Ocwen Faces New York Regulator Probe

New York’s financial regulator is examining mortgage-servicing firm Ocwen Financial Corp.’s relationships with several businesses, saying that borrowers may be harmed because of the companies’ close ties.

Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, sent a letter Wednesday to Ocwen seeking information about the company’s financial stakes in affiliated firms, services that the other firms provide Ocwen and agreements between the firms. Ocwen’s executive chairman, William Erbey, serves as chairman of the other firms.

Mr. Lawsky and other authorities recently have raised concerns that Ocwen and other nonbank mortgage-servicing firms have grown too quickly, resulting in many of the same problems for borrowers that were seen following the financial crisis.

The agency’s “ongoing review of Ocwen’s mortgage servicing practices has uncovered a number of potential conflicts of interest between Ocwen and other public companies with which Ocwen is closely affiliated,”…

Barclays trio charged with Libor conspiracy in London

Is Obama Pointless?

At the time of his election, it would have been expected that the presidency of Barack Obama would have created a climate more favorable to business ethics. This did not happen. Business ethics were not in any way part of the White House’s agenda. Under Obama, even mild interest in prosecuting business crime is absent. Under Obama, corporate cooperation with the White House has been a continuing priority from the Affordable Healthcare Act to the bizarre HAMP plan to “help” struggling homeowners. Both were business ethics nightmares. The President had run on a platform of open government, and yet a few months after taking office met with the insurance companies and cut a deal insuring their participation and profits in the new healthcare act. HAMP was turned into a deadly and devastating weapon to be used against homeowners, the banks ceaselessly manipulating the rules to force homeowners…

Candice Jones, retired Bank Fraud Analysis Expert from Santa Barbara, CA and FDIC and Resolution Trust Corp. expert, lays out how we are all sold out to the National Mortgage Settlement.

FDN Attorneys Obtain Dismissal of 9th Case in New Jersey; Rhode Island Court Permits Homeowners to Attack MERS Assignment

For the 9th time, FDN attorneys in New Jersey have obtained a dismissal of a foreclosure action which was originally filed by foreclosure mill Zucker Goldberg and Ackerman, but with the case being later transferred to foreclosure mill Phelan Hallinan. The reason for this 9th dismissal was the same as the others which preceded it: the Plaintiff’s steadfast refusal to comply with discovery. Local New Jersey counsel Michael Jacobson, Esq. of the Cooper Levenson Firm represented the homeowners, assisted by consulting counsel Jeff Barnes, Esq.

The Zucker Firm has a long history of intentionally refusing to comply with discovery. In fact, in one case in Morris County where Mr. Barnes represented the homeowners, the Judge, during a Case Management Conference, specifically directed the attorney for Zucker to comply with the homeowner’s…

From Zero Hedge:

“Thailand’s Government Savings Bank (GSB) president admitted that clients withdrew 30bn Baht (around $1bn) in a single-day last week and Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and Krungthai Bank (KTB), although of a much smaller magnitude, have also seen withdrawal spikes of similar magnitude according to The Bangkok Post. The ‘bank run’ comes after speculation that cash at the state-run banks are being used by the government (which is in turmoil) to fund farmers (who have not received their ‘promised’ rice subsidies of over 130 bn Baht). Withdrawal requests are met with banks warning that there were insufficient funds at the time due to many depositors withdrawing cash.”

Bank run in Thailand, you say? It can’t happen here, we will be told.  We are superior to Thailand, right?  America is the exception to all rules!  Yeah, right…

From the story:

“One depositor…

Lehman Bankruptcy Judge Peck to Join Morrison & Foerster, which represented the mortgage lender

As U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck leaves the bench, one object is definitely going with him: a Lehman Brothers baby rattle.

Judge Peck, who presided over the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, is joining law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP after stepping down from the Manhattan bankruptcy court. The rattle was purchased at an auction of Lehman memorabilia by a participant in the case who also was involved in the Residential Capital LLC Chapter 11 case, in which Judge Peck served as mediator.

Judge Peck spent thousands of hours over 5½ years working on Lehman’s U.S. bankruptcy case and related insolvency proceedings in courts around the world. More than 42,000 docket entries were filed in the case, the largest ever U.S. bankruptcy filing.

The judge says the rattle bearing the Lehman name and with links to ResCap is…