1. Pam Bondi Press Release | Florida Enters $25 Billion Joint State-Federal Mortgage Servicing Settlement
2. Fill in the Blank | Press Release – Attorney General Pam Bondi Sues _____________ for Defrauding Consumers
3. Press Release from Tom Miller on Fraudclosure Settlement | NO DEAL! “We have not yet reached an agreement and we won’t reach a settlement any time this week.”

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. Fraudclosure FAIL | State AGs Offer New Settlement Terms to Mortgage Servicers
3. Negotiating With Criminals | Sissy State AG’s Beg Banksters for Larger Fraudclosure Settlement

1. Pam Bondi Press Release | Florida Enters $25 Billion Joint State-Federal Mortgage Servicing Settlement
2. CNBC Tweet | New York AG Schneiderman Expected To Join Multi-State Mortgage Settlement-New York AG Schneiderman To Hold Media Call At 6pm ET
3. BofA’s $8.5 Billion Settlement Could Fall Apart After Request Made To Move Mortgage Case From State To Federal Court

1. TIME | Details of Mortgage Servicing Settlement Between Banks and AGs Begin to Emerge
2. David Dayen | 49-State Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Will Be Finalized Today
3. David Dayen | HUD Secretary Expects “Substantial” Payment of Foreclosure Fraud Settlement with MBS Investor Money

1. California, New York, Nevada, Florida? and Massachusetts Among Fraudclosure Deal Holdouts
2. Wall Street is Split Over the Bank Fraudclosure Deal
3. Tammy Baldwin To Introduce Resolution Opposing Immunity For Banks In Fraudclosure Deal

1. Federal Government and State Attorneys General Reach $25 Billion Agreement with Five Largest Mortgage Servicers to Address Mortgage Loan Servicing and Foreclosure Abuses
2. BofA’s $8.5 Billion Settlement Could Fall Apart After Request Made To Move Mortgage Case From State To Federal Court
3. Fraudclosure FAIL | State AGs Offer New Settlement Terms to Mortgage Servicers

1. Senators Urge OCC to Work with State Attorneys General, DOJ, and HUD to Hold Mortgage Servicers Accountable and Prevent Future Abuse
2. Naked Capitalism | Yes, Virginia, Servicers Lie to Investors Too: $175 Billion in Loan Losses Not Allocated to Mortgage Backed Securities (and Another $300 Billion on the Way)
3. NY Times | Attorneys General May Be Rushing Proposal for Loan Servicers

1. Press Release | Nadler and NY Delegation Assail Iowa Attorney General for Excluding NY Attorney General from Mortgage Settlement Talks
2. Attorney General Eric Holder Justice Department looking into home foreclosure mess
3. OCC Settles Civil Money Penalties Against Large National Bank Mortgage Servicers for $394 Million; Penalty Assessment Coordinated with Servicers’ Actions and Payments Under Federal-State Settlement

1. OCC Assesses Civil Money Penalty of $20 Million Against Wells Fargo, Requires Restitution of $14.5 Million to Municipalities Harmed by Bid-Rigging on Financial Products
2. Ally (GMAC), Home of Robo-signer Extraordinaire Jeffrey Stephan, Sets Aside $270 Million for Expected Penalties from Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
3. Federal Reserve Orders $85M Civil Penalty Against Wells Fargo for Steering Potential Prime Borrowers Into More Costly Subprime Loans and Falsifying Income

1. David Dayen | HUD Secretary Expects “Substantial” Payment of Foreclosure Fraud Settlement with MBS Investor Money
2. David Dayen | CA AG Harris Could Enter Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Late
3. David Dayen | Schneiderman’s Last-Minute Cancellation Spells Trouble for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

1. CA Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Creation of Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to Protect Homeowners
2. Kamala Harris: National Mortgage Deal Still Not Good Enough For California
3. Press Advisory | May 23: CA Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Major Initiative to Protect Homeowners from Mortgage Fraud

1. CNN Headliner | How to rescue the housing market: Foreclosures! Experts say it’s time to push delinquent borrowers through the foreclosure process
2. NY Times – Document Flaws Have Put Brakes on Foreclosures
3. NY Times | Judges Berate Bank Lawyers in Foreclosures

1. Top Ten Reasons For A Moritorium on Foreclosures And Reasons To Oppose Non-Judicial Foreclosure
2. Daily Finance | The Mortgage Mess Settlement Proposal: Off to an Awful Start
3. BofA’s $8.5 Billion Settlement Could Fall Apart After Request Made To Move Mortgage Case From State To Federal Court

Another tradition at Casa del Andelman is our Academy Awards Party, held each year on the night the stars come out… for Oscar.  Yes, it’s the time of year when we instruct the staff to roll out the red carpet, polish the chandeliers, dust off the champagne fountain, my wife throws on an evening gown, I always appear in tux and tails… are you buying any of this?  No?

Okay, so would you believe my wife makes a huge amount of chili in the crock-pot along with some delicious cornbread… and I prepare my award-winning specialty… cocktail weenies in my secret, special barbeque sauce. (I’d tell you what’s in it, but then I’d have to kill you.)  They’re best when eaten with a toothpick, by the way… so tangy… mmmm, can’t wait.

The Andelman bar is always pretty much stocked, but everything else is potluck, so someone usually shows up with the ambrosia salad, and others bring whatever else.  We go ahead and spring for the paper plates and plasticwear, and we get the good stuff… you know the Chinette, with the forks and spoons that look like silver even though they’re not, and the red plastic cups.

I’ll tell you what… some years there’s been so much class oozing at our place that it gets to feeling like you’re at a real honest-to-Henry, Hollywood-type soiree.

But all of that is not what keeps bringing people back to our house on Oscar night year after year.  Nope, what everyone comes to our Academy Awards gala for is the gambling.  And we start ‘em young too… I think about 9 years old, if I recall correctly.  Never too young to have your money taken from you, that’s what I always say.  (Okay, so  I’m kidding about that last part.)

I’m not sure how the whole thing got started, it must be about 20 years plus now that we’ve been doing it, but we make up special ballots for a whole bunch of categories and as our guests arrive, they ask for their ballot right after they say hello… grab a pen and start making their picks.

That’s when the house really comes alive… it’s like that scene from “Guys & Dolls”…

“I got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere, and there a guy who says that if the weather’s clear… Can do… Can do…“  Remember?

“I didn’t see ‘The Help’… did anyone see that?”

 

“Yeah, I did.”

 

“Was it good?”

 

“Yeah, I liked it… kind of sad at the end though.”

 

“Would I have liked it?”

 

“I don’t know, probably.”

 

“What are you voting for in the ‘Documentary Short’ category?”

 

“I’m not telling you.”

 

“Come on…”

 

“Nope, you’ll just have to guess like the rest of us.”

 

“Let me see.”

 

“No, get away from me.”

 

“Why did we include ‘Best Foreign Film’ again, I thought last year we said we weren’t going to do that anymore… who sees foreign films… no one.”

 

“I saw one of the foreign films last year.”

 

“You did not, you’re lying.”

 

“I am not.”

 

“What’d you see?”

 

“Jodaeiye Nader Az Simin.”

 

“You are so lying.”

 

“So what if I am?”

 

“Hey, does anybody remember what’s the difference between sound editing and sound mixing?  Didn’t we look it up or something last year?  I know someone told me last  year but I can never remember.  Honey, would you hand me my iPad.”

 

“No, you can’t use an iPad, you’ll cheat and look up who the favorites are.”

 

“Oh my God, I will not.  How could you say that about me?”

 

“Because I know you.”

 

“I hate you, did you know that about me?  Go sit over there with your friend.”

 

“Fine.”

Yep, it can get a little heated at times, but no one has physically harmed anyone to-date, and the kids have a ball helping the grown-ups guess at which movies are going to be this years’ Oscar winners… while they listen to their parents make idiots out of themselves.

Until mom or dad needs to pick a winner in the Animated Film category, and then all the parents start looking around for their kids… “Meagan, come in here please. I need you.”

It’s $10 to play, by the way and the one who gets the most right, splits the pot with the one who gets the least right… plus there’s usually a bonus category or two that each win ten bucks or something like that.  I won at least one year… took home $180, if I remember correctly… or maybe it was only $80… or maybe we split the $180… I don’t know.  The kids always win something too… it’s a real good time all around.  If you’re in my neck of the woods, come on by… there’s plenty of food and drink… and we’ll take your ten bucks and hand you a ballot, if you’d like.

Well, it seems to me that some years are better than others, when it comes to the Academy Awards, we usually show our age by engaging in a few discussions that lament the fact that they just don’t make movies like they used to very often… but this year we’ve got quite a list of Best Picture nominees… pretty compelling stuff, if you ask me.

I haven’t actually seen any of them, but I’ve gone ahead and described them, so you can see the candidates through my somewhat jaded perspective… and my list is likely a little different than the others you’ll run across… I don’t know why but other reviewers often miss what the movies are really about.  Me… why I see a little bit of the foreclosure crisis in everything, don’t you know.

There are 17 days to go, so you better get to the movies in a hurry if you want to be in the know come Oscar night… Sunday, February 26^th.

And now…

This year at the 84^th Annual Academy Awards, the nominees for Best Picture are…

“The Con-Artist”

The Scary Scummers story, filmed in black & white.  Growing up with prominent professors of economics at the University of Pennsylvania as parents, and the nephew of two Nobel laureates in economics, a young Scary Scummers realizes he can’t follow the conversations at the dinner table.  In one scene, after scoring a combined 480 on his SATs, he overhears his parents saying the family’s genes have obviously skipped a generation.

About to start a job sweeping up in a bagel bakery, his life takes a dramatic turn when a friend fakes his resume.  Because of his last name, no one thinks to check, and next thing we know, he’s chief economist at the World Bank.  When a charismatic, but inexperienced community organizer from Chicago’s south side inexplicably finds himself in the Oval Office, Scary convinces the new president, who knows nothing about economics, that he’s the one who should drive the nation’s economy.  And he does… straight off a cliff.  (Warning: May cause motion sickness.)

“The Defendants”

This fantasy-drama follows a dozen Bank of America senior executives as they are forced to travel from courtroom to courtroom all over the country defending hundreds of lawsuits of all kinds.  Each time the bank execs think things are going well, but invariably lower level employees are called to the stand, completely blowing the bank’s defense.

As the judgments mount into the billions, new suits are being filed each day.  Law school enrollment skyrockets as the country starts churning out lawyers all anxious to take their shot at BofA or any of the too-big-to-fail banks.  As the law firms and the companies that support the new industry grow, so much money is being made beating the banks, that the U.S. economy starts turning around and soon the middle class is debt free.  99% on Putrid Potatoes:  “It’s the feel good movie of the year!” 

“No HELP”

The story centers on attorneys litigating on behalf of homeowners in foreclosure throughout California where judges actually favor MERS’ assignments, sincerely do not care who owns which house, and believe that “securitization,” is what happens when having a home alarm system installed.

As their clients become more and more dissatisfied, they start blackmailing the lawyers, threatening to file bar complaints in order to get their money back.  The frustrated lawyers finally turn to their own state’s bar association for support, but when they do the bar promptly has them arrested.  Filmed in a hand-held style best described as “gritty realism,” the film is based on a true story.

“HUGE”

In this 3-D animated fantasy, Crazy Jamie Diamonds and Johnny Stumpedwells travel together to find Lord Blankcheck, in the hopes that he will do God’s work and tell them how to find King Angelo Mozillion, the one they call Too-Huge-to-Jail.  Along the way they come across all sorts of familiar characters including GS egghead, Fab Faberge, who keeps repeating, “I did nothing wrong, but I could have been more careful,” and Kenny Lewser, who roams the country wide belching as he says, “I can’t believe I bought the whole thing… twice.”  Rated PiG.

“2:00 PM in Paris”

When Frugal Williams lost his job as a loan officer in 2008, he knew he was in trouble.  But then one day, after a year spent living on his savings and a few loans from his parents, he’s about to put his Paris, Texas home up for sale, until he finds himself watching the country’s recently elected president describe a new federal program designed to help him save his home.

That night, he has the best night’s sleep in over a year, but he wakes up on a different planet.  His life is turned upside down from the moment he sends in the package of forms to his his servicer… First Infidelity Bank (FIB).   Theater owners across the country report audiences screaming out, “No!  Stop!  Don’t!” as he slides the package into the Fed-Ex drop-box.

Soon his life is entirely consumed by requirements of his loan modification.  Unable to keep up, his wife is forced to quit her job, as well, in order to help him, and soon the Kinko’s bills for faxing and photocopying drive the family into bankruptcy.  Now there’s a sale date.  But with Hitchcockian flair, no one knows what will happen for sure… tomorrow at “2:00 PM in Paris,” TX.  (NC-17 – Not for viewers over 17 yrs.)

“Moneyballers”           

This futuristic thriller stars ex-Morgan Stanley bond trader Howie Hubler, the man who lost Morgan $9 billion in a single trade, inadvertently kicking off the new favorite competitive-craze among the country’s wealthiest individuals.  The year is 2016, and every megalomaniac hedgefunder wants to be a “Moneyballer.”

In games of Moneyball, the whistle blows and seated at screens equipped with trading platforms, the uber-rich compete to see how fast they can irrationally pump up various stocks, bonds and/or commodities in order to wipe out the retirement savings of middle class Americans, referred to as “pawns,” who follow them as prices rise to disastrous ends.

In an opening scene, we see Hubler in his Central Park South penthouse.  He is laughing almost uncontrollably. “There’s no question, it can be expensive to play.  Last week, I had to throw away $4 million and change just to bankrupt this small business owner from New Rochelle.  He was quite guarded and pretty tenacious, but in the end he took the bait. When everything collapsed, I swear to God, I think he and his wife both soiled themselves… I’m not kidding… I almost choked on my foie gras.”

“The Free for Life”

In this reality-based comedy, John and Jane Q. Public are seen taking their shot at the lottery wheel of justice.  Couples appear before judges in courtrooms across the country hoping to wipe out their mortgage and walk away with a free house.  The laughs come from watching the pro per/pro se litigants go up against lawyers from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, attempting to explain to judges why it matters that the assignment of the deed of trust was illegally notarized, and why it doesn’t matter that they haven’t made their mortgage payment in 36 months.

“War House”

Brighton Badass and his son, Redneck, have lived in their home all their lives and they don’t plan on leaving it just ‘cause some bankster says so.  In an opening scene, we see and hear Bright talking on the phone, “Well, you just tell the sheriff… she comes out her looking for me and my boy to leave, she better be armed to the teeth, ‘cause I sure will be.  That’s all we invest in out here in the woods… guns and gold,” he laughs as he hangs up the handset.

The camera pulls back and we see that this home is more than just well fortified.  There are snipers in trees, and trenches dug six feet deep for 50 yards all around the property.  Bright pops a few pills in his mouth and washes them down with some white lightening whiskey.  Then he blows his whistle and the hundred or so men, women and children come out from their positions to receive their orders.

The “War House” trailer, voted #1 in 2011, ends when the camera zooms in on Redneck Badass as he says laughing, “Come on, ya’ll… sheriff’s a comin’ so get yourself some amo… time to show the law how we practice foreclosure defense round here. They robo-signing, so we robo-shooting.”

“Extremely Quiet & Incredibly Corrupt”

This semi-historical docudrama chronicles a year of negotiations between 50 state attorneys general and five bankers.  From the beginning we see that neither side knows what in the world they’re doing, as the discussion mostly consists of one side saying, “$20 billion,” and the other side yelling back, “$10 billion.”

Along the way rumors start to swirl as the senseless drama leads to enormous amounts of press coverage, only to end with nothing being accomplished and little being disclosed.  This film concludes Steve Stealbanks’ social commentary on meaningless media hype and corrupt, unfeeling politics, a quadrilogy that began with, “OMG IT’S Y2K,” followed by, “WMD & ME,” and then, who could ever forget, “Hope & Change, 2008.”

OMG, did you see what she was wearing?  See you on the red carpet!

Mandelman out.

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

1. Cummings, Tierney Urge Issa to Subpoena Documents from FHFA on Principal Reduction
2. Elijah Cummings | Oversight Committee Democrats Urge FHFA Director to Produce Documents on Principal Reduction
3. William C. Dudley, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Makes Strong Pitch for More Aggressive Housing Policies Including Targeted Principal Reduction Program

1. Press Release | 3rd Annual Rally in Tally National Foreclosure Awareness Day February 16, 2012
2. Rally in Tally | National Foreclosure Awareness Day Febuary 16, 2012
3. “Rally in Tally”- Lawyers for Homeowner’s Rights Rally in Tallahassee

1. Tues – July 26th Lake Worth, FL. Happy Hour For Combatants of Illegal Fraudclosures
2. Thurs – Aug 11th Lake Worth, FL. Happy Hour Roundtable Discussion For Combatants of Illegal Fraudclosures
3. TONIGHT | Aug 11th Lake Worth, FL. Happy Hour Roundtable Discussion For Combatants of Illegal Fraudclosures

1. Freddie Mac Seek $6 Billion of Treasury Aid After Executives Get Big Cash Bonuses (MILLIONS)
2. This is Where Many of The Notes Are – Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13 Billion
3. Homeowners Seek to Block Bank of America $8.5 Billion Settlement

1. Ex-Marine Reoccupies His Own Foreclosed Home in Fight Against Freddie Mac, JPMorgan Chase
2. JPMorgan Chase Advised Homeowners to Stop Making Loan Payments…and Then Foreclosed
3. In RE Gonzales v JPMorgan Chase CLASS ACTION | JPMorgan Chase has NO Intent in Becoming a Landlord or to Comply with the Law

1. KABABABOOOOM! | Lender Processing Services’ DOCX, Lorraine O. Brown, Indicted on Criminal Forgery Charges
2. Fraud Digest | DocX, LLC., a Subsidiary of Lender Processing Services (“LPS”) & Lorraine O. Brown Indicted on Criminal Forgery Charges
3. Opinion Journal: Making a Mortgage Disaster with Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner VIDEO

Arizona’s hundreds of thousands of hopelessly underwater homeowners are having the best day they’ve had since the “days of equity” back in 2006.  Even with opposition from professional obstructionists to change-in-anything-mortgage-related like MERS own William Hultman, and other banking industry lobbyists including James Lundy, president of the Arizona Bankers Association, among others… the state’s Senate Banking & Insurance Committee’s hearing this afternoon on SB 1451, the Housing Finance Reform Act of 2012, went exceptionally well.  The bill not only passed, but it passed unanimously… ’6′ Ayes to ’0′ Nays.

Hultman flew in to Phoenix last night around 7:00 PM specifically to testify at today’s hearing… and boy were his arms tired.  For those familiar with him from seeing him on C-SPAN and the like, I can tell you that he looks a lot shorter… when he loses.

Actually, Hultman didn’t have too much to say about the bill’s revolutionary approach to revitalizing the state’s increasingly water-logged housing market, which has left over 500,000 Arizona’s homeowners in a hopelessly immobile state.  He said a few things about how the new state program would add complexity and that MERS remains committed to working closely with Sen. Reagan to address the possibly unforeseen and snugligby pomid gibble hmzzzzzzzz … Oh dear.  Sorry about that.  Nodded off there for a moment.

Lundy, a silver-haired smooth talker that one imagines looks marvelous on the links or by the courts in crisp tennis whites delivered the standard banking industry objections… “I fear it will cast a pall over all lending in Arizona for at least a millenium…”  I’m paraphrasing, of course.

Other industry representatives were slightly more vocal expressing concerns that came across as pure scare tactics.  The state can be sued by taking title to a home for any environment damage?  Under the program the state takes title for about an hour… maybe two.  And, of course, all echoed how it’s unconstitutional and in general just not fair.

Sen. Reagan was quite adept at fielding all of the statements made in opposition to the bill… she was calm… entirely confident… and best of all persuasive and I think the rest of the committee fed off of her obvious conviction that the State of Arizona has seen enough of the federal government’s response to the housing crisis and needed to now take matters into the state’s hands.  She made very clear that her bill used private money, cost taxpayers nothing, and offered the equivalent of a much needed rescue ship to people adrift in a sea of unfairness created by the national players in the mortgage industry.

Reagan’s peers on the committee were impressive in their resolve as well, and as the Ayes had it, the bill seemingly passed the committee effortlessly and with a couple of revisions to amendments and the like, is headed to the full senate.  Senator Robert Meza (D-W. Phoenix), in explaining his Aye vote said that “the bill obviously creates tension… and if there’s one thing this problem needs it’s tension.”

Here here!  

The Arizona State Senators that make up the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee: Sen. Gray, Sen. Schapira, Sen. Meza, Sen. Smith, Vice-Chairman Reagan, and Chairman McComish, and although it’s only the beginning and there are certainly battles ahead, it was inspiring to see a bi-partisan group of politicians courageous enough to stare down the empty threats and scare tactics of the banking industry and put the interests of constituents above everything else.

Mandelman out.

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