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David Dayen: The Foreclosure Sleuth

Coinciding with the discoveries in Florida, on the other side of the continental US in Oregon, was an even deeper intellectual find. Obsessed with his own loan misrepresentation, architect Ken Dost dug down into the foundation of the scheme and discovered the USPTO patents for the software systems, trademark assignments and virtually built out the system with the banksters own paperwork. As if to make the “new” securitization process legal – the banks patented every single move from solicitation to REO and beyond. Ken could easily see the “intent” to defraud from the structure of the patents. No one else had the time or inclination to read 20 years of patent works, but Ken diligently hammered away linking every source and every step. He could see when the software systems were “relaxed” to enable “no doc” loans. Ken could also see that fraud detection was built in early-on into the patented systems but rarely used by the banks – moreover, it was [intentionally] ignored. Ken’s rabbit hole is more complex but it is essential to the overall system of fraud.

Unknown's avatarLivinglies's Weblog

david dayen

https://newrepublic.com/article/134722/foreclosure-sleuth

How a sports agent uncovered the greatest financial fraud in American history.

New Republic contributor David Dayen’s book Chain of Title focuses on three individuals in South Florida—cancer nurse Lisa Epstein, car dealership worker Michael Redman, and Lynn Szymoniak, a lawyer specializing in insurance fraud—who stumbled upon the biggest consumer fraud in American history. They did so after they fell into foreclosure, and realized that all the documents they were sent by their mortgage companies—the evidence being used to kick them out of their homes—were fake. It turned out that the industry broke the chain of title—the chain of ownership, really—on millions of securitized mortgages, and were using false documents to cover it up.

As they researched this, they discovered that they were not alone. In fact, perhaps the first person to identify, fight, and broadcast his struggle against the mortgage industry and…

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Merrill Lynch Whistleblowers Who Sold Clients Notes That Lost 95% And Then Moved To UBS Took Out Some Insurance First (Recorded Incriminating Calls With A Superior)

justiceleague00's avatarJustice League

Deal Breaker:

Have you recently sold a product to clients that basically lost all of its value? Do you want to do something to help your investors but have received some pushback from management? Consider taking the following steps:

  • Get your boss on the phone and get him talking about how he knows the investment is a real dog but doesn’t want to make a big deal of it; have a recording device secretly running the whole time
  • Secure a gig at another bank
  • Once you’ve settled in at the new shop, file a whistleblower complaint against your former employer
  • Profit!

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing a civil enforcement case against Merrill Lynch over an investment that fell as much as 95% in value and was marketed in a way that one of the firm’s financial advisers called “borderline crooked,” people close to the probe said…With clients complaining after…

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‘Sheriff of Wall Street’ Preet Bharara Says ‘People are Right’ About System Being Rigged

Truth sucks, doesn’t it?!

justiceleague00's avatarJustice League

This election year has exposed widespread voter anger directed at Wall Street, and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara agrees that “to an extent, people are right about the system being rigged.”

“I think people have a right…given the track record of this office and other offices of exposing fraud, to be worried about that,” Bharara told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

That track record of rooting out fraud has earned Bharara the nickname “Sheriff of Wall Street,” but he has also set his sights on the corruption plaguing New York’s state capital. Since taking office, he’s prosecuted cases against more than a dozen state officeholders.

“We have found that corruption is rife in a lot of institutions in New York and throughout New York. That’s true in the legislature,” he said. “It’s also the case that there’s corruption, we believe, in the executive branches…

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Derivative Damage – What Can Go Wrong When Private Equity Takes Over a Public Service

hqdefaultWhether you know it or not the derivative damage that caused the 2008 financial massacre and millions upon millions of foreclosures continues to plague America in ways that are unfathomable.

You can blame deregulation of the financial industry, too much dirty money in state and federal politics, outright bribery, a lack of moral and ethical behavior and a significant blur between the three branches of government that were originally designed to be oversight protection.

You may not know that the $700 TRILLION+ debt created on Wall Street took out (destroyed, eliminated, stole) billion$ of pension and retirement funds from nearly every aspect of government, trade unions and corporate 401ks to the point that severe cutbacks had to be made from furloughs to total haircuts… And now these lousy, corrupt and bribe-r-us bankster created investment vehicles have wiped out the futures of millions of American families – and many don’t even know it yet… but your politicians do.
See: The Sucker Punch – The Elite’s Attack on Pension and Retirement Funds Continue reading

Long Island couple sues Chase Bank after their $25K savings account disappears

justiceleague00's avatarJustice League

LONG ISLAND — For Long Island couple Anna and Salvatore Russo, when it came to keeping track of their savings account at Chase Bank, they relied on their signature card, paper withdrawal and deposit records.

That was in 2002.

But now, there’s a big problem.

“They lost it. They don’t know what happened to it – and they can’t explain it,” Salvatore Russo said. “And they feel they don’t have any obligation even though we have a book. I don’t see any right in that.”

The Russos are now suing J.P. Morgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the country.

After they opened the savings account 15 years ago, the couple acknowledges they left the money in the account for several years.

It was a long-term investment.

“So I told her the same thing. I said, ‘you must be kidding.’ And then I started laughing because I was friendly with them. I said there’s gotta be someone…

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Home Is Where the Fraud Is

Excellent story and book! Highly recommended.

Dana Snitzky's avatarLongreads

David Dayen | Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud | The New Press | May 2016 | 26 minutes (7,150 words)

Below is an excerpt from Chain of Title, by David Dayen, the true story of how a group of ordinary Americans took on the nation’s banks at the height of the housing crisis, calling into question fraudulent foreclosure practices. This story is recommended by Longreads contributing editor Dana Snitzky

* * *

How could you not know who I am if you’re suing me?

Lisa Epstein drove down Highway A1A, along the Intracoastal Waterway, back to her old apartment in Palm Beach. At her side was her daughter Jenna, in a car seat; atop the dashboard was an envelope containing the monthly payment on her unsold co-op. Though her house was in foreclosure, Lisa always paid the mortgage on the apartment, her fallback…

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Ocwen to pay $30 million in settlement over alleged FHA, HAMP violations

justiceleague00's avatarJustice League

Will pay $15 million to U.S., $15 million to consumers

Ocwen Financial disclosed Thursday morning that it will pay $30 million to settle a pair of lawsuits that accused the nonbank of falsely certifying that it was in compliance with Federal Housing Administration and Home Affordable Modification Program rules.

Ocwen revealed the settlement in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the filing, Ocwen stated that it reached an agreement in principle to settle two related cases, U.S. Ex rel. Fisher v. Homeward Residential, Inc., et al and U.S. Ex rel. Fisher v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, et al, which are referred to as the Fisher Cases.

Read on.

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U.S. Bank Force-Placed Insurance Class Action Lawsuit

justiceleague00's avatarJustice League

Hustler Money blog:

For all U.S borrowers who between April 8, 2009 and June 30, 2015, were charged by U.S. Bank under a hazard, flood, flood-gap or wind-only lender-placed insurance (LPI) policy for residential property, and who either paid to U.S. Bank the net premium for that LPI policy or who did not pay and still owe U.S. Bank the net premium for the LPI policy, you are eligible for a potential award from the U.S. Bank Force-Placed Insurance Class Action Lawsuit! According to the lawsuit, U.S. Bank placed the insurance on borrowers’ property in such a manner that the bank would receive an unauthorized benefit and get “kickbacks” in the form of commissions from the Assurant defendants. Although U.S. Bank denies all acts of wrongdoings, they have agreed to settle the class action lawsuit in order to avoid the further risk and cost of ongoing litigation. So if you are eligible…

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Mortgage Madness Reignites at Wells Fargo and BOA

Amen. And they won’t change until the computer software and patents have been seized and destroyed.

Unknown's avatarLivinglies's Weblog

Predatory Mortgage Mortgage Madness at Wells Fargo and Bank of America

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/26/wells-fargo-launches-3-down-payment-mortgage.html

http://www.dsnews.com/news/03-22-2016/is-bank-of-americas-new-mortgage-program-a-substitute-for-fha-lending

By William Hudson

Wells Fargo and Bank of America have announced that they will be offering 3% down loans that are proven to be as high risk as no-money-down mortgages. These loans will be offered to people with poor credit. If 3% is too much to put down, the banks are offering insane “incentives” to entice borrowers to reignite a stalling real estate market.


Wells Fargo claims that borrowers can qualify for an even lower interest rate if they agree to go to a ridiculous and ineffective “government-sponsored” class on finance (think “Mortgages for Dummies”). Wells Fargo offers a 3.75% interest rate if you put the 3% down or 40% down on the loan- it hardly matters to them since they are selling the paper. Attending the finance class reduces your rate by a mere .08% of the interest…

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Ocwen’s William Erbey deserves a Passport to Prison- not Malta

And don’t think the banks they service for shouldn’t be their roommates!

Millionaire facing US investment fraud suit is Malta’s newest citizen

MaltaToday – Matthew Vella  – 16 June 2016, 8:10am

william_erbeyWilliam Erbey was forced to resign chairmanship of US mortgage giant Ocwen over serious conflicts of interest related to foreclosures on homeowners

‘Citizen Bill’: William Erbey was forced to resign the chairmanship of mortgage giant Ocwen for using the company to funnel business to his companies

One of the multi-millionaires lining up for a Maltese passport has run into trouble back in the United States, having to face a securities fraud lawsuit.

William Charles Erbey was a billionaire worth $2.5 billion and a regular in Forbes’ list of the global rich, but his worth was drastically reduced to ‘just’ over $400 million when his mortgage giant Ocwen Financial was found responsible for serious conflicts in the way it carried out its business.

But far from the ‘talent’ that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat shills for in his international roadshows with Henley & Partners flogging off Malta’s golden €650,000 passport, William Erbey is accused by critics of having built an empire on mortgage misery, and who saves tax by sheltering his companies in the Virgin Islands, Luxembourg and the Caymans.

Earlier this month, US District Judge William Dimitrouleas said Erbey would have to face a securities fraud lawsuit, after the plaintiffs had successfully alleged that he and his company Home Loan Servicing Solutions had misrepresented to investors that the company had controls over Erbey’s conflicts of interest.

In 2011, Ocwen was investigated by New York’s Department for Financial Services for incomplete documentation and record-keeping, falsification of evidence through “robo-signing” and pursuit of foreclosures without legal standing.

Ocwen was found having pushed homeowners into foreclosure and profiting by funnelling default-related business to William Erbey’s associated companies. For example, one subsidiary hosted Ocwen’s online auctions; another handled post-foreclosure real estate transactions.

Mortgage servicers like Ocwen are essentially debt collectors, collecting monthly principal and interest from homeowners.

db-lawsky-game-of-thrones-master675Prosecutor Benjamin Lawsky accused Ocwen of making decisions intended to benefit Erbey’s affiliated companies and their share price, “resulting in harm to borrowers, mortgage investors or Ocwen shareholders as a result.”

In addition to Ocwen Financial – which collected monthly mortgage payments – Erbey was also the chairman and the largest shareholder of four other real estate companies that step in when a lender has his property loan foreclosed. Altisource Portfolio Solutions ran the auction site Hubzu.com for foreclosed properties to go for a quick sale; Altisource Residential Corporation re-purposed a home as a rental property after acquiring it through a foreclosure auction; Altisource Asset Management offered reinsurance; and Home Loan Servicing Solutions was a holding company that purchases assets from… Ocwen.

In 2014, the New York Department of Financial Services reached a $150 million settlement with Ocwen, that included the resignation of executive chairman William Erbey from Ocwen and its four publicly traded affiliates.

Investors who own 25% in Ocwen-serviced trusts have now accused the company of forcing them to pay the cost of the settlements, saying Ocwen’s practices enriched its corporate affiliates while harming the trusts and their investors.

Ocwen has countered that its own independent investigation proves that those accusations hold no water.

Also in 2013, some 9,500 homeowners complained about how their mortgages had been serviced. The Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) teamed up with authorities Ocwen consumer complaintsfrom 49 states to force Ocwen into a $2 billion settlement [a mere pittance] for use in loan reductions to homeowners struggling to stay afloat and $127.3 million in refunds for 185,000 people whose properties had already been foreclosed upon.

According to Richard Cordray, head of the CFPB, “Ocwen took advantage of borrowers at every stage of the process.”

In an interview with The New Republic in 2014, the former prosecutor Benjamin Lawsky said: “When a corporation does wrong, it has to be that individuals who work at the corporation have done wrong.”

Hey, somebody tell the foreclosure judges, would ya?! You know none of this is going to change until law enforcement confiscates the computer servicer software programs and the judiciary deems the software patents unlawful, invalid and dissolves or bans the use of this “seamless automation” of corruption.

Unknown's avatarLivinglies's Weblog

Erbey William Charles Erby- Ocwen’s Finest

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/66489/millionaire_facing_us_investment_fraud_suit_is_maltas_newest_citizen#.V2MBeeYzZb0

Mortgage Titan and U.S. Citizen William Charles Erbey, who built Ocwen Financial into one of the country’s largest non-bank mortgage servicers, is having problems qualifying for a Maltese passport. Although there has been no reason provided for the holdup on William’s passport application, it could have something to do with the numerous securities violations Williams is accused of.   William Erbey is accused by critics of having built an empire on foreclosure misery, and who saves tax by sheltering his companies in the Virgin Islands, Luxembourg and the Caymans. In 2012 he relocated to the U.S. Virgin Islands.


Erbey applied for Malta’s €650,000 “Golden Passport” program. Malta has become a gateway for wealthy investors — mainly from politically unstable parts of the world — to secure a base in London. While expensive, it promises a straightforward citizenship program that allows participants to operate throughout the…

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