How “Standing” Is Causing the Longest Economic Recovery Since the Great Depression

THE PERFECT CRIME: THE VICTIMS DON’T KNOW ANYTHING

WHY INVESTORS AND BORROWERS SHOULD GET RID OF THE SERVICERS AND REPLACE THEM WITH SERVICING COMPANIES THEY CAN TRUST TO MITIGATE THE LOSSES CAUSED BY INVESTMENT BANKS

HOW? It is simple: since the perpetrators ignored the REMIC trust, didn’t fund them and never intended to actually have the REMIC trusts own the loans, the investors can go directly to homeowners or through their own servicers to settle and modify mortgages. This would leave the investors with claims against the investment banks for the balance of the losses, plus punitive damages, interest and court costs. It is the same logic as piercing the corporate veil — if you pay your grocery bills using the account of your limited liability corporation, the corporate entity is ignored.

Vasquez v Saxon (Arizona supreme Court) revisited

Assume the following facts for purposes of analogy and analysis:

  1. John Jones is a Scammer, previously found to have operated outside the law several times. He conceives of yet another PONZI scheme, but with the help of lawyers he has obscured the true nature of his next scheme. He creates a convoluted scheme that ultimately was never understood by regulators.
  2. The first part of his scheme is to offer shares in a company where the money will be held in trust. The money will be disbursed based upon standards that are promised to incoming investors.
  3. The new company will issue the shares based upon the receipt of money from investors who are buying those shares.
  4. Jones approaches Jason Smartguy, who manages a pension fund for 3,000 employees of ABC Company, a Fortune 500 company.
  5. Jason Smartguy manages the pension funds under strict restrictions. A pension fund is a “stable managed fund” whose investments must be at the lowest risk possible and whose purpose is capital preservation.
  6. John Jones promises Jason Smartguy that the new company will invest in assets that are valuable and stable, and that these investments will pay a return on investment higher than what Jason Smartguy is getting for the pension fund under his management. Jason likes the idea because it gives him employment security and probably bonuses for increasing the rate of return on the funds managed for the pension fund.
  7. The lawyers for John Jones have concealed the PONZI nature of the scheme (paying back investors with their own money and with money from new investors) by disclosing the existing of a reserve fund — consisting entirely of money from Jason Smartguy.
  8. Jason advances $100 Million to John Jones who says he is acting as a broker between the new Company (the one issuing the shares) and the Pension fund managed by Jason Smartguy.
  9. The new Company never receives the money. Instead the money is placed in accounts controlled by people who have no relationship with the new Company.
  10. The new Company never receives title or any documentation showing they own shares of the money pool now controlled by John Jones when it should be controlled by the new Company.
  11. John Jones uses the money to bet against the new Company, insurance on the value of the shares of the new Company, and the proceeds of other convoluted transactions — mostly based on the assumption that John Jones owns the money in the pool and based entirely on the assumption that any assets of the pool therefore belong to John Jones — not the new Company as promised.
  12. John Jones also uses the money to buy assets, so everything looks right as long as you don’t get too close.
  13. The assets Jones buys are designed to look good on paper but are pure trash — which is why John Jones bet against the pool and shares in the pool.
  14. Everyone is fooled. The investors get monthly statements from John Jones along with a check showing that the investment is working just as was planned. They don’t know that the money they are receiving comes entirely from the reserve pool and the meager actual returns from the assets. The insurance company believes that Jones is the owner of the money and the assets purchased with money from the pool created by Jason Smartguy’s advance from the pension fund.
  15. John Jones goes further. He pretends to own the shares of the new Company that actually belong to the pension fund managed by Jason Smartguy. He insures those shares naming himself as the insurance beneficiary and naming himself as the receiver of proceeds from his bets that the shares in the new Company would crash, just as he planned.
  16. While the assets are proving as worthless as John Jones had planned, Jason Smartguy receives payments to the pension fund exactly as outlined in the Prospectus and the Operating Agreement for the New Company. Unknown to Jason, the assets are increasingly proving worthless, as a whole and the income is declining. So Jason buys more shares in the new Company, thus providing Jason with a larger “reserve” fund and more “assets” to bet against and more “shares’ to bet against.
  17. John Jones sets out to “acquire” assets that will fail, so his bets will pay off. He buys assets whose value is low (and getting worse) and he creates fictitious transactions in which it appears as though the new Company has bought the assets at a much higher price than their value. The “sales” to the Company are a sham. The Company has no money because Jason Smartguy’s pension money never was made to the new Company in exchange for the new Company issuing shares of the company to Jason’s pension fund.
  18. The difference between the real value of the assets and the price “sold” to the pool is huge. In some cases it is 2-3 times the actual value of the asset. John Jones treats these sales as “proprietary trading profits” for John Jones,when in fact it is an immediate loss to Jason’s pension fund. The shares of the new Company are worthless because it never received any money nor title to any assets. John Jones as “broker” took all the money and assets.
  19. Meanwhile John Jones continues to pay Jason’s pension fund along with distribution reports showing the assets are in great shape and the income is just fine. In reality the assets are virtually worthless and the income is declining just as John Jones planned. John Jones is taking money hand over fist and calling it his own. His bets on the whole thing crashing are paying off handsomely and he is not reporting to Jason how much he is making by taking Jason’s managed money and calling part of it proprietary profits.
  20. The beauty of John Jones PONZI scheme is in the BIG LIE told not only to Jason Smartguy but also to Henry Homebody, who owns a home in Tucson Arizona. Henry is easier to sell on a stupid scheme than Jason Smartguy because Jason requires proof of independent appraisals (ratings), proof of insurance and various other aspects of the investment. Henry Homebody trusts the “lenders” and considers them to be banks, some with reputations and brands that go back 150 years.
  21. Henry Homebody’s house has been in the family for 6 generations and is fully paid off. He pays only insurance and taxes. Unknown to him, he is a special target for scammers like Merendon Mining, whose operators are now in jail. Merendon got homeowners with unencumbered houses to “invest” in a mirage (gold shares) thus putting the fantastic equity in their homes to work. Henry is flown to Canada, wined and dined, and has a very good time, just before he agrees to take out a loan using his family home as collateral, which will provide an income to him of $16,000 over month (which is about ten times his current income).
  22. Henry is approved for a loan equal to twice the value of the property and in which the mortgage broker (now on the run from the law) used projected income from the speculative investment in Merendon mining. This act by the mortgage broker was illegal but worth the risk because the broker was part of the Merendon Mining scam. (look up Merendon Mining and First Magnus Funding).
  23. Henry makes Payments on the mortgage principal, interest, taxes and insurance (all higher because of the false appraisal that was used for the property). He is able to do this because some of the money from the “loan” was given to him and he was able to make payments until the magnificent returns started to come in from his Merendon Mining shares. But those shares were worded in such a way that they were not exactly the ownership of gold that Henry thought he was getting. In fact, it was another pool with options on gold. And of course the money never materialized and neither did the gold. (Note 1996-2014: more than 50% of all loans were “refi’s” in which the home was fully paid or nearly so).
  24. Henry’s lender turned out to be a party pretending to lend him money, using MERS as a nominee for trading purposes, and naming the originator as lender when in fact they were also just a nominee.
  25. Henry’s mortgage and note recite terms that are impossible to meet unless Merendon Mining pays off.
  26. Henry believes at closing that First Magnus was the lender and that some entity called MERS is hanging in the background. Nobody explains anything to him about the lender or MERS. And of course he was told not to get an attorney because nothing can be changed anyway.
  27. Henry did not know that John Jones had spread out Jason’s money into several entities and then used Jason’s money to fund the origination of Henry’s loan.
  28. Jason does not know that the note and mortgage were never executed in the name of the pension fund or the new Company that was supposed to own the loan as an asset.
  29. Eventually the truth starts coming out, the market crashes and prices of homes return to actual value. Merendon Mining is of course a bankrupt entity as is First Magnus, whose operator appears to be on the run.
  30. Henry can’t make the payments after the extra money they gave him runs out. He has $2 million in loans and the “guaranteed” investment in Merendon Mining has left him penniless.
  31. John Jones fabricates and forges dozens of documents to piece together a narrative wherein an “independent” company would claim ownership of Henry’s loan despite the complete absence of any real transactions between any of the companies because the loan was fully funded using Jason Smartguy’s pension money.
  32. Henry knows nothing about the scam John Jones pulled on Jason Smartguy and certainly doesn’t know that the new Company was involved in his loan (because it wasn’t). Henry doesn’t understand that First Magnus and MERS never loaned him any money and that he never owed them money. And Henry knows nothing about John Jones, whose name appears on nothing.
  33. John Jones, the PONZI operator goes about the business of finishing the deal and making sure that the multiple people who bought into Henry’s loan (without knowing of the other sales and bets placed by John Jones) don’t start asking for refunds.
  34. John Jones MUST get a foreclosure or there will be auditing and reporting requirements that most everyone will overlook as long as this looks like just another loan gone bad. His PONZI scheme will be revealed if the true facts become known so he makes sure that nobody sees the actual money trail except him. He might go to jail if the truth is discovered.
  35. The lawyers for John Jones have told him that even fabricated, forged, non-authentic, falsely signed, and falsely notarized documents carry a presumption of validity. Thus the lawyers and Jones concocted a PONZI scheme that would most likely succeed because even the borrower, Henry, still thinks he owes money to First Magnus or its “successors”, whose identity he doesn’t really care about because he knows he took the loan. He doesn’t know that First Magnus and several other entities were involved in collecting fees and making profits the moment he signed the papers, and possibly before.
  36. Meanwhile Jason Smartguy, manager of the pension fund is starting to get disturbing reports about the assets that were purchased. Jason still doesn’t know that the money he gave John Jones never went into the New Company, that the Company never engaged in any transactions, and that John Jones was claiming “losses” that were really Jason’s losses (the pension fund).
  37. John Jones was collecting money from multiple sources without any of them knowing about each other and that he had no losses, he had only profits, and even got the government to lend him more money so he wouldn’t go out of business which might ruin the economy.
  38. Most of all John Jones never made a loan to Henry Homeowner; but that didn’t stop him from saying he did make the loan, and that the paperwork between John Jones and Jason Smartguy’s pension fund was irrelevant — the borrower got a loan and stopped paying. Thus judicial or non judicial process was available to sell the home that had been in Henry’s family for 6 generations.
  39. But the weakness in John Smith’s PONZI scheme is that his entire strategy is based upon presumptions of validity of his false documentation. If courts start applying normal rules and require Jones to disclose the money trail, he is cooked. There can be no foreclosure if a non-creditor initiates it by simply declaring that they are the creditor and that they have rights to enforce the debt — when the only proof of that is that Jason Smartguy, manager of the pension fund, has not yet put the pieces together and demanded ownership of the loan, settled the cases with modifications and went after John Jones for the balance of the money that was skimmed off the deal.
  40. And since Henry’s house is in Tucson, Az, he is subject to non-judicial foreclosure and he is in big trouble. He has no reason to believe the “servicer” is unauthorized, that the debt that is subject to correspondence and monthly statements does not exist, nor that the mortgage or deed of trust was void for lack of consideration — none of the “lenders” at closing ever loaned him a dime. The money came from Jason but Henry didn’t, and possibly still doesn’t know it.
  41. John Jones files a document called “Substitution of Trustee.” In this false document Jones declares that one of his many entities is the “new beneficiary” (mortgagee). Jones holds his breath. If Henry objects to the substitution of trustee he might have to reveal that the new trustee is not independent, it is a company controlled by John Jones.
  42. John Jones has made himself the new trustee. If the substitution of trustee is nullified in a court proceeding, NOTHING can be done by John Jones or his controlled companies.
  43. If the old trustee realizes that they have received no information on the validity of the claim and might still be the trustee, they might file an “interpleader” action in which they say they have received competing claims, demand attorney fees and costs along with their true statement that as the trustee named on the deed of trust, they have no stake in the outcome.
  44. If that happens Jones is cooked, broiled and boiled. He would be required to allege and prove that the “new beneficiary” is in fact the creditor in the transaction by succession, purchase or otherwise. he can’t because it was Jason who gave the money, it was Jason who was supposed to get evidence of ownership of the loan, and it is Jason who should be deciding between foreclosure (which John Jones MUST have to escape enormous civil and criminal liability).
  45. Jones doesn’t file documents for recording unless and until the case goes into foreclosure. That is because he continuing to trade and make claims of losses on “bad loans.”
  46. In fact, just to be on the safe side, he doesn’t file the fabricated, forged perjurious assignment of the loan at all if nobody makes him. He only files the assignment when he absolutely must do so, because he knows each filing is false and potentially proof of identity theft from the pension fund and from the homeowner.
  47. So it often happens that despite laws in each state requiring the filing of any transfer of an interest in real property for recording, Jones files the assignment when there is the least probability and least likelihood that the PONZI scheme will be revealed. Jones knows the mortgage is void and should never have been recorded, as a matter of law.
  48. Henry brings suit against Jones seeking justice and relief. But he really doesn’t know enough to get traction in court. Jones filed the assignment after the notice of default, after the notice of sale, and after the notice of substitution of trustee.
  49. The Judge who knows nothing about the presence of Jason, who still does not know this is going on, rules for Jones saying that it is irrelevant when the assignment was recorded because it is still a valid assignment between the parties to the assignment.
  50. Jason knows nothing about how the money from his pension fund was handled.
  51. Jason knows nothing about how each foreclosure seals the doom and affirms the illegal windfall to intermediaries who were always playing with OPM (other people’s money).
  52. The Court doesn’t know that that the assignment was just on paper, that there was no business reason for it to be executed, that there was no purchase of the loan from Jason’s pension fund, to whom the actual loan was payable. Thus the Judge sees this as much ado about nothing.
  53. Starting from the premise that Henry owed the money anyway, that there were no real defenses, and that since nobody else was making a claim it was obvious that Jones was the creditor, the Arizona Supreme Court says that anyone can can foreclose on an undated, backdated fabricated assignment forged and robo-signed with no real transaction; and they can execute a substitution of trustee even if they are complete strangers to the loan transaction and once they file that, they can foreclose on property that was never used as collateral for the real loan.

Because there are hundreds of John Jones characters in this tragedy, the entire marketplace has been decimated. The middle class is permanently stalled because their only net worth has been stolen from them The borrowers would gladly execute a real mortgage for real value with real terms that make sense 95% of the time, but they need to do it with the owner of the debt — the pension fund. The pension fund the borrower need to be closely aligned on the premise that the loans can be modified for better terms that forced sales, the housing market could recover, and money would start flowing back to the middle class who drives 70% of our consumer based economy.

They are all wrong and are opening the door for more PONZI schemes and even better ways to steal money and get away with it. The Arizona Supreme Court in Vasquez as well as all other decisions from the trial bench, appellate courts, regulators and law enforcement are all wrong. The burden of proof in due process is on the party seeking affirmative relief. Anyone who wants the death penalty equivalent in civil litigation (forfeiture of homestead), should be required to prove beyond all reasonable doubt or by clear and convincing evidence that the mortgage was valid and should have been recorded.

If they didn’t make the loan they had no right to record the mortgage or do anything with the note or mortgage except give it back to the borrower for destruction. If they didn’t make disclosure of the real nature of the loan and all the profits that would arise from the borrower signing an application and the loan documents, those profits are due back to the borrower.

Each time the assumption is made that there are no valid defenses for the borrower, we are cheating investors and screwing the homeowners. And as for the windfall proposition we know who gets it — the John Jones PONZI operating banks that started all of this. Exactly how can this lead anyway other than a continued drag on our economy?

Vasquez v saxon Az S Ct CV110091CQ

For more information call 954-495-9867 or 520-405-1688

Az Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument Today on Certified Questions at 3PM PST

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COMBO Title and Securitization Search, Report, Documents, Analysis & Commentary GET COMBO TITLE AND SECURITIZATION ANALYSIS – CLICK HERE

WATCH IT LIVE AT LiveArchivedVideo.aspx

SEE ALSO AZ AG Amicus Vasquez 8-2011 (1)

SEE ALSO BRIEF SUBMITTED FOR ORAL ARGUMENT IN ARIZONA

Another Supreme Court decision is in the works. How long it will take them to render a decision is within their sole discretion. When you watch don’t assume that you know how that Judge is going to vote. They intentionally do things to NOT telegraph what their ultimate decision will be. See the questions that the Supreme Court will address at the above link. The argument should be interesting. As for the fear that Arizona might not take the courageous step of actually addressing the the issues, like the Ohio Supreme Court in declaring  a key case “moot” I can only say that we can only hope that the banks don’t have that much influence here.

AZ AG File Amicus Brief Favoring Homeowners

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COMBO Title and Securitization Search, Report, Documents, Analysis & Commentary GET COMBO TITLE AND SECURITIZATION ANALYSIS – CLICK HERE

SEE AZ AG Amicus Vasquez 8-2011 (1)

CASE IS SCHEDULED FOR ORAL ARGUMENT ON SEPTEMBER 22, 20011 IN TUCSON, AZ. CONTRARY TO RUMOR, DO NOT EXPECT A RULING FROM THE COURT ON THAT DATE. THE SUPREME COURT OF ARIZONA WILL TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS IT NEEDS TO MAKE THE DECISION.

JUDGE HOLLOWELL HAS CERTIFIED TWO QUESTIONS ESSENTIAL TO THE OUT COME OF HUNDRED OF THOUSANDS OF FORECLOSURE CASES. ATTORNEY GENERAL THOMAS C HORNE HAS SUBMITTED AN AMICUS (FRIEND OF THE COURT) BRIEF ADVOCATING A FAVORABLE RESULT FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE TITLE SYSTEM, THE MARKETPLACE AND BORROWERS.

The case is Julia Vasquez v Deutsch Bank National Trust Company, as Trustee for Saxon Asset Securities Trust 2005-3; Saxon Mortgage, Inc., and Saxon Mortgage Services, Inc. Supreme Court Case No CV 11-0091-CQ, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case No: 4:08-bk-15510-EWH. Assisting in the writing of the Amicus Brief were Carolyn R. Matthews, Esq., Dena R. Epstein, Esq., and Donnelly A. Dybus, Esq..

In a a very well -written and well reasoned brief, the Arizona Attorney general takes and stand and makes a very persuasive case contrary to the tricks and shell games of the pretender lenders. It also addresses head-on the contention that that a negative ruling to the banks will cause financial disaster. Just as we have been saying for years here on these pages, the AG makes short shrift of that argument. And the AG takes the bank to task on their “spin” that stopping the foreclosures will have a chilling effect on the housing market and therefore the economy. The absurdity of both positions is exposed for what they are — naked aggression and greed justifying the means to defraud and corrupt the entire housing market, financial industry and the whole of the consumer buying base in this and other countries.

Of particular note is the detailed discussion in the Amicus Brief regarding the recordation of interests in real property. While the brief does not directly attach perfection of liens that violate the provisions of Arizona Statutes, the implications are clear: If the public record does not contain adequate disclosure as to the identity of the interested parties, the document is neither properly recorded, nor is the party seeking to enforce such a document entitled to use that document as though it had been recorded.

 

The use of a double nominee method of identifying the straw-man beneficiary (usually MERS) and a straw-man “lender” (usually the mortgage originator  that was acting only as a conduit or broker) leaves the public without any knowledge as to the identities of the real parties in interest. In the case of a mortgage lien, if it is impossible to know the identity of the party who can satisfy the lien, then the lien is not perfected. The same reasoning holds true with any other document required to be recorded, to wit:  

PUBLIC POLICY OF ARIZONA AGAINST FORECLOSURES: The AG also meets head on the obvious bias in the courts in which the assumption is made that that it is somehow better for society to speed along the foreclosures. Not so, says the AG:

Briefs Submitted for Oral Argument in Arizona

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COMBO Title and Securitization Search, Report, Documents, Analysis & Commentary GET COMBO TITLE AND SECURITIZATION ANALYSIS – CLICK HERE

CV110091CQ Brief [Plaintiff Vasquez]

CV110091CQ Brief filed by Defendants

CERTIFIED QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR SUPREME COURT REVIEW

AMICUS BRIEFS REPORTEDLY BEING FILED BY ARIZONA AG AND OTHERS

A lot of buzz being generated about this time in  Arizona Supreme Court. The Court has scheduled oral argument in an auditorium and it will be broadcast, from what I understand on September live on September 22, 2011.

The big question of course is whether we will take a step forward or a step backward. The certified questions are straightforward and the greater weight of the law clearly supports Vasquez. If the banks lose this one, as they have on appellate review, they will once again be forced backward on 5 million foreclosures, many of which were in Arizona. My position is simple: if the law is applied and substance is more important than a procedure (non-judicial foreclosure) that in the current environment is questionable at best, then the Court will issue a ruling and opinion that will require Judges to make inquiry as to the truth of the matters asserted by the banks. If it is true, they can foreclose, If it is false they can’t. The fact that the decision could have large ramifications should not stop the court from doing the right thing.

As for the large ramifications, they run both ways. A decision for the banks will mean that title will be forever corrupted and uncertainty will be introduced into the marketplace that was never permitted or even contemplated. A decision for the borrowers will put the borrowers back into the driver’s seat to reclaim their home, damages for wrongful foreclosure and it will create a huge opportunity for community banks and credit unions to pick up the pieces of what is left of the megabanks when their balance sheets are revealed as nothing more than the emperor’s new clothes. A decision for banks will continue to stifle the economy that is already choking on foreclosures, unemployment and lack of capital or income to fuel economic growth. A decision for the borrowers will inject capital back into the economic equation and allow homeowners to recover with some money in or wealth in their pockets that can fueled the stimulus needed for the economy, employment and increased tax revenue for the states and federal government.

AS FOR THE FREE HOUSE STORY: It’s true. Someone is going to get a free house. Will it be the disinterested non-creditor banks who misbehaved and lied in the process of lending and documenting the alleged loans, and withheld accounting from third party payments made without subrogation? Or will it be the homeowner who has down payments, monthly payments, maintenance, taxes and insurance, as well as furnishings and home improvements in the home? Will there be a windfall? Yes. Either to the banks who don’t have anything to lose except an opportunity to get a free house or to the homeowner who had more left on his obligation than the value of his claims against the bank for wrongful foreclosure, predatory lending, fraudulent lending etc.

 

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