Feb
08

David Dayen | Schneiderman’s Last-Minute Cancellation Spells Trouble for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

Schneiderman’s Last-Minute Cancellation Spells Trouble for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement As I mentioned in last night’s roundup, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman abruptly cancelled a conference call yesterday 10 minutes before it was to begin. The subject was supposed to be the foreclosure fraud settlement, and there was idle speculation that Schneiderman would announce that … Read more Related posts:
  1. David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
  2. David Dayen | How the Schneiderman Panel Could Work
  3. David Dayen | HUD Secretary Expects “Substantial” Payment of Foreclosure Fraud Settlement with MBS Investor Money
Feb
07

New York AG Schneiderman Cancels Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Statement

New York AG cancels bank settlement statement WASHINGTON – New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman late Tuesday postponed a much anticipated conference call with reporters that was set up to announce whether the state would participate in broad a settlement with five big banks over foreclosure practices. Schneiderman, who is co-chair of a new mortgage … Read more Related posts:
  1. CNBC Tweet | New York AG Schneiderman Expected To Join Multi-State Mortgage Settlement-New York AG Schneiderman To Hold Media Call At 6pm ET
  2. David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
  3. New York AG Schneiderman Comes out Swinging at BofA, BoNY
Feb
06

Fraudclosure Fail | More than 40 States Agree to Settlement Over Foreclosure Fraud Abuses

More than 40 states agree to settlement over foreclosure abuses WASHINGTON – More than 40 U.S. states have agreed to a nationwide settlement over foreclosure abuses. The deal would force the five largest mortgage lenders to reduce loans for about 1 million households. And the remaining holdouts could sign onto a deal in the coming … Read more Related posts:
  1. Fraudclosure FAIL | State AGs Offer New Settlement Terms to Mortgage Servicers
  2. Fraudclosure | States Negotiating Immunity for Banks Over Foreclosure Fraud
  3. David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
Feb
06

David Dayen | HUD Secretary Expects “Substantial” Payment of Foreclosure Fraud Settlement with MBS Investor Money

HUD Secretary Expects “Substantial” Payment of Foreclosure Fraud Settlement with MBS Investor Money Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan mostly confirmed that private-label mortgage-backed securities investors, not banks or servicers, will end up shouldering the cost of much of the imminent foreclosure fraud settlement despite the risk of litigation from investors who are likely … Read more Related posts:
  1. David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
  2. David Dayen | Consequential Monday Foreclosure Fraud Meeting Less than Consequential
  3. David Dayen | IG Report Whitewashes Firing of Foreclosure Fraud Investigators in Florida
Jan
27

Schneiderman’s Fraud Task Force Subpoenas 11 Banks

Attorney General Holder Speaks at the Announcement of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s New Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group WASHINGTON, D.C. ~ Friday, January 27, 2012 Good morning. Today, I’m pleased to join with so many key partners – including Director of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Robert Khuzami; Secretary for … Read more Related posts:
  1. EXECUTIVE ORDER 13519 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE
  2. Washington Post – Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures
  3. Desert Underwater Part 7: Task Force Takes On Scam Artists
Jan
25

Naked Capitalism | Is Schneiderman Selling Out? Joins Federal Committee That Looks Designed to Undermine AGs Against Mortgage Settlement Deal

Is Schneiderman Selling Out? Joins Federal Committee That Looks Designed to Undermine AGs Against Mortgage Settlement Deal It’s clear what the Administration is getting from getting Schneiderman aligned with them. It is much less clear why Schneiderman is signing up. He can investigate and prosecute NOW. He has subpoena powers, staff, and the Martin Act. … Read more Related posts:
  1. Naked Capitalism | Banks Win Again: Weak Mortgage Settlement Proposal Undermined by Phony Consent Decrees
  2. David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
  3. Naked Capitalism | Mortgage Settlement Term Sheet: Bailout as Reward for Institutionalized Fraud
Jan
25

David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement By: David Dayen I’ll pepper in my thoughts on the State of the Union Address throughout the day, but I would be remiss if I didn’t start with the announcement of a Unit on Mortgage Origination and Securitization … Read more Related posts:
  1. David Dayen | Bank of America Uses Attack Dog, Kathryn Wylde, to Smear NY AG Schneiderman
  2. David Dayen | IG Report Whitewashes Firing of Foreclosure Fraud Investigators in Florida
  3. David Dayen FDL | Florida AG’s Politically Motivated Firings Protect the Foreclosure Fraud Industry
Jan
25

David Dayen | The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement By: David Dayen I’ll pepper in my thoughts on the State of the Union Address throughout the day, but I would be remiss if I didn’t start with the announcement of a Unit on Mortgage Origination and Securitization … Read more Related posts:
  1. David Dayen | Bank of America Uses Attack Dog, Kathryn Wylde, to Smear NY AG Schneiderman
  2. David Dayen | IG Report Whitewashes Firing of Foreclosure Fraud Investigators in Florida
  3. David Dayen FDL | Florida AG’s Politically Motivated Firings Protect the Foreclosure Fraud Industry
Jan
25

Fraud Digest | SOTU – Prosecuting Mortgage Document Fraud

PROSECUTING MORTGAGE DOCUMENT FRAUD In the State of the Union address on January 24, 2012, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a special unit within the Financial Fraud Enforcement Taskforce to deal with mortgage origination and securitization abuses: And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors … Read more Related posts:
  1. Fraud Digest | A STATEMENT ON MORTGAGE FRAUD THAT EVERY ATTORNEY GENERAL COULD ISSUE TODAY
  2. Testimony Concerning Mortgage Fraud, Securities Fraud, and the Financial Meltdown: Prosecuting Those Responsible
  3. Fraud Digest | Mortgage Fraud – GMAC Mortgage, LLC and The Law Offices of David J. Stern
Jan
25

Fraud Digest | SOTU – Prosecuting Mortgage Document Fraud

PROSECUTING MORTGAGE DOCUMENT FRAUD In the State of the Union address on January 24, 2012, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a special unit within the Financial Fraud Enforcement Taskforce to deal with mortgage origination and securitization abuses: And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors … Read more No related posts.
Jan
13

Under the National Operations Center, Homeland Security Given Green Light to Monitor Journalists, Bloggers

Homeland Security monitors journalists Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what. Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of … Read more Related posts:
  1. U.S. Attorney General’s 5,000 DOJ Pending Indictments Targeting Financial Fraud, And National Security
  2. Action Alert | New Proposed Rule Attacks Rights of Citizen Journalists in Court Proceedings
  3. National Mortgage Delinquency Rate Skyrockets to 9.2% LPS Mortgage Monitor
Dec
28

William Black | What if the SEC investigated Banks the way it is investigating Mutual Funds?

What if the SEC investigated Banks the way it is investigating Mutual Funds? By William K. Black The Wall Street Journal ran a story today (12/27/11) entitled “SEC Ups Its Game to Identify Rogue Firms.” “Rogue” is an interesting word with a range of definitions. When it is used as an adjective its meaning is: … Read more Related posts:
  1. William Black – Lenders Put the Lies in Liar’s Loans
  2. William K. Black | 2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
  3. MBS – Lisa Epstein of Foreclosure Hamlet on with Dylan Ratigan and William Black
Dec
14

William Black | Why Elite Frauds Cause Recurrent, Intensifying Economic, Political and Moral Crises

~ 4closureFraud.org Tweet Related posts: William K. Black | 2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud William Black | Lenders Put the Lies in Liar’s Loans and Bear the Principal Moral Culpability Dylan Ratigan, William Black, David DeGraw | Political Efforts to Hijack #OccupyWallStreet #OWS Related posts:
  1. William K. Black | 2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
  2. William Black | Lenders Put the Lies in Liar’s Loans and Bear the Principal Moral Culpability
  3. Dylan Ratigan, William Black, David DeGraw | Political Efforts to Hijack #OccupyWallStreet #OWS
Dec
05

60 Minutes Overtime | Behind the Financial Crisis: A Fraud Investigator Talks

Behind the financial crisis: A fraud investigator talks “It’s been three years since the financial crisis crippled the American economy,” Steve Kroft begins his 60 Minutes piece this week. “[Yet] there has not been a single prosecution of a high ranking Wall Street executive or major financial firm.” 60 Minutes producer James Jacoby wanted to … Read more Related posts:
  1. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report Official Government Edition
  2. Here We Go Again | Banks, SEC in Talks to “Settle” Fraud Allegations Relating to the Sale of Toxic Mortgage Bonds
  3. Report | WALL STREET AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse
Nov
25

Desert Underwater Part 7: Task Force Takes On Scam Artists

View part 8 here… ~ 4closureFraud.org Tweet Related posts:Keith Sadler – Tactical Task Force Takes Down Homeowner with Guns Blazing EXECUTIVE ORDER 13519 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE Washington Post – Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures Related posts:
  1. Keith Sadler – Tactical Task Force Takes Down Homeowner with Guns Blazing
  2. EXECUTIVE ORDER 13519 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE
  3. Washington Post – Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures
Nov
25

Desert Underwater Part 7: Task Force Takes On Scam Artists

View part 8 here… ~ 4closureFraud.org Tweet Related posts:Keith Sadler – Tactical Task Force Takes Down Homeowner with Guns Blazing EXECUTIVE ORDER 13519 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE Washington Post – Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures Related posts:
  1. Keith Sadler – Tactical Task Force Takes Down Homeowner with Guns Blazing
  2. EXECUTIVE ORDER 13519 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE
  3. Washington Post – Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures
Nov
21

Must View Video | William K Black Speech RE Wall Street Crimes

“I’m coming with a message of hope, actually. In the Savings and Loan crisis, which was 1/70th the size of this crisis, our agency made over 10,000 criminal referrals, and that resulted in the conviction on felony grounds of over 1000 elites in what were designated as major cases.” ~ 4closureFraud.org Tweet Related posts:Prof. William … Read more Related posts:
  1. Prof. William Black, On Point, Prosecute to the top 1% of Wall Street… (AUDIO)
  2. William K. Black | 2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
  3. Must View Video | Bill Black: Jobs Now, Stop the Foreclosures, Jail the Banksters
Sep
08

INSIDE JOB | Fraudclosure Movie Night this Friday at 6:30PM EDT Hosted by 4closureFraud.org & ForeclosureHamlet.org

Inside Job Oscar Winner Acceptance Speech “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.” ~ Hello all. This month we decided to have a movie night instead of our normal happy … Read more
Oct
03

BOMBSHELL- READ THE GMAC/JEFFREY STEPHAN ORDER THE DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE!

Bombshell-foreclosuresThe Jeffrey Stephan fiasco is just the beginning.  We are only becoming aware of the GREATEST FINANCIAL FRAUD EVER COMMITTED ON A SOCIETY because committed and dedicated attorneys stood up for their clients, remembered the oath they took when they became attorneys then they’ve continued working against impossible odds for years.  April Charney has long been on the forefront of this battle and she’s responsible for educating more attorneys in this state in this fight than any other.  Tom and Arianne Ice from Ice Legal have long produced the finest work and are training the best foreclosure fighters in this state.  There’s another superstar in this battle and while I don’t know him, his name is Thomas A. Cox from Maine.  Cox brought us one of the two important Jeffrey Stephan depositions, and now his case brings us…THE MOST IMPORTANT FORECLOSURE ORDER I’VE SEEN YET!

The fallout being reported across the country is just the beginning.  This site really is a blueprint for understanding this crisis and it includes some of the most important documents that judges, press, regulators and advocates need to understand the issues that will cause us all to suffer for decades.

THE BANKS DO NOT WANT YOU TO SEE THIS DOCUMENT

THE BANKS HAVE ASKED THE COURT TO SEAL THIS DOCUMENT.

THE ENTIRE MORTGAGE SERVICING INDUSTRY IS GOING TO GO BALLISTIC ONCE THIS ORDER GETS OUT THERE AND IS WIDELY DISTRIBUTED

THAT’S WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU SIT DOWN AND READ THE DOCUMENT ATTACHED BELOW SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY……(AND SHARE IT WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS)

StephanProtectiveOrder

Tweet this!Tweet this! Share and Enjoy: Print Digg del.icio.us Facebook Google Bookmarks email FriendFeed Identi.ca LinkedIn Live MySpace PDF Ping.fm RSS StumbleUpon Technorati Tumblr Yahoo! Buzz Posterous Twitter Yahoo! Bookmarks

Scridb filter
Jul
26

Actual Fraud and Constructive Fraud and Other Fraud

From M. Solimon

Editor’s Note: Pretty Good Entry From M. Solimon discussing aspects of fraud. I would add the following:
  1. FRAUD: A false statement wherein the speaker knows it is false, intends for it to be relied upon to the detriment of the receiver, who does reasonably rely on it to his/her financial detriment.
  2. FRAUD IN THE EXECUTION: A trick where the signor believes he/she is signing something other than what the document says it is. Probably applicable in the mortgage mess because the truth is people did not know they were signing the equivalent of their own financial destruction whereas the parties presenting the document pretended it was a standard mortgage loan that had been properly subject to industry standard verification and underwriting standards.
  3. FRAUD IN THE INDUCEMENT: A lie causing a person to execute a document, and otherwise meeting the definition of FRAUD as above. Examples “This is the fair market value of your new house,” or “Housing prices always go up, nevr down,” or “we’ll be able to refinance the property, give you more money out of it, all before the time for reset of the payments.”

Deceit and fraud are defined separately in statutes. Under Civ. Code §§1709 and 1710, deceit is defined in simple terms. See Civ. Code §§1572 for both actual fraud and 1573constructive fraud.

Loook at Liability for actual fraud is limited to acts committed by or with the connivance of a party to a contract with the intent to deceive another party to the contract and induce that party to enter into the contract. Look under Civ. Code §1572

Deceit is appropriate under a material beach or perhaps cause of action. The notion of a lender, who willfully deceives its borrowers or customers leading to foreclosure so to remedy an investor issue and to avoid recourse.

]I suggest you use it there or for the servicing argument for showing the willful intent to induce the consumer homeowners of a right to modifications ad compliance with 2923. to alter his or her position towards litigation (and eat up the balance of legal reserves their intended for a defense and their attorneys). These guys, I know all too well and it’s all too much. The consumer’s injury or risk is liable for any damage suffered as a result of the deceit. [Civ. Code §1709] etc, etc.

My take on this is too isolate the actual fraud that consists of any of the following acts, committed by or with the connivance of a party to a contract who is the assignor and its agents and not the successors.

The argument is it is with willful intent a lost beneficial interest woefully deceives a trustor or mortgagor to the contract, solely to induce the other party to enter into the contract [see Civ. Code §1572]:

Deceit and Actual Fraud combined

•Servicing rights violate SEC 1122 AB,
•Accounting rules violations under FAS 140, FIN 115,
•Trust assets are restricted to passive investments,
•Lenders controlling interest revoke the powers of sale and foreclosure,
•Parties lack standing to bring a foreclosure by appointment,
•Conspiracy to commit fraud where Trustee, Beneficiary and Transferee are all one in the same
•Bid rigging at trustee sale
•Fraud perpetrated against the country recorder
•A nominal interest has powers that conflict in the original assignment,
•Violations of the Code of federal regulations “CFR”
Your feed back will be critical and evident where I have gone as far as I can. It’s not getting through to skilled litigators that still don’t get it. Maybe I am lacking your codifications eloquence and ledger capacity to zero into the abuses of GAAP in more subtle terms; LOL!

he head of the OCC stated in 2009 “I don’t know why getting relief from offering modifications is not working?”

It’s simple “BECAUSE LENDERS FORECLOSING DON’T OWN THE ASSETS THEY SOLD ….for starters.

That said, even after the effort and inability for the US Secretary to further tweak FASB to get them to completely roll over.

Few are winning here. Even Judges who are deciding the matter favorably are commenting from a wrong perspective. There is no demand on UCC judicial interpretations for perfection in a bonefide sale.

The District Courts hearing these chapter proceedings provide comments after deciding the matter favorably are merely suggesting it’s all about “get it right next time”. That wrong where it says’s to a lender they can bring it back, even when a decision is favorable.

The key arguments come down to the fact the lender transfers each receivable as a “whole loan” sale. For Pete’s sake, looks at the general ledger where the asset was entered as a “Receivable” and “Loan Held for Sale”.

That’s not “Loan Held to Maturity” but “Sale”.

The cost to capitalize and reserve a 30 year loan held to maturity defeats the arguments lenders are making that “they did not sell the subject loan. It’s the old “blank assignment” gimmick. Its arguments are lost in court where the problem peaks the Judges curiosity and that’s about it.

We know the value of the open assignment argument is defining for the court where it’s a bank surety and liquidity play. It’s also a GAAP disclosure fraud.

Therein the consumer is disadvantaged arguing defects after being instrumental in a lenders shuffling of assets for maintaining REPO requirements and in its pursuit for shareholder earnings and profitability.

My take on the matter is to let them have the consumer’s home. The consumer then makes the lender pay the price of foreclosure claiming recognition, for reclassifying the sales as debt and restating earnings.

These UD attorneys are so smart that they may cost these bank power houses a debt load totaling about $3 trillion and more in liabilities left off the books. It’s a scary thought actually where you put Citigroup out while not looking and as they still struggle with a $65 billion tax tab carried by consumer taxpayers. BAC may end fighting for their life with a private right to call receivership.

Foreclosures cannot continue in violation of GAAP and where lenders circumvent basis accounting laws while continuing to force the sale treatment issue and while denying they are controlling assets.

It’s the best of both worlds with sale on the front side and as if it was leveraged borrowing upon liquidation and egress.

As we sit I’ll show you the subtle instances of apparently innocent manipulation and confusion befallen o to the courts from errors and omissions which lenders are getting away with. That is happening as the courts say . . . . So what!

The errors and omissions are the desperate means for seeking to maintain some semblance of SFAS140 adherence while employing lawyers as third parties appointed by agents of agents by a nominal interest.
I personally have given up on the right MERS arguments as MERS is entitled to act as an accommodation and even a nominal interest, possibly.

It’s just so easy for one to see the obvious that it has become lost. The nominee cannot execute instruments upon being replaced by the signature below it. Hello guys, right! That’s the purpose of the nominee! And, while one courts rules in favor of the consumer it misses the call.

Something basic is getting lost and I’m not getting through. Unique “floating” entities cannot appear from nowhere to execute assignments by virtue of meritless appointments.

If one of your cases is picked up by the Fed it should register a nice settlement . As one District court judge put it with disgust. . . “The SEC is turning into a penalty and fine system where they are to quick to settle the matter for a couple hundred million every time allowing the defendants’ to save face.”

“That’s not bad!

The US AG office thinks there is a case for bid rigging but I’m not sure the AG’s office knows where to look. Yet as one Judge told me in court “speak English.”

The precise and distinct GAAP and FASB rules violation are clearly demonstrated in each foreclosure. Lenders are violating GAAP even with the recent codification, including revisions and interpretation.

It’s all mind boggling when you consider the distance in communication here and counsel’s alternative to grab the lowest hanging fruit. . . .A RESPA audit (what is that anyway) and a QWR that together are just not going to cut it.

These bank execs fail to realize maybe that these and other Enron style crimes, like those stated in the Fastow confessional, will gets you 10 years . . .at least.

M.Soliman
Witness to Counsel
Expert.witness@live.com


Filed under: foreclosure
Jun
23

Crisis Through Fraud and Crimes At The Highest Levels

The Foreclosing Plaintiffs Created The Crisis Through Fraud and Crimes At The Highest Levels Today, June 19, 2010, 2 hours ago | Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.

The foreclosure crisis that continues to grip our courts in 2010 and that will only get worse in years to come all began in 2005, 2006, 2007, when the mortgage industry and Wall Street colluded with each other to engineer the largest financial fraud in modern history.  The facts are simple.  Wall Street Wizards figured out a way to monetize then trade billions of dollars in wealth when they figured out how to convert mortgages into currency.  Dollars and stocks were regulated, but because mortgages were new currency, they were totally unregulated, unsupervised and completely subject to manipulation.

The biggest players on Wall Street, JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, Chase…they all got together to create larger pools of mortgage backed securities that they sold to investors nationally and abroad.  THEY COMMITTED MASSIVE FRAUD UPON THESE INVESTORS BY LYING ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE COLLATERAL IN THOSE SECURITIES.

The loan originators at Countrywide, New Century, Argent and most of the other subprime players were submitting loans that contained false information from top to bottom.  The appraised value of the homes were all lies, credit scores were all lies, income and employment….all lies.

THE WALL STREET WIZARDS KNEW THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE LOAN FILES WERE LIES.…but they didn’t care because they hired credit rating agencies to lie to the end purchasers (institutional investors).

And now all these players that were lying and committing fraud from the inception of all these deals come into our courts of equity seeking redress from our local circuit courts.  A fundamental concept of courts of equity is those seeking affirmative relief from courts must come into court with clean hands…they must be innocents in the matter for which they seek relief…..and the players seeking relief in courts across this state and indeed across the country are far from innocent.

THEY ARE THE ARCHITECTS OF THE FRAUD THEY CREATED

THROUGH FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION AND POTENTIALLY CRIMINAL ACTS THEY SET UP THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS CHOKING OUR COURTROOMS ACROSS THE COUNTRY


Filed under: foreclosure
Jun
17

TBW Taylor Bean Chairman Arrested On Fraud Charges

“The fraud here is truly stunning in its scale and complexity,” said Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the Department of Justice. “These charges send a strong message to corporations and corporate executives alike that financial fraud will be found, and it will be prosecuted.”

Once they determined that that approach might be difficult to conceal, they started selling mortgage pools and other assets to Colonial Bank that they knew to be worthless, officials said. Mr. Farkas and his partners relied on this technique to sell more than $1 billion of fraudulent assets over the course of several years, even covering up the fraud by recycling old fake assets for new ones, according to the complaints.

Editor’s Note: TBW has been high on my list of incompetent fraudsters. I always thought it was a stupid risk to “sell” mortgages and “sell” the servicing rights (probably to their own entity), and then take the servicing back. Stupid maybe, but they had no choice. The entire Taylor Bean operation wreaks of fraud and inconsistencies.

Bottom Line: If you have a TBW as the originating “lender” this article indicates, as we have known all along, that they were using OPM (Other People’s Money) and they were NOT the lender even though they said they were. It is highly likely that few, if any, of the loans were actually “securitized” because the loans were either nonexistent as described, never accepted by any pool (even though there might be a pool out there that claims ownership) and that none of the assignments were ever completed.

Thus your claims against TBW (including appraisal fraud, predatory loan practices, deceptive loan practices, fraud etc.) are properly directed, to wit: TBW still owns the paper, although the obligation is subject to an equitable unsecured claim from investors who funded the loan.

June 16, 2010

Executive Charged in TARP Scheme

By ERIC DASH

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, once one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, of masterminding a fraud scheme that cheated investors and the federal government out of billions of dollars and led to last year’s sudden failure of Colonial Bank.

The executive, Lee B. Farkas, was arrested late Tuesday in Ocala, Fla., after a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted him on 16 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and securities fraud. Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil fraud charges against Mr. Farkas in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said the fraud would be one of the biggest and most complex to come out of the housing collapse and the government’s huge bailout of the banking industry. In essence, they described an elaborate shell game that involved covering up the lender’s losses by creating fake mortgages and passing them along to private investors and government agencies.

Federal officials became suspicious after Colonial BancGroup, the main source of financing for Mr. Farkas’s company, tried to obtain $553 million in bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The TARP application, filed in early 2009, was contingent on the bank first raising $300 million from private investors.

According to the S.E.C. complaint, Mr. Farkas and his partners said they would contribute $150 million, two private equity firms would each contribute $50 million, and a “friends and family” investor group would contribute another $50 million. “In truth, neither of the $50 million investors were private equity investors and neither ever agreed to participate,” the complaint said.

Mr. Farkas pocketed at least $20 million from the fraud, which he used to finance a private jet and a lavish lifestyle that included five homes and a collection of vintage cars, prosecutors said.

But the case is likely to expand beyond Mr. Farkas. The complaints cite the involvement of an unnamed Colonial Bank executive and other co-conspirators in the suspected fraud, and prosecutors said they might hold others accountable down the road.

“The fraud here is truly stunning in its scale and complexity,” said Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the Department of Justice. “These charges send a strong message to corporations and corporate executives alike that financial fraud will be found, and it will be prosecuted.”

Officials said the many layers of the scheme resulted in more than $1.9 billion of losses to investors; a $3 billion loss to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which guaranteed many of the loans that Mr. Farkas’s company sold; and a $3.6 billion hit to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which had to take over Colonial Bank and pay its depositors after many of the bank’s assets were found to be worthless.

The complaints also list BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, which provided financing to Mr. Farkas’s company, as victims of the suspected fraud. Together, they lost $1.5 billion.

According to the complaints, the fraud started as early as 2002 with an effort to conceal rising operating losses at Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, a mortgage lender founded by Mr. Farkas. The first stage involved an attempt to hide overdrafts on a credit line the company had with Colonial Bank. As those overdrafts grew, prosecutors contend, Mr. Farkas and his associates started selling fake mortgage assets to Colonial Bank in exchange for tens of millions of dollars.

Once they determined that that approach might be difficult to conceal, they started selling mortgage pools and other assets to Colonial Bank that they knew to be worthless, officials said. Mr. Farkas and his partners relied on this technique to sell more than $1 billion of fraudulent assets over the course of several years, even covering up the fraud by recycling old fake assets for new ones, according to the complaints.

The transactions were “designed to give the false appearance that the loans were being sold into the secondary mortgage market,” Mr. Breuer said. “In fact, they were not.”

By 2008, prosecutors contend, the scheme had entangled the federal government. Investigators in the Office of the Special Inspector General for TARP took notice of the size of Colonial Bank’s bailout application and became suspicious of the accuracy of the bank’s statements.

That led investigators to alert other federal officials and draw a connection between Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, whose offices were raided by federal agents in August 2009. Both companies would soon stop operating.

“We knew it was a longstanding and close relationship between Colonial and T.B.W., and we decided that we needed to take a much closer look,” Neil M. Barofsky, the TARP special inspector general, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Investigators also discussed the situation with Treasury officials to “make sure the money would not go out the door.”

Federal officials have conducted nearly 80 criminal and civil investigations into companies that accepted TARP money, but so far they have filed charges in only one other case. In March, the head of Park Avenue Bank in Manhattan was accused of trying to defraud the government bailout program.


Filed under: bubble, CASES, CDO, CORRUPTION, Eviction, evidence, expert witness, Fannie MAe, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, GTC | Honor, HERS, investment banking, Investor, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motions, Pleading, securities fraud, Servicer, STATUTES Tagged: accounting, bank fraud, civil fraud charges, Colonial BancGroup, Colonial Bank, conspiracy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, DOJ, ERIC DASH, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation., fraud, HERS, infrastructure, investors, Lanny A Breuer, Lee B Farkas, Ny Times, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities fraud, Taylor, Taylor Bean, TBW, wire fraud