MSFraud's Spring 2014 HEADLINES

Banks Move to Overturn Galope LIBOR Case Homeowners need to understand that the FDIC deciding to sue on the interest rate swaps re: LIBOR is BAD news for the homeowner. This is my legal theory in Galope being twisted in favor of the investor. This will help Barclays on their petition for rehearing as to standing, I believe that is what the banks are thinking at least. I believe that the timing of the FDIC suit and the petition for rehearing are not coincidental. Unfortunately the homeowners are getting confused, thinking this is somehow a win for them against the banks, when in fact, this is another step the banking industry is trying to take in order to take rights away from the homeowner. - Galope attorney Understanding the True Facts Behind the Fraudclosure Epidemic The foreclosures were planned before the loans were originated, and that is why MERS was created. MERS, in and of itself, is evidence of advanced planning. Arkansas Supreme Court Accepts Certified Question Whether the Federal National Mortgage Association satisfies the Statutory Foreclosure Act's authorized-to-do-business requirement, Ark. Code Ann. $ 18-50-1 17, under 12 U.S.C. S 1716 et seq., or other federal laws, or must the Federal National Mortgage Association satisfy Ark. Code Ann. $ 18-50-1 17 by obtaining a certificate of authority in Arkansas prior to statutorily foreclosing on property in Arkansas? Controversy Surrounds Florida’s 5-Year Foreclosure Statute of Limitations This is tricky as banks are re-foreclosing on already foreclosed homes. Don’t let them try to take your home away a second time. The timing and the difference between losing your home and keeping your home is critical. Watch Roy’s explanation. Unpublished Opinion demonstrates Dual-Tracking's Bait & Switch DiRienzo v. OneWest Bank DiRienzo's modification request was not acted on because she was current on her loan payments. DiRienzo stopped making further payments based on the statements of the vice president. DiRienzo’s action did not have the desired effect. Her FICO credit score dropped from 735 to 682 as a result of her delinquency. She was eventually told her modification would not be considered due to her credit score. In 2011, Deutsche Bank initiated foreclosure. JUST SHUT OCWEN DOWN! For more than 20 years, Ocwen has been stealing homes using this same procedure used by other mortgage industry criminals. Mortgage hassles lead to threatened foreclosure Ocwen 'misapplied' 4 monthly payments, sought $7,098.75 in unidentified 'fees and expenses'. Martens' February statement showed the account was up to date, and everything seemed fine through early March. Martens said she paid her March statement six days before it was due. On March 14, she received a certified letter from Ocwen stating she was in default on her loan. The letter showed a past due balance of $9,184.53, claiming she had missed her January and February payments. It included $7,098.75 in unidentified "fees and expenses." It demanded payment in full by April 5. Supreme Sellout---The End of the Noble Experiment If the fabricated, forged, robo-signed, falsely notarized, assignment says that the note was assigned to that foreclosing party, there can be no challenge to the foreclosure. If that doesn’t take your breath away, you must be in a coma. That is the state of your property rights when forgeries are accepted for recording. Anyone can take your home if they know how to do it, and the bankstas invented this system. Foreclosures on Nonexistent Mortgages The beauty of this plan for Wall Street is that nobody from any of the tiers could make direct claims to the benefits of any of the contracts. It has also enabled them to foreclose more than once on the same home in the name of different creditors, making double claims for guarantee from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FDIC loss sharing, insurance and credit default swaps. The ugly side of the plan is still veiled, for the most part in secrecy. When the homeowner gets close in court, there is a confidential settlement, sometimes for millions of dollars to keep the lawyer and the homeowner from disclosing the terms or the reasons why millions of dollars were paid to a homeowner to keep his mouth shut on a loan that was only $200,000 at origination. Foreclosure Sale VOIDED 4-years later FDIC v. Duerksen Here, it is clear from the face of the order confirming sale that Appellant's due process rights were violated.Thus, the order confirming sale is void on its face and the trial court was without jurisdiction to enter such order. The trial court's judgment is REVERSED AND this matter is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. WELLS FARGO SWINDLE The government program that FAILED homeowners Chris Cooley never missed a payment on his mortgage. What followed was what most homeowners would consider a nightmare. While Cooley tried to stave off foreclosure to save his home and livelihood, Wells Fargo paid the other renters living in the property $5,000 to move out behind his back, and then denied Cooley further aid – because his income, which he drew from the rentals, was too low. “They took my income away from me, and then they couldn’t give me a loan because I had no income,” Cooley said. “What a wonderful catch-22.” Different Versions of the Note Get Jammed in Ohio Court of Appeals DEUTSCHE BANK v. HOLDEN We concluded that the inconsistencies between the indorsements contained on the submitted notes created a genuine issue of material fact that precluded summary judgment as we could not ascertain which lender possessed the note at the time the foreclosure was filed. WELLS FARGO NOTICE FAIL: Wells Fargo REVERSED for failure to satisfy the notice requirement of section 22 of the mortgage as a condition precedent to foreclosure. Samaroo v. Wells Fargo "Its own mortgage specified the important information that it was bound to give its borrower in default, and it simply failed to do so." Contrary to the dissent’s assertion, Galope’s standing does not turn on whether she actually made interest payments that were adjusted in response to the allegedly manipulated LIBOR rate. Galope’s cognizable injury occurred when she purchased the loan, not upon payment of LIBOR-affected interest. Galope v. Deutsche Bank, Ocwen We reverse the district court’s ruling that Galope failed to establish injury in-fact necessary for Article III standing on her LIBOR-based claims. Galope adequately alleged that she would not have purchased her loan had she known that the Defendants were manipulating the LIBOR rate. Article III standing exists when a plaintiff purchases a product she would not have otherwise purchased but for the alleged misconduct of the defendant. TWO CENT FORECLOSURE F or TWO YEARS, this 80-year-old woman has been in fear of losing her home to foreclosure despite never having missed a mortgage payment. Bank of America filed for foreclosure over two payments that were each one penny short. Tom Murphy: "Well, Bank of America shortchanged the payment that they were making to themselves for her mortgage." OUCH! $100 Million Malpractice Action Filed Against Bryan Cave, LLP Reinstated By Ninth Circuit The suits allege that Bryan Cave committed malpractice and breached its fiduciary duty in advising the debtors on how to conduct their business operations in light of allegations of violations of complex real estate and securities laws. From page 12 of the TRANSCRIPT: Bryan Cave allegedly made EFI aware of the fraudulent behavior that was going on. And the allegation is Bryan Cave said it was okay to go ahead and continue that fraudulent behavior. And the allegation is that Bryan Cave said it was okay to continue lying. What types of lies? Failing to disclose how investor money is -- without -- taking investor money without disclosing true risks, lying to investors about what projects their money was being invested in. See also:Bank of America's Lawyer Plays Dirty, Suit Charges Self Represented Homeowners WIN Quiet Title to $800,000 Home Writ of Special Execution Quieting Title in Homeowners "That the subject property is hereby awarded to, and title quieted in favor of Plaintiffs. That Defendant SABR is permanently enjoined and prohibited from recording any documents affecting or purporting to affect title of the subject property; and, any acts or recordings now or in the future by Defendant SABR relating to the subject property shall be of no force or effect." Sign the petition to Eric Holder: Make Prosecuting Mortgage Fraud a Top Priority! Court denies OCWEN's motion to dismiss on RESPA and Breach of Contract Justice v. Ocwen OCWEN did not fulfill theirs when they refused to accept their payments according to the terms of the contracts, and when they unilaterally changed the terms of the contracts; and that this caused Plaintiffs damages. Fraudulent mortgage modifier sentenced to Nine Years in Federal Prison Tell us this doesn't sound exactly like what the banks did: Promised modifications, repeatedly took millions from TARP, did nothing, and then destroyed peoples' lives. (Law enforcement is telling homeowners they will not investigate anything under $5 Million? This guy didn't even get close to a million.) State of Texas Steals $134 Million from Homeowners! Attorney Pressures Texas to Refund National Mortgage Settlement Funds The Texas Attorney General's Office promptly - and indeed unlawfully - diverted most of $134 Million in settlement funds away from Texas homeowners and into, among others, the Texas Judicial Fund, to fund criminal indigent defense programs across Texas. Yet, Texas has projected a large budgetary surplus for 2014 and beyond and has given no indication regarding this budget item, that it should be replenished using the diverted funds, now or ever. Just 83,000 Homeowners Get First-Lien Principal Reductions from National Mortgage Settlement - 90 % Less Than Promised The book has closed on the National Mortgage Settlement, one of the most shockingly awful examples of government cowardice and corruption in recent American history. WELLS FARGO UNDER FIRE for Fabricating Documents to Steal Real Estate Attorney Linda Tirelli discusses her lawsuit against Wells Fargo with Fox News. Robo-Signing is alive and well - instructions included. Lawsuit Against California’s Robbing Homeowners of National Mortgage Settlement Funds Has Very Good Chance of Success From Center for Economic and Policy Research: Locking Up the Banksters: It's Not Hard Faced the prospect of several years in prison, it is likely that many would be prepared to testify against their bosses. Senators question Lack of Prosecutions for Mortgage Fraud The trio asked to review the report’s findings with Holder and discuss steps the agency will take to improve its efforts to prosecute the crimes. Hundreds of Justice Department Attorneys Violated Professional Rules, Laws, or Ethical Standards Administration Won’t Name Offending Prosecutors. In the majority of the matters—more than 400—OPR categorized the violations as being at the more severe end of the scale: recklessness or intentional misconduct, as distinct from error or poor judgment. The Public DEMANDS Criminal Prosecutions! A Loan Fraud War That’s Short on Combat Here is one of the report’s conclusions: “We found that, despite public statements by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and the department about the importance of pursuing financial fraud cases, including mortgage fraud, the F.B.I. Criminal Investigative Division ranked complex financial crimes as the lowest of the six ranked criminal threats within its area of responsibility, and ranked mortgage fraud as the lowest subcategory threat within the complex financial crimes category. Additionally, we found mortgage fraud to be a low priority, or not listed as a priority, for F.B.I. field offices in the locations we visited.” Got that? Complex financial crimes were the lowest priority for the criminal investigative division. Breaking News: Pro-se in Phoenix wins a six year battle with Deutsche Bank today. Deutsche Bank and the underlying Trust have been permanently enjoined from foreclosing. Court threatened lawyer for the bank with contempt of court for conduct during the hearing. We will have more information and video of hearing next week. California Sued Over Diversion of Money From National Mortgage Settlement The suit is demanding the state replace $369 million that had been earmarked to help troubled borrowers - but was used instead to pay down the state’s debt. Under California law, money placed in a so-called special deposit fund can be transferred to the state’s general fund only “if the transfer does not interfere with the object for which the special fund was created and the transferred amount is repaid when feasible.” It is not clear how many other states could file similar lawsuits, but we hope it's many. NAAC v. CA Gov. Brown Complaint Criminologist and former financial regulator, Professor Bill Black:   ) This is a great piece to share with friends and who still aren’t sure why we had a crisis or are predisposed to blame it on greedy borrowers, as opposed to greedy and reckless financial services industry players. "Remember there is no Fraud exorcist. Once it starts out a fraudulent loan, it can only be sold to the secondary market through more frauds." Wells Fargo made up on-demand foreclosure papers plan According to court papers, the 150-page Wells Fargo Foreclosure Attorney Procedures Manual details “a procedure for processing [mortgage] notes without endorsements and obtaining endorsements and allonges.” If the allegations in Tirelli’s court filing are true, this manual represents the first time ‘ta-da’ endorsements are “being described and admitted to be a procedure” at a major bank.” Wells Fargo Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual h/t Deontos Mortgage Investors to Send Letters on Ocwen ‘Servicing Abuses’ “The Association of Mortgage Investors are currently reviewing action against a number of servicers for their actions that have been harmful for both investors and borrowers.” Court Holds Note & Mortgage are Unenforceable "It appears that the chain of title of the Note was not properly proved and therefore the party entitled to enforce the Note is not the Appellant. As neither a holder of the Note nor a non-holder with the rights of a holder, Vanderbilt cannot enforce the Note. Because “a mortgage is valid and enforceable only if the underlying debt continues to be an enforceable obligation,” the Mortgage is no longer enforceable under Kentucky law." from Weidner LawJudge's Foreclosure Bench Book The filing of a forged document warrants disbarment. The Florida Bar v. Hall, 49 So. 3d 1254, 1259 (Fla. 2010) Complaints to the Bar should bring forged documents by the truckload. The handbook is full of [mis]information. 2012 REPLAY: Homeowners, advocates want bank reps JAILED for Foreclosure Fraud Powell was about to lose his home when he saw a 60 Minutes report in 2011 that blew the lid off the industry's big secret. The report revealed banks used phony documents to push people out of their homes. The documents were apparently created because banks lost the original documents during Wall Street's securitization process. Bank attorneys and foreclosure firms then willfully forged the documents. Wells Fargo to pay $3 million for ‘shocking’ foreclosure Wells Fargo foreclosed on the family home despite the accidental death insurance policy the bank sold his father along with the mortgage – conduct an Albuquerque judge said was so "shocking" and “highly reprehensible” she slapped the company with a judgment awarding the Dollens estate $2.7 million in punitive damages. Clerks dispute with lenders headed to U.S. Supreme Court Our highest court will be the next stop for a lawsuit that accuses some of the country’s largest banks and mortgage firms of plotting to avoid filing real estate transactions in Louisiana parish clerk of court offices, costing the clerks tens of millions of dollars in fee revenue. JPMorgan whistleblower gets $63.9 million in mortgage fraud deal JPMorgan admitted that for more than a decade it submitted thousands of mortgages for insurance by the FHA or the Department of Veterans Affairs that did not qualify for government guarantees. Chase Class Action Force-placed Insurance Information Who Is Included in the Settlement Class? The Settlement Class consists of all borrowers in the United States who, between January 1, 2008 and October 4, 2013, were charged by the Chase Defendants as insureds or additional insureds under a hazard lender-placed insurance. We're Back. Petition to U.S. Supreme Court: Should Foreclosure Fraud Be Allowed to Continue In Florida Courts? We all know that consumers continue to suffer gross abuses at the hands of the banks and a court system which has largely reached the conclusion that banks must be rewarded with Final Judgments of Foreclosure no matter what the facts. Petition in Rodriguez v. BONY How much time will the foreclosure-mill lawyers get? Bucks lawyer gets year in prison for mortgage scheme According to the indictment, the defendants targeted financially distressed homeowners facing foreclosure, falsely promised them help in saving their homes, engaged in real estate transactions with straw purchasers, and obtained dozens of fraudulent mortgages. The defendants took whatever equity the homeowner had left, funneled it through various shell corporations they controlled, used some of it to pay the new mortgages, and kept the rest. Older headlines