Law firm releases a "mountain of evidence" proving a massive illegal bank foreclosure scheme!

[Better Believe It]

Law firm says it has proof of illegal foreclosure system
By: Mike Trim
WPTV
October 12, 2010

Now, a South Florida law firm says it has hundreds of cases in Palm Beach County that prove some of those banks may have been committing a crime.

The law firm calls them "robo signers," people who rushed faulty foreclosure paperwork through the court system.

Within a tower of foreclosure depositions shown at the Ticktin Law Group’s Deerfield Beach office, senior legal counsel Peter Ticktin says the group has discovered the groundwork of an illegal home foreclosure system.

Ticktin said, "It's massive, it's criminal, it's wrong and it's proven with what lawyers call a mountain of evidence."

That evidence, according Ticktin, includes incorrect foreclosure paperwork pushed through by all types of banks.

Ticktin says banks hired unqualified workers to complete crucial foreclosure affidavits, which are the official document used for a foreclosure hearing.

Read the full article and see the WPTV news report at:

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/law-firm-says-it-has-proof-of-illegal-foreclosure-system


--------------------------------------------




Foreclosure robo-signers testify they had little financial know-how
Associated Press
In Print: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NEW YORK — In an effort to rush through thousands of home foreclosures since 2007, financial institutions and their mortgage servicing departments hired hair stylists, Walmart floor workers and people who had worked on assembly lines and installed them in "foreclosure expert" jobs with no formal training, a Florida lawyer says.

In depositions released Tuesday, many of those workers testified that they barely knew what a mortgage was. Some didn't know what a complaint was, or even what was meant by personal property. Most troubling, several said they knew that they were lying when they signed the foreclosure affidavits and that they agreed with defense lawyers' accusations about document fraud.

"The mortgage servicers hired people who would never question authority," said Peter Ticktin, a Deerfield Beach lawyer who is defending 3,000 homeowners in foreclosure cases. Ticktin gathered 150 depositions from bank employees who say they signed foreclosure affidavits without reviewing the documents or ever laying eyes on them — earning them the name "robo-signers."

The deposed employees worked for the mortgage service divisions of banks such as Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, as well as for mortgage servicers like Litton Loan Servicing, a division of Goldman Sachs.

Ticktin said he would make the testimony available to state and federal agencies that are investigating allegations of possible mortgage fraud. "This was an industrywide scheme designed to defraud homeowners," Ticktin said.

Read the full article at:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/foreclosure-robo-singers-testify-they-had-little-financial-know-how/1127777

[emilyg]

k

[northoftheborder]

12. kick

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Angry Dragon]

2. Let the heads roll

Jail time and huge fines ........
Break up the banks and we need stiffer regulations
and to hell with the republicans saying no

[cliffordu]

17. How about just dead in the fucking gutters.....

[GiveMeFreedom]

77. Ha Ha

and don't bother sweeping the gutters either.

[truedelphi]

19. I'm, with you on what you are saying - BUT

As this unravels, what do you wanna bet that our fearless "leaders" (aka as politicians) will be making the case that rather than penalizing each bank the $ 25K fine decreed by law for each case of mishandled foreclosure - we will hear that this will prevent our further economic recovery, and that we simply cannot do it without threatening the Banking System of the Free World.

Same ol' same ol'.

[LiberalArkie]

40. We MUST do something to help these poor banks, they have been through so much

with all the people not paying their loans and their credit cards..

GEEZ they get so much sympathy for the lords in Washington

[Caretha]

59. It is not up to the politicians

It is up to the judicial now. A law is a law is a law. Now it is up to the courts to inforce justice. Thank all the pagan gods I think that it is finally out of so-called legistlation's hands.

[truedelphi]

83. Hope the judicial end of things holds up. It really is

Overdue that the People win one and the Banking, Thieving WHORES of Financial Interests lose one.

Long overdue.

[ThomCat]

21. I agree, and I hope heads will roll.

Will Democrats in office be brave enough?

[TexasObserver]

3. The good guys are on the hunt.

Lawyers are all over this.

It's going to be EPIC.

[AC_Mem]

39. I can see it now

Commercials during Judge Judy...

"If you feel you have been foreclosed illegally, you may be entitled to compensation! Contact the lawyers of A,B,C and D at 888-888-8888"....

[TexasObserver]

57. Or, you could try doing it yourself.

No one has to hire an attorney, only the ones who know better than to try to fix the mess they made without professional guidance.

[tridim]

51. I hope you forgot your sarcasm tag.

Who do you think will end up paying all these lawyer fees?

The banks? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TexasObserver]

78. I hope you forgot yours.

The banks will pay those fees. Those who defaulted on their loans will not.

[leftstreet]

4. I don't trust this. Banksters are going to get another fucking bailout

:banghead:

[Sanity Claws]

5. The banks created a system in which they committed perjury

in order to prevail at trial.

Perjury is a crime. Conspiracy to commit perjury, I believe, is a crime. The whole thing may be a RICO violation.

[DJ13]

6. "This was an industrywide scheme designed to defraud homeowners"

Which is why there needs to be a moratorium.

Theres only two ways this can go (as far as mortgages in the MERS system), either the banks give up on trying to prove ownership since the paper work doesnt exist, or theres an industry wide (no matter if the mortgage is in MERS or not) reset on principle and refi to low rates to reestablish a paper work trail that CAN be used in the future.

Neither alternative is appealing to the blood suckers, or their government puppets.

[tridim]

47. Meanwhile, the foreclosure attorneys are still getting rich off this fiasco.

The more uncertainly and the longer it lasts, the more money they make.

At every turn there is another blood sucker right there waiting to make money off of our misery. Worse yet, there is nothing the individual (without an income) can do to stop it.

[TexasObserver]

55. You could try hiring a lawyer to represent you.

As for the foreclosures, those are mandated by your government's bank examiners, who determine a loan is non performing, and the lender has to write it off against their capital. That is why your loan is in foreclosure. Well, that and non payment as per the terms of the loan you signed.

If you want to assert as a defense fraud or mistake, you will need a lawyer to do it right.

[tridim]

63. How do I hire a lawyer with no money?

I've tried pro-bono, the answer is always "NO".

[TexasObserver]

66. It probably doesn't help that you hate lawyers.

Or that you express that hate so much.

Instead of finding reasons to hate them all, try finding one that is taking foreclosure claims against lenders on a contingency.

Stop making lawyers your bogey man. They're functionaries in this mess.

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LiberalAndProud]

7. "designed to defraud"

So is this for the AG to investigate, Congress, who? What should be the next step to satisfying justice? I hope "mountains of evidence" is not an exaggeration.

[Better Believe It]

8. 150 sworn depositions from bank employees is pretty impressive

[jeff47]

25. State AG's and individual lawsuits...

and far more dangerous: investor lawsuits. No note means that CDO is not just worthless, it's fraudulent. While the big banks aren't going to be afraid of the states, nor individual homeowners, they do fear Wall Street.

[Citizen Worker]

37. How many will scream "frivolous lawsuits" and demand "tort reform."

[jeff47]

84. None

The lawsuit is only frivolous if it's from "the little people".

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Thing is, this is state and county law that is being broken.

An interesting issue will be if the Feds can jump in and try to steal the legal ball so they can save the banks.
but it is the counties that are losing fees over non-reported title transfers, losing property taxes over the loss of housing,
while it is state laws which regulate real estate sales, not the Feds.
It is the county judges who are being manipulated over fraudulent and forged paperwork, and the banks do not seem to have bought off ALL of the judges.
and, it is the state which regulates Bond Trusts that seem to contain no legal mortgages
Which is why the State Attorney generals are meeting to decide what to do.

Keeping the Feds out of it is going to be key. We KNOW the banks have bought enough Congress people, and quite a few Federal Judges.
But at the local level, there are enough Blue states which will raise hell and set some precedence.

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. Time to look forward, not back.

You guys don't actually think anyone of consequence will be convicted of any wrongdoing, do you? This is post-justice America.

[kentuck]

11. We have to be skeptical of these stories...

They will plead guilty to jay-walking as they run over six pedestrians getting out of town...

[Better Believe It]

13. Nothing to see here folks .... move along now .... nothing to see here

[jwirr]

14. Can we assume that if it was happening in Florida that it was also

happening throughout the nation? My grandson was given a loan that they have no should never have given them.

[Better Believe It]

15. Oh I think that's a pretty safe assumption. In some states it might be worse, in others better.

But overall pretty damn widespread criminal activity.

[jwirr]

92. I saw the headlines today - government leaders in all 50 states to

investigate. FINALLY.

[DirkGently]

27. That's actually the bigger problem. And there's no talk of addressing it.

[lpbk2713]

16. I hope they find strong ties to Jeb Bush.

I am sure the ties are there if they will only dig deep enough.

Then they will all start falling like dominoes.

Rubio will be washed up if only due to his association with the Jebster.

[1monster]

42. Wasn't Jebby boy involved in another real estate criminal scam that he

managed to walk away from before he was elected gov?

[lpbk2713]

43. One that comes to mind was in the late 1980's.

Link: http://www.campaignwatch.org/refs3.htm

Shady deals are a Boosh family tradition.

[kcass1954]

58. Google Broward Federal.

[indimuse]

61. we could only wish.n/t

[indimuse]

62. KNR! n/t

[laughingliberal]

18. K & R nt

[Rex]

20. Banks get to commit fraud because the police don't know who to arrest.

Can you lock an organization away into a prison? Keep in mind that organizations can now run for political office so I'm wondering what kind of law enforcement agency is needed to lock up big corporate criminal empires like Blackwater?

[AllyCat]

49. A police officer friend of my husband's told me he would not arrest a white collar criminal

because they don't hurt anyone.

[w4rma]

81. They hurt MORE people, in fact. (nt)

[AllyCat]

82. Part of my argument, but he did not see it that way.

[Lagomorph]

22. Grab up all those properties on the cheap...

...wait for TARP II and stick it to the taxpayer. Turn all those bad mortgages into "Cash Now".

Are there any MBA's left who can turn an honest buck? It seems like ever since we shipped our manufacturing overseas, the only way to make a buck is to steal it from the taxpayers.

[The Uncola]

23. k&r

[KharmaTrain]

24. The Banks Fear Investor Suits More Than The Government...

We've seen how this administration hides from going after the crooks who fleeced billions. Some thought that making Maddoff the scapegoat would suffice. Those who have the biggest issues and determination are those who lost their bankroll with these greedmongers. I've longed hope to see all types of suits of this type popping up that could cost the corporates billions and force some accountability. The shame is we'll learn many things many of us suspected and that the government surely knew and sat there and did nothing.

[metapunditedgy]

75. Specifically, class action suits. It's too risky for an individual to hire a lawyer...

most people can't afford to buy in to the "legal system" in this country.

[Hubert Flottz]

26. National Security your ass...

The worst terrorists are the banksters and the politicians that they own..

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. +1

:thumbsup:

[Better Believe It]

29. J P Morgan Chase warns its attorneys regarding employee practices in foreclosure operations unit.

JPMorgan Chase warns attorneys of possible foreclosure robo-signers
By JON PRIOR
September 29, 2010

JPMorgan Chase & Co. last night alerted attorneys that employees in its foreclosure operations unit may have signed affidavits in foreclosure cases without personally reviewing the documents, the same issue that has recently plagued Ally Financial, according to a memo obtained by HousingWire.

According to the memo, Chase has begun to re-examine documents it has filed in current foreclosure proceedings to verify the documents were reviewed as required by the courts.

Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for the bank, confirmed information contained in the memo.

"It has come to our attention that in some cases employees in our mortgage foreclosure operations may have signed affidavits about loan documents on the basis of file reviews done by other personnel – without the signer personally having reviewed those loan files," Kelly said.

http://www.housingwire.com/2010/09/29/jpmorgan-chase-warns-attorneys-of-possible-foreclosure-robo-signers

[Hubert Flottz]

33. This shouldn't detract from the idea that the CEOs are doing an...

outstanding job and that they still should all get a billion dollar bonus, stock options and another gold watch, right?

[AllyCat]

48. Workers get thrown under the bus now that the M$M has uncovered this

(probably by chance) and the CEOs get more money to cover the "losses". Jerks. They will come out of this richer no matter what and people will probably still lose their homes.

[tridim]

50. Just talked to Chase..

They assured me that all my foreclosure documentation is legal. I asked them to repeat that (so I could write it down) and they did. This information was provided by one of their clueless agents who didn't have the proper documents on hand. I know they are either lying or speaking out of their ass, they have no idea.

My "Produce The Note" letter will be sent tomorrow, because I don't think they have it. Nothing to lose now.

[dkf]

54. No no...not just the note.

Ask them to prove they own the loan. That is the sticking spot.

I'm not up on the docs but I bet you could get great info by asking for it here.

[tridim]

64. It's the "promissory note", aka the paper I signed at closing 8 years ago.

If they don't have the original with my ink signature, they can't foreclose because they don't own the house.

[dkf]

69. Yes but that by itself isn't all they need.

They need to prove they still own the thing or that they are acting on behalf of the person who did. Or are they saying the loan was never sold?

[tridim]

70. It was sold three times (maybe four) before ending up at the worst bank on Earth, Chase.

I'm skeptical they own it because it doesn't show up on MERS.

BTW, all I'm doing at this point is buying time so I have more time to sell it, I don't expect a free house.

[Devil_Fish]

73. Why shouldn't you get a free house? Where is the deed?

If it were me I would tell them to prove they own it. How are you going to sell it if no one has the deed?

[tridim]

76. Hmm, I have a signed copy in my files.

Kind of a good question though.

Who owns a deed-less home? I'd say the person who made the 5% down payment and the monthly payments for 7 years, but I'm pretty sure the courts would disagree because the legal system doesn't work for the little guy.

[jeff47]

85. The problem is the lien

If the bank lost the note, then there's no promise from the homeowner to pay. However, there's still a lien on the property from the mortgage. The house can't be sold while the lien is present.

So it's in the situation where the bank can't foreclose on the homeowner, but the homeowner can't sell without permission from the bank. Probably not a problem if the house is sold relatively quickly (as in this case), but we'll have to see what banks do when the house stays on their balance sheets for a while.

[dkf]

30. Maybe this is a commentary on the lack of educated workers in the US.

The unemployment rate for workers with college degrees is 4-5% which is pretty much full employment. The fact you can have employees who don't know what a mortgage is is depressing.

[Better Believe It]

31. The banks described those workers as "foreclosure experts"!

It was part of the fraud.

[dkf]

52. Yes but what kind of country produces adults who don't know what a mortgage is?

How do these people live?

[w4rma]

80. The banks were looking for authoritarian minded dummies to do as they are told.

They are whom the banks wanted to do this job.

[Better Believe It]

88. The banksters are the authoritarians and the workers were unorganize and intimidated.

[Hosnon]

32. I agree that the banks should be held accountable for this AND Congress needs to

amend the bankruptcy code to allow bankruptcy judges to cram down mortgage balances to FMV (to clean out the rot caused by the bubble).

However, that doesn't change the fact that these homeowners are, in fact, behind on their payments.

[w4rma]

79. I'd rather give Americans "free" houses than allow these thieves to profit from schemes like this.nt

[Hosnon]

91. I don't think we have to make that choice. The banks can be punished and pay appropriate

restitution.

[jpljr77]

34. And this law firm, and this article, gives the banks their scapegoat

It's right there, in black and white: "Most troubling, several said they knew that they were lying when they signed the foreclosure affidavits..."

The ones who signed are the scapegoats. In front of a Senate Committee, the President of Bank of America will say, "These were rogue foreclosure experts. Despite training and policies, they signed their own names to legal documents that they did not fully understand. We will cooperate with this committee and any law enforcement office in the country in the prosecution of these criminals."

Just like it was designed.

[Better Believe It]

35. I don't agree. The banks described them as "foreclosure experts" based upon what?

Their legal backgrounds and training, their educational achievements, the undocumented "training" they were given by the banks?

And most working class people won't accept the scapegoating of people like themselves by billionaire bankers.

[Better Believe It]

36. Key Democrat accuses banks of 'fraud' in home foreclosure controversy

Key Democrat accuses banks of 'fraud' in home foreclosure controversy
By Michael O'Brien
October 13, 2010

A key Democrat accused banks of "fraud" in the emerging controversy over whether foreclosures have been properly administered.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, suggested the recent epidemic of foreclosures are a result of collusion in the banking industry.

"This is massive collusion and fraud," she said during an appearance on CNBC.

"It's proven by the fact that you have millions of people in foreclosure who should have never been in foreclosure," she added. "This just didn't happen because there were a lot of irresponsible people. Think about it, this is unprecedented that this many people, all of a sudden, would be in foreclosure."

"These exotic products that were put on the market tricked them into mortgages they could not afford," she said.

Read the full article at:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/124067-key-dem-accuses-banks-of-collusion-in-foreclosure-controversy

[HankyDubs]

38. Go Maxine!

Kick ass!

[tomm2thumbs]

41. wow, thanks for posting this - good to see someone is doing their homework out there

and it ain't the banks

[myrna minx]

44. K&R n/t

[librechik]

45. I dunno, but maybe the lamestream media has to pay attention to this

They are trying awfully hard not too. If only the phony mortgage people were well known Democrats! We'd get some action then!

[sulphurdunn]

46. We can pass all the "reforms"

we want. We can levy fine after fine, but until someone starts putting 50th floor bankers and their political stooges in federal maximum security prisons, we're just pissing against the wind. :smoke:

[WillyT]

56. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[Nuclear Unicorn]

60. Maybe I'm being conspiratorial but...

...rush a crap load of foreclosures.

foreclosures become toxic assets

use toxic assets to get a crap load of money from TARP

pocket TARP money

sells properties when market stabilizes

pocket more money




Am I wrong?

[Quantess]

65. That's exactly what it looks like.

[jeff47]

86. There's a hole in your theory

The banks paid back the TARP money. With interest. And the TARP program is over, so they can't hand out any more money from TARP, it would have to be a new program.

[defendandprotect]

90. They often made HUGE profits from TARP money at 0% by Fed ....

evidently rather than lending out the money, they invested it in government securities

at 3.5% and 4% interest --

[jeff47]

93. Except it wasn't 0%

Banks paid interest on TARP money. However, they could still make a profit at the low interest rates they were charged.

But the point of TARP wasn't to have the banks lend TARP money to consumers/businesses. TARP money allowed banks to keep up with their capital requirements while they wrote down all the bad loans on their books. Without TARP money, they would have fallen below their required capital reserves, and regulators would have had to seize the bank.

Now, I'm no fan of TARP. It was a stupid program that W's team started to protect their friends from their terrible decisions. But we shouldn't lie about it.

[Uncle Joe]

67. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[bergie321]

71. If people didn't want their homes stolen

They shouldn't have gotten in the way of Wall Street's latest ponzi scheme by buying a house.

:sarcasm:

[bc3000]

72. Somehow I feel that this will all just lead to another bailout.

[DeSwiss]

74. K&R - Can you spell R.I.C.O.???? n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

87. And all those years we were told that folks like Bonnie and Clyde

were the "Bad Guys"

[defendandprotect]

89. Original "liar loans" were bad enough... after that bank corruption and crime compounded ....