Livinglies's Weblog

A bombshell news report has revealed that California prosecutors believed Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, and his company may have been responsible for “widespread misconduct” and violations of foreclosure law.¹

The latest report comes on top of long-standing reports that Mnuchin, the former Goldman Sachs partner known as the “foreclosure king,” profited handsomely off the financial crisis by foreclosing on thousands of elderly homeowners.²

Mnuchin was already one of the worst of the slimy “swamp monsters” Trump has handpicked for major roles in his administration. We need to seize on the momentum from this report to make Mnuchin’s nomination a major black eye for this corrupt administration.

Tell the Senate: Block “foreclosure king” Steve Mnuchin.

Mnuchin’s company once changed the locks on one Minneapolis homeowner in the middle of a blizzard. It even took a 90-year-old woman’s home because she owed 27 cents.³ Mnuchin made a huge profit by buying up IndyMac, a mortgage lender, changing the name to OneWest and then targeting homeowners for foreclosures. Mnuchin later sold OneWest for nearly twice what he paid for it, profiting from economic pain.⁴

Under Mnuchin, OneWest ran a foreclosure mill responsible for nearly 40 percent of the reverse-mortgage foreclosures in the country even though it had just 19 percent of the market. Shady lenders made grand promises to sell elderly homeowners on risky reverse mortgages, and Mnuchin then swooped in to take their homes when Wall Street’s fraud was exposed and the economy collapsed. OneWest reportedly engaged in illegal “robo-signing” – falsifying documents – to kick people out of their homes.⁵

According to the latest report based on a leaked memo from the California attorney general’s office, OneWest faked paperwork to avoid delays that would give homeowners time to save their homes, included backdating paperwork to before the company even existed.⁶

Steve Mnuchin says he is “proud of his record at OneWest.”⁷We need to let Republicans know voters disagree – and give Democrats the backbone to fight his nomination tooth and nail.

Tell the Senate: Block “foreclosure king” Steve Mnuchin.

As happened so many times at the federal level, the California attorney general’s office did not end up pursuing charges against Mnuchin and has not offered an explanation.⁸ Regardless of the California accusations, Mnuchin’s overall record of mass foreclosures on struggling Americans is beyond doubt.

A former Goldman Sachs banker and hedge fund manager termed the “foreclosure king” is the last thing we need at a time when Wall Street already has too much power. The more resistance we can mount to Mnuchin, the clearer it will become to endangered Republicans and even former Trump voters that talk of “draining the swamp” was just a cover for a radical agenda that benefits the super-rich.

Tell the Senate: Block “foreclosure king” Steve Mnuchin.

Thank you for speaking out.

1. David Dayen, “Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin’s Bank Accused of “Widespread Misconduct” in Leaked Memo,” The Intercept, Jan. 3, 2017.
2. Yian Q. Mui, “Democrats are already building a case against Trump’s pick to lead Treasury Department,” The Washington Post, Dec. 30, 2016.
3. U.S. Senate Democrats, “Submit complaints about Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s nominee for the secretary of the treasury.”
4. Dayen, “Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin’s Bank Accused of “Widespread Misconduct” in Leaked Memo.”
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Mui, “Democrats are already building a case against Trump’s pick to lead Treasury Department.”
8. Dayen, “Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin’s Bank Accused of “Widespread Misconduct” in Leaked Memo.”