efforts in raising the awareness of this to the other recorders across the country couldn’t come at a better time.

Much like the $8.5 billion settlement with investors Bank of America is willing to part with that doesn’t really settle anything, whatever amount they’re willing to pay the AGs doesn’t look like it’s going to come near what’s really owed to the counties, states, and certainly not to the American people.

“I am stunned and appalled by the fact that America’s biggest banks have played fast and loose with people’s biggest asset — their homes. This is disgusting, and this is criminal,” O’Brien said.

Join us at www.homepreservationnetwork.com – Homeowners, attorneys, advocates and foreclosure experts working together

Follow Richard Zombeck on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zombeck

22 Responses

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  4. Attention MA residents : There are new laws regarding foreclosures that were enacted in August-Nov 2010.

    Check out section 258 as it pertains to foreclosures Section 11…

    Can impose 15 year prison sentence and $500,000.00 fine for anyone making false or misleading statements or putting forth misleading or false documents as it relates to foreclosure.

    There is no way they can prove standing without violating Section 11. Read it all.

    I found this on another posting by a pro se’er, looked it up, and oh yes….

    I love this State!!!!!!

  5. that cut and paste of FC Mills is several years old and out of date

  6. add Harmon Law offices to the Ma. foreclosure mill list

  7. This is the begining of the end for all the fraud put on inoccent home/land owners across the nation. The wildfire is spreading here, but even as I see pages of MERS forclousers with “lenders” that have been out of bussiness now for years, I know that soon you will be able to walk into your registery and get your title cleared. As we all know here now, MERS cannot convay the title or the mortgage,or the note of anything as it has no authority.I for one may start to send a message out to these homeowners that may not understand that their property is being taken illegally, we all need to spread the word.

  8. i have wrote to pam bondi with no response i will try rod. sad this one guy in the article feels robosigned docs are ok? and rod has no right to deem them as fraudulent it is not his job???

  9. @lizinsarasota if you are in florida or to any one in florida especially the tampa bay area there is a foreclosure happy hour at ballyhoos on near citrus park mall in tampa 3pm to 10 pm friday july 15th please meet us there .

    this is our opportunity to join together “egyptian style” we need to plan staying alone trying to fight this is like trying to like my great- grandparents family trying to fend off the nazi’s.alone my great parents won and i intend to do the same. this is our generations “holocaust” and we need to get strength from each other. if my great parents did not take a stand i would not be here today writing this. so lets make their lives meaningful and draw strength. this holocaust unlike the 1940’s knows no religion. our homes are being taken by an entity and we need to fight and win. our children depend us to keep their lives stable and our education sound, make sure our counties have police and fire protection. we are all losing if not defended together

    please see foreclosurehamlet for more details and pass it around lets they are doing these same happy hours on the east coast

  10. I wrote a letter to my County Recorder but haven’t heard back yet. I suggest everyone do the same.

    We need to put pressure on our recorders and our AGs.

  11. can anyone tell why when i chat on the foreclosure hamlet i am constatntly yelled at to “let it go” or “stop whining” when all we are trying to do is get info and do not lose my house. some people named shirley ect always say mean things. i tell shirley jones to tell keith i said hi, i tell this is a free country i can post what i want. then i asked her why she does not ask questions is she not in “foreclosure” fustrates me thast people can bully people on the web when we are trying to get correctr info. bully me to get off the site does me no good. so just wondering what everyone thought. i heard it through the grape vine that there are “spies” on htere and htye will bully you until you are off the site that is what they are paid to do????????

    yes to other matters yes it is great he has spoke in public about this. it truly upsets me that our AG in florida is just letting this go. please all from florida send her this link. i have multiple times

    thank you for your undue support. neil is great we have all learned alot. we need more info on how to use this info incourt

  12. I ADVISE ALL TO GO TO YOUR LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT AND FILE A POLICE REPORT AND GET THE NUMBER OF SAME.
    ANY FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTS OR EVIDENCE OF FRAUD SHOULD BE REPORTED.

    I STATED ‘THEFT OF PROPERTY FOR FINANCIAL GAIN’.

    WHEN I WAS FIRST ASKED, THEY THOUGHT I WAS REPORTING A CAR THEFT. I SAID ‘NO’, THEFT OF MY HOME.

    IF LOCAL PD DOES NOT KNOW TO HANDLE THIS TYPE OF INVESTIGATION MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM TO PASS IT ALONG TO THE MORTGAGE FRAUD TASK FORCE (FBI AND/OR STATE)

  13. Finally people are listening, hopefully the judges across this country are following this case… do you think the SCOTUS is paying a little bit of attention?

  14. Dispute the HELL out of EVERYTHING!!!

  15. @bytheway:

    Can you file a Lis Pendens or automatic stay to buy some time? Do you have paperwork saying that your “loan” is in such and such trust??? Ask them to PROVE conveyance and even EXISTENCE of trust!

  16. if anyone is interested i am trying to meet with my state rep here in massachusetts to get the ball rolling on a law to change the current non-judicial foreclosure process. i am in hampshire county and also would like to get in touch with my fellow mass residents facing this problem to start voicing our concerns to the powers thatt be and hopefully change things up. send me an email at dmartin1971@gmail.com regardless of what county you are in. perhaps we could get a grass roots movement going. power in numbers people. time to start organizing while the fire is lit otherwise we’ll get no where fast. i for one am not going to sit by and let them rob me.

  17. If you want to read more, there is an amazing case coming out of the US Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana that makes for remarkable reading about Lender Processing Services and their “work product”: robosigned affidavits. It’s called In re: Wilson, Case # 07-11862 Section A, and in the documents the Court calls LPS’s affidavits a “sham,” “farce,” and chastises them for “shoddy practices” and “shoddy accounting.” The Court calls LPS’s affidavits, testimony, and behavior “fraud on the court.” LPS and their employee, Dory Goebel, were fined and sanctioned by the court, and it looks as though more sanctions are coming down the pike.
    These documents are such that a non-lawyer can read them, so don’t be intimidated.
    For people who say that affidavits are merely “details” and are unimportant, the Court would disagree. LPS’s software and practices and procedures are used in both bankruptcy and foreclosure filings. Listen to this: “…affidavits are a lender’s representation as to the status of the loan. They are routinely accepted in both state and federal courts in lieu of live testimony. They are an accomodation to the lending commuity based on a belief by the courts that the facts they present are virtually unassailable. The submission of evidence by affidavit allows lenders to save countless hours and expense establishing a borrower’s default without the need for testimony from a lender representative. While they can be refuted by the borrower, too often, a debtor’s offer of alternative and conflicting facts is dismissed by those who believe that a lender’s word is more credible than that of a debtor. The deference afforded the lending community has resulted in an abuse of trust.” (In re: Wilson, Memorandum Opinion, page 21)

    Let’s face it: if you or me came to court armed with fraudulent affidavits and got a judgment and the court found out about our fraud, we’d be put UNDER the jail.
    Start reading this Memorandum Opinion:
    http://www.scribd.com/doc/52938762/In-Re-Wilson
    and then read the related Post-Trial Brief from February.
    The CEO of LPS just resigned, after making $8.4 million in 2010.
    Someone needs to go to JAIL over this fraud, and I think that CEO would be a great place to start. Robosigners, lawyers, judges, notaries, bankers – people need to go to JAIL.

  18. FORECLOSURE MILLS, STATE-BY-STATE.
    If your bank is represented by any of the following attorneys, or by a firm using the services of Lender Processing Services, Fidelity National Foreclosure Solutions, DocX, there is an excellent chance you have fraudulent affidavits. LPS (formerly FNFS and affiliated w/ DocX) is a notorious foreclosure affidavit mill out of Mendota Heights, MN and Jacksonville, FL. Read the back issues of their newsletter, The Summit, for a play-by-play description of robo-signing; the back issues are available on scribd.com. Find Max Gardner’s “Top 200 Signs you have a false document,” which will give you a (partial) list of the tell tale signs.
    This is just a list of the firms who got awards or special recognition in the three back issues (Sept. ’06, Oct. and Dec. ’07) of the Summit I’ve been able to find; not a comprehensive list by any stretch, because not all firms got an award, and I only have three issues of the thirty or forty that were published.

    No state:
    Homecomings Foreclosure (GMAC?)

    AK
    Alaska Trustee, LLC
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    Regional Trustee Services

    AL
    SIROTE & PERMUTT, P.C.
    AL, MS Dumas and McPhail, L.L.C.
    Shapiro & Pickett, LLP
    AL Scott J. Humphrey
    Albertelli Law

    AR
    Mickel Law Firm, PA * major award Oct’ 07
    Robert S. Coleman, Jr., P.A.
    Wilson & Associates, PLLC (article Oct. ’07)
    Dyke, Henry, Goldsholl
    Baxter and Schwartz PC

    AZ
    Malcolm & Cisneros
    Tiffany & Bosco
    Statewide Foreclosure Services
    Folks & O’Connor, PLLC
    AZ/NV/OR/UT/WA Law Offices of Les Zieve

    CA
    Old Republic Default Management Services
    Solomon Grindle Silverman & Spinella
    Malcolm & Cisneros
    Curtis Law Group
    Housekey
    Quality Loan Service Corp
    OPTION ONE (I think CA, see 12/07)
    Fremont Investment and Loan Management
    Aztec Foreclosure Corp
    Old Republic Default Management Services

    CO
    Aronowitz & Ford, LLP
    Robert J. Hopp & Associates, LLC
    Edwards & Taylor, LLC
    Frascona, Joiner, Goodman and Greenstein
    Janeway Law Firm, PC
    Moss Codilis
    Castle, Meinhold & Stawiarski
    Hellerstine & Shore

    CT
    Reiner, Reiner & Bendett (photos 12/07)
    HUNT LIEBERT (now … Jacobson) * photos Oct. ‘06
    CT/DC/MD/VA McCabe, Weisberg and Conway
    Law Office of Martha Croog

    DC
    Rosenberg & Associates, LLC
    MD/DC/VA Bierman, Geesing & Ward, LLC
    CT/DC/ McCabe, Weisberg and Conway
    MD/VA
    DC/VA Curran & O’Sullivan, PC

    DE
    Draper & Goldberg
    Whittington & Aulgur
    Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor

    FL
    HOLLAND & KNIGHT
    Jonathan Kilne, PA
    FL/PA Joseph H Ganguzza & Associates
    David J. Stern, PA
    Marshall C. Watson
    Gary I. Gassel, PA
    Law Offices of Daniel C. Consuegra
    Ben Ezra Law Firm
    Phillips, Flynn, Dareneau
    Shapiro & Fishman
    Smith, Hiatt & Diaz
    Albertelli & Halsema (related to Albertelli Law in AL?)
    Enrico Gonzales
    Popkin & Rosaler

    GA:
    Ellis, Painter, Ratterree & Adams
    McCalla, Raymer, Padrick, Cobb, Nichols & Clark
    Shapiro & Swertfeger (photos Oct. ’06)
    McCurdy & Candler, L.L.C.
    Stites & Harbison
    Richard B. Maner
    Stephen J. Knezo
    Albertelli & Halsema, PL
    Flanagan & Ireland
    Moore & Associates
    Shuping, Morse & Ross
    MORRIS, SCHNEIDER, PRIOR, JOHNSON & FREEDMAN, LLC (wrote article 12/07)

    HI
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    Pite, Duncan & Melmet

    IA
    Belin, Harris, Lamson & McCormic
    Dunakey & Klatt
    Petosa, Petosa & Boecker

    ID
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    McCarthy & Holthus
    Regional Trustee Services
    Alliance Default Services

    IL
    Kluever and Platt
    Dutton & Dutton
    Jaros, Tittle & O’Toole
    IL/MI/OH/PA Weltman, Weinberg and Reis
    Codilis & Associates * major award ‘07
    Wirbicki Law Group
    Heavner, Scott, Beyers & Mihlar
    Fisher & Shapiro
    Freedman, Anselmo, Lindberg & Rappe
    “I received yesterday the letter and check regarding the Bankruptcy Incentive Award.
    I am very proud of the work that my staff has done to get to this point. We are
    striving to be in the top 10 nationwide. I fully understand that you do not need to
    give out the incentive awards. I am very appreciated of this and in my way have
    tried to use your incentive to create an incentive for my staff. We are going to use
    the check to create a “lunch” fund to buy bagels, pizza and other foods.”
    – Steven C. Lindberg, FREEDMAN, ANSELMO, LINDBERG & RAPPE October ‘06

    IN
    Bleecker Brodey and Andrews
    KY/IN/OH Reisenfeld & Associates
    Nelson & Frankenberger
    Feiwell & Hannoy
    Foutty & Foutty
    Doyle and Friedmeyer

    KS
    Kozeny & McCubbin
    Martin, Leigh, Laws & Fritzlen
    Shapiro & Mock
    Shapiro & Reid
    South & Associates
    Gallas & Schultz

    KY
    KY/IN Reisenfeld & Associates
    Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC
    Reynolds & Thompson, LLP
    Nielson & Sherry
    Lerner, Sampson & Rothfuss
    Clunk, Paisley and Assoc., PSC
    Mapother & Mapother

    LA
    The Boles Law Firm
    Foreclosure Law Firm, LLC
    Shapiro & Mentz
    Dean Morris

    MA
    Korde & Associates
    Ablitt & Charlton
    DOONAN, GRAVES & LONGORIA
    MA/NH/RI Orlans Moran PLLC

    MD
    The Fisher Law Group, PLLC
    CT/DC/MD/VA McCabe, Weisberg and Conway
    MD/DC/VA Bierman, Geesing & Ward, LLC
    Friedman & MacFadyen, PA
    Cohn, Goldberg & Deutsch
    Shapiro & Burson
    Rosenberg and Associates

    ME
    Shapiro & Morley, LLP

    MI
    Potestivo & Associates
    Trott & Trott (also listed as MN)
    IL/MI/OH/PA Weltman, Weinberg and Reis
    Orlans Associates
    Fabrizio & Brook
    Peter, Schneiderman & Associates

    MN
    TROTT AND TROTT, P.C.
    Usset & Weingarden, PLLP
    Shapiro, Nordmeyer & Zielke, LLP. (wrote article December ’07)
    Elizabeth Mason, PC
    Murnane Brandt

    MO
    Codilis, Stawiarski & Moody
    Martin, Leigh, Laws & Fritzlen
    Kozeny & McCubbin
    Millsap & Singer
    Sandberg, Phoenix and Von Gontart
    South & Associates

    MS
    Adams & Edens PA
    Shapiro & Massey
    Dyke, Henry, Goldsholl
    AL, MS Dumas and McPhail, L.L.C.
    Morris and Associates (a/k/a Morris Law Firm)
    Morris, Schneider & Prior, LLC

    MT
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    Just Law Office
    Mackoff, Kellogg, Kirby & Klos

    NC
    Shapiro & Ingle
    Morris, Schneider & Prior, LLC
    Brock & Scott
    Nodell, Glass & Haskell
    Roberson, Haworth & Reese
    Erwin, Simpson & Stroud

    NE
    Kozeny & McCubbin
    Eric H. Linquist

    NH
    Harmon Law Offices, PC
    Korde & Associates
    Barron & Stadfeld, PC
    Shechtman Halperin Savage, LLP
    MA/NH/RI Orlans Moran PLLC
    NH/VT Law Offices of Jonathan F. Weidman

    NJ
    Fein, Such, Kahn & Shepard
    Zucker, Goldberg & Ackerman
    Koury, Tighe, Lapres, Bisulca & Sommers
    PLUESE, BECKER & SALTZMAN
    McCabe Weisberg
    NJ/PA Stern & Eisenberg, LLP
    Parker McCay

    NM
    Little & Dranttel

    NV
    Malcolm & Cisneros
    Aztec Foreclosure Corp
    McCarthy & Holthus
    National Default Servicing Corp.
    AZ/NV/OR/UT/WA Law Offices of Les Zieve

    NY
    Jonathan D. Pincus
    Shapiro & DiCaro
    McCabe Weisberg
    Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates
    Ziccardi & Rella PC
    Edward A/ Wiener, Esq.
    Eschen, Frenkel & Weisman
    Cohn & Roth
    Steven J. Baum (in big trouble)
    Berkman Henoch Peterson & Peddy, PC

    OH
    IL/MI/OH/PA Weltman, Weinberg and Reis
    Shapiro & Felty
    (Cuyahoga County) Manley Deas & Kochalski
    KY/IN/OH Reisenfeld & Associates
    LERNER, SAMPSON & ROTHFUSS
    LAURITO & LAURITO
    Luper, Neidenthal and Logan
    Law Offices of John D. Clunk Co., LPA
    Keith D. Wiener & Assoc.
    Reimer, Lorber & Arnovitz Co.
    Carlisle McNellie Law Firm
    Gerner & Kearns Co., LPA

    OK
    BAER, TIMBERLAKE, COULSON & CATES (photos Oct. ’06)
    Lamun, Mock, Cunnyngham & Davis
    Shapiro & Cejda
    Kivell, Rayment and Francis

    OR
    Shapiro & Sutherland, LLC * got major award in Dec. ‘07
    OR/WA Bishop White & Marshal
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    Robinson Tait
    Routh Crabtree Olsen
    AZ/NV/OR/UT/WA Law Offices of Les Zieve

    PA
    Shapiro & Kreisman
    FL/PA Joseph H Ganguzza & Associates
    Goldbeck McCafferty & McKeever
    McCabe Weisberg (McCabe, Weisberg, Conway)
    Shaffer & Scerni
    Udren Law Offices
    Zucker, Goldberg, Ackerman
    Martha Von Rosenstiel
    IL/MI/OH/PA Weltman, Weinberg and Reis
    NJ/PA Stern & Eisenberg, LLP
    Law Offices of Barbara A. Fein

    RI
    Nicholas Barrett & Assoc.
    MA/NH/RI Orlans Moran PLLC

    SC
    Finkel Law Firm, LLC
    Roger, Townsend, and Thomas (is it “Rogers”?)
    Weston Adams Law Firm
    McDonald McKenzie
    SC, TN Brock & Scott, PLLC
    Fleming and Whitt, P.A. (formerly Pearce W. Fleming Law)
    Riley Pope & Laney
    Bolen Law Firm

    SD
    Mackoff, Kellogg, Kirby & Klos

    TN
    Shapiro & Kirsch* wrote article Oct. ’06, photos Oct. ‘06
    Apperson, Crump, Duzane & Maxwell PLC
    SC, TN Brock & Scott, PLLC
    Richard B. Maner, PC
    Rodgers, Hill and Kolarich (Price, Rodgers, Hill & Kolarich)
    McCurdy & Candler
    Wilson & Associates

    TX
    Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
    Hughes Watters Askanase (article 12/07)
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    Robertson & Anschutz, P.C.
    Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin & Frappier
    Baxter & Schwartz
    Brice, Vander Linden & Wernick
    Brown & Shapiro
    Codilis & Stawiarski
    Mann & Stevens * wrote article October ‘06
    Kelly Harvey
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros

    UT
    SCALLEY READING BATES HANSEN & RASMUSSEN, P.C. (article 12/07)
    CMS Legal Services
    David B. Boyce
    Scalley, Reading, Bates, Hansen & Rasmussen
    AZ/NV/OR/UT/WA Law Offices of Les Zieve

    VA
    Shapiro & Burson
    Friedman and MacFadyen
    Sykes, Bourdon, Ahern & Levy
    Samuel I. White P.C.
    Specialized, Inc. of Virginia
    Rosenberg & Associates, LLC
    Glasser and Glasser, P.L.C.
    MD/DC/VA Bierman, Geesing & Ward, LLC
    CT/DC/ MD/VA McCabe, Weisberg and Conway
    DC/VA Curran & O’Sullivan, PC

    VT
    Lobe & Fortin
    NH/VT Law Offices of Jonathan F. Weidman
    Jeffery Kosterich & Associates, PC

    WA
    Robinson Tait
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Malcolm Cisneros
    AK,HI,ID,MT,OR,WA,TX Trustee Corps.
    OR/WA Bishop White & Marshal
    Meridian Trust Deed Service
    Quality Loan Service Corp.
    Routh Crabtree Olsen
    Shapiro & Sutherland
    AZ/NV/OR/UT/WA Law Offices of Les Zieve

    WI
    Vollmar and Huismann, S.C.
    GRAY & ASSOCIATES
    Gray & End (could be Gray & Assoc.)
    Blommer Peterman

    WV
    Law Office of D. Kevin Moffatt
    Daniel J. Mancini and Associates

    WY
    Castle, Meinhold & Stawiarski

    Being in Florida and all, things are different. It was very good to see the Florida Bar publish this piece about attorneys whose clients file fraudulent docs in court. Attorneys are required to let the court know about fraudulent docs both pre- AND post-judgment. This is an especially powerful tool to use against the attorneys who aided and abetted this huge, staggering fraud by the banks, and this article can be used as a road map to file a complaint in Florida, and the logic can be used in every state.
    Check this out!
    http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/jnnews01.nsf/Articles/2E96A4F33C299E0785257822004897E2
    Use this list and write in, blog, comment, and complain everywhere. Call your state’s Attorney General!
    If lawyers are going to restore any shred of the respect they feel they deserve, they’d sure as heck better start policing their own! We’ve got an entire profession who is specially, rigorously, and expensively trained in the minutiae of right and wrong, and you’re telling me they didn’t know what was going on? Baloney. If you or me filed a fraudulent affidavit in court, what do you think would happen? Man, they’d put us under the jail. But when banks come in and their lawyers file phony affidavits by the truck load, does the sheer scale of the fraud make it OK?
    Why has no one gone to jail yet?

  19. A group of us “foreclosure fighters” are meeting with a representative from the clerk’s office next week to ask what they are doing about the fraudulent document situation inn our county (I’m taking this post with me.) Our county/state (Florida) doesn’t have Registers of Deed positions, so it lies with the clerk of court I am told. What if everyone started meeting the clerk/register in their county? Perhaps we could make a dent in this debacle.

  20. I am tired of arguing with the Servicer, they are going to foreclose, but have offered Deed-in-lieu with no short fall liability by me. Can I ask them to cover me if someone else comes out later and claims they own the Note and Mortgage. I would agree not to make claims later against the property, giving the mclean title, they give me a full release and satisfaction of mortgage.

    The more i read on this blog…the more it seems…that maybe us borrowers are stuck. I want to avoid litigation and 3 years of my life.

  21. I hope that the Registry meeting had a ‘sign-in’ sheet so that we could know if our county was represented. I’m especially interested to know if the suffolk county ny clerk attended. We have a SITUATION here!!!
    Things need to be addressed, IMMEDIATELY. I will stay on top of this

  22. What do we have to look on our mortgage papers to see of they are
    fraudulent?

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