State
AGs settle with LPS for
$113 million; only nobody knew
October
6, 2013 | Written
for MSfraud.org
In February of this year, the state attorneys general settled with Lender
Processing Services (LPS) for $113 million dollars in an
El Paso district court. This settlement, like the
larger nationally-recognized settlement, also relates to
robo-signing and fabricated documents used to process
illegal foreclosures. This settlement amount is to be split between a number of other state AGs. (See
chart)
El Paso, Texas seems to be ground zero for
the filing of some of the national mortgage lawsuits, but somehow these cases manage to stay off the
mortgage fraud radar and questions what the AG is really doing in the "public
interest" during his election year.
Apparently nobody knew about this settlement,
and it has one attorney asking: “Where is the money?”
Attorney Richard Roman (pronounced:
“Row-Mawn") discovered STATE OF TEXAS v. LENDER PROCESSING SERVICES, INC.; LPS
DEFAULT SOLUTIONS, INC., and DOCX, LLC was filed on
February 1, 2013 and ended five days later on February 6
with an Agreed Judgment and Injunction.
Mr. Roman is currently in the process of intervening
in another case, STATE OF TEXAS v. AHMSI,
to make sure his client is not forgotten as an
"afterthought". It appears Roman’s filing struck a nerve over at the
Asst. AG's Office, who he claims seem eager to make sure his voice is never heard and his client never sees the inside of a courtroom.
For some reason, when mortgage fraud victims file complaints with
various Texas Attorney General offices throughout Texas, every complaint we
know of ends up in this office that is tucked away in the far west corner of
the state - sometimes known as "North Juarez, Mexico".
It is not that the El Paso office possesses an advanced skill-set for mortgage fraud crimes committed by the
banks.
When the Asst. AG was told in early 2005
that there was “certified evidence” to confirm both fraud and corruption going on inside a Texas
foreclosure court, Mr. Daross responded: “Whenever someone mentions corruption in our courts, I tend not to listen.”
Welcome to Texas
Many of the second-tier bad actors who created the nation’s foreclosure crisis (including
LPS), hitched a post in Texas. NBC
News reported: "As Texas governor, Rick Perry spent tens of millions in taxpayer money to lure some of the nation's leading mortgage companies to expand their business in his state, calling it a national model for creating jobs. But the plan backfired."
It may be for that reason that Texas,
like many other states, is basically devoid of foreclosure rulings in favor of its thousands of
foreclosure crime victims. The judicial corruption, especially in the Dallas/Collin county corridor, has been confirmed by
many lawyers, three judges, and most recently by a Texas law professor, who
added that protection for the foreclosure-mills comes straight
out of Washington. It seems the once tough "Don't Mess with
Texas" slogan has long been retired.
The $113 Million LPS settlement
provides for “Remediation to Homeowners”, but we have
yet to hear from a homeowner who benefitted from - or even
knew about this settlement.
In his letter to El Paso’s assistant AG,
James Daross, Mr. Roman is demanding proof that LPS paid the amounts contained in
this settlement:
Dear Mr. Daross and Bischoff:
Please accept this email as my request for information pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act
("TPIA") for the following information:
1. Copies of the quarterly reports detailing the efforts of LPS to fulfill the obligations placed upon it as described in the Section titled: "IV. 4.1 Remediation to Homeowners", as part of the "Agreed Final Judgment and Injunction" in 2013DCV-0413, "The State of Texas v. Lender Processing Services, Inc.";
2. Proof of payment by LPS to The State of Texas of $5,755.050 as a settlement in this matter;
3. Proof of payment of 7 million dollars in attorney's fees awarded to the State of Texas, as well as $483,333.00 as additional attorney fees.
Provide me with the copying cost and I will see that it is paid expeditiously.
Richard A. Roman, Esq. |
Texas has known forged and false documents have been used to steal homes from its own residents
dating back to the 1990s, but until lately, the state
didn't seem bothered by all these state jail felonies
being committed throughout the state en masse.
In the 2007 (pre-crisis)
certified Texas Supreme Court transcript of the “Meeting on Foreclosure
Rules”, Michael Barrett (now deceased), of the Texas foreclosure-mill Barrett-Burke, Castle, Daffin & Frappier, admits that the mandated paperwork required to lawfully execute a foreclosure simply does not exist in 90% of the
cases:
“So finding a document that says, “I am the owner and holder, and I thereby grant to the servicer the right to foreclose in my name” is an impossibility in 90 percent of the
cases.” (transcript page 27, line 16)
The remedy for when, as Mr. Barrett confirmed “There really isn’t such a document” (Page 27, line 8), was revealed by Judge Bruce Priddy (See
State of Texas v. Judge Priddy D-1-GV-08-002311) when he added:
“They just create one for the most part sometimes, and the servicer signs it themselves saying that it’s
been transferred to whatever entity they name as
applicant”. (page 28, line 10)
First American Title added:
“Well, the other problem -- Judge, this is Tim Redding. The other problem that I see -- and, Tommy, you and I talk about it regularly – that we have a bunch of servicers that are corporations or trusts attempting to foreclose on behalf of other trusts using a power of attorney, and I don't think that's really proper. I mean, we all kind of turn a blind eye to
it, but I think that's an issue that's out there that somebody could use to potentially attack a
foreclosure.” (p. 33, line 5)
According to Mr. Barrett’s statements; that means 9 of every 10 foreclosure/eviction cases filed in Texas
likely contain uttered documents, a/k/a state jail
felonies. That is absolutely stunning! Many people
might assume the Texas district attorneys, U.S. Attorneys, FBI, IRS, Texas Rangers, Secret Service,
etc. would be investigating this multi-billion dollar
criminal enterprise that has been operating in the state
for close to twenty-years. But it appears the El
Paso AG office is the lone ranger against this massive
land grab and transference of wealth, and they don't seem
to want anyone to know. We applaud anyone who goes
toe to toe with the banks, but where is the stipulated
'remediation to homeowners'?
The case against Countrywide
Another obscure case discovered this
week was filed in El Paso in 2009 by the State of Texas
against Countrywide. The AG obtained an Agreed Final
Judgment and Injunction on the same day the petition was
filed. Among other things, the injunction places Restrictions on Initiation or Advancement of Foreclosure
Process for Eligible Borrowers.
Here is the Docket, Petition and Agreed
Judgment in State
of Texas v. Countrywide Financial, Countrywide Home Loans
and Full Spectrum Lending
Did the media not know about this case
either?
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