Contact: Sharon Lee, (212) 669-3747 November 18, 2010
NEW YORK, NY – New York City Comptroller John C. Liu stated the following in response to questions about the Congressional hearing today on irregularities in the foreclosure process:
“Mass foreclosures, due in part to widespread irregularities, have hurt homeowners, mortgage investors, and regional economies. Bank shareholders are also at risk.
“Where are the bank directors in this enormous mess? Their silence is deafening, particularly when management continues to sweep the problem under the rug as mere ‘technical glitches.’
“The Directors are ultimately responsible, not only for compliance, but for ensuring sound business practices. They must serve their shareholders and must fix the root problems, including managing perverse financial incentives in the current business model.
“Since July, we have warned that flawed bank procedures are forcing New Yorkers from their homes and hurting our economy. It is now clear that foreclosure and mortgage irregularities expose shareholders to substantial liabilities and loss. This would hurt our retirees and taxpayers.”
Earlier this week, Comptroller Liu, on behalf of the trustees of the New York City Pension Funds, called on directors at Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) to conduct an independent audit of their banks’ mortgage and foreclosure practices in order to prevent a recurrence of such mass foreclosures. The four banks are the largest mortgage servicers in the country representing 56 percent of the nation’s $10.64 trillion mortgage industry.
The City Comptroller serves as the investment advisor to, custodian and trustee of the New York City Pension Funds. The New York City Pension Funds are comprised of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund and the Board of Education Retirement System. The New York City Pension Funds hold a combined 137,864,102 total shares in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) for a combined asset value of $1,762,855,174.14 as of 11/12/2010.
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SOURCE: New York City Comptroller
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4closureFraud.org
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Shareholders Demand – Where Are Banks Directors in Foreclosure Mess?
I agree with Nelson, the time is now to get the banksters, the gov heads you refer to are bought and paid for by wealthy elite , its not who is in , its the slimeballs . Stop the private funding of every elected or appointed person in the three branches of gov, and you will get what’s best for the common good of all , not just a few !
you are not wrong john,b they are already in the process of doing it
we need to create an organization, maybe fueled by sites such as this one, my own http://www.americansunitedforjustice.org and many others out there, where we can function beyond and across state lines as the voice of the people. Much in the way groups like Move on dot org function, (I am not referring to their political agenda just their organizational structure and functions) where we can integrate with labor unions, activist groups, social networks and serve as a centralized strategy planning and mass mobilzation organization for a concerted effort against the crooked judges (for judicial accountability) and against those politicians who would sell out America for their own material gain in this battle for the constitutional right to due process..
We already know that we would have a very powerful following, as more than 50 million Americans are directly involved as victims of this massive foreclosure Ponzi Scheme. We can do this and the time to do it is now! I will be posting more about this here soon also at http://www.americansunitedforjustice.org
I have no doubt that this site, also Foreclosure Hamlet, stopforclosurefraud.com, livinglies, msfraud etc.. all have the necessary experinece, leadership and tools we need to create a national organization. LETS GET TO WORK and lets hold these judges and politicians accountable!
If you read the headlines today: “Wall St. faces massive insider trading probe”, you can clearly see that Walls Street no longer creates wealth, it consumes it! Therefore, it is upon our shoulder, it is our responsability to ensure that our experiment in democracy survives this onslaught by those who would sell the American Dream to the higest bidder; for if we do nothing, we may not have a country in the future to call home!
SPREAD THE WORD!
Nelson J. Velardo
http://www.americansunitedforjustice.org
Uh…. forgive me if I’m wrong… but…. uhhh… shouldn’t we….. as American Citizens, shouldn’t we also be wanting the heads (as in sits on shoulders) of the employees of these Agencies that allowed this crap to happen in the first place? I mean isn’t that exactly what we paid them their exorbitant government Salaries including those better than everybody else gets health care policies and those 50+ paid days off for every holiday that no one else seems to get?
I mean come on, Corporate America is full of slimeballs, we all know that. That’s why we put these Govt. Officials in charge in the first place isn’t it? To “monitor” the slime before it effects the American citizen?
And these Directors aren’t dumb. They’re gonna go off shore, buy an island and declare their own sovereignty! That way whenever they want to come back into the US they can do it with full diplomatic immunity.
Of course, i could be wrong! John R.
you are not wrong john, they are already in the process of doing it