Press Release
Attorneys General of California and Nevada Announce Mortgage Investigation Alliance
LOS ANGELES — Attorneys General Kamala D. Harris of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada today announced that their states have entered into a joint investigation alliance designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry.
By forging this alliance, California and Nevada will combine investigative resources, including litigation strategies, information, and evidence gathered through their respective ongoing investigations, assisting each state as it pursues independent prosecutions.
This alliance will link the offices’ civil and criminal enforcement teams, speeding along the full, fair and adequate investigation of wrongdoing in the two states, which have experienced similar foreclosure and mortgage fraud crises.
“The mortgage crisis is a man-made disaster that has taken a heavy toll on the country, but it saved its worst for California and Nevada,” said California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. “The mortgage crisis is a law enforcement matter, and we will prosecute to hold accountable those who are responsible and also protect the homeowners who are targeted for fraud. I am delighted that California and Nevada are entering into this alliance to leverage the best results for our investigations and look forward to forging similar collaboration with other states.”
“I am pleased to join forces with General Harris to fight against fraudulent mortgage and foreclosure practices that continue to devastate lives, homes, and the economy in Nevada and California,” said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. “This strong partnership will allow our states to make an even more concerted effort to hold fraud perpetrators accountable and ensure law-abiding homeowners receive justice.”
By most objective measures, California and Nevada have been the states hardest hit by the nation’s foreclosure crisis. In October 2011, Nevada and California ranked first and second, respectively, for the percentage of their housing units that entered the foreclosure process, reflecting a parallel surge in foreclosures in the two states. One in every 180 Nevada properties entered the foreclosure process in October, and one in every 243 California homes received a filing that month. In 2010, California led the nation with a total of 546,669 foreclosure filings (4 percent of the state’s housing units), while Nevada led the nation with 9.4 percent of its homes receiving a foreclosure filing (totaling 106,160 units).
The crisis in these Western states is similar because both states share a foreclosure system in which a bank can foreclose on a borrower’s home without court oversight, also called “non-judicial foreclosure.” The collective result has created a rich opportunity for predators, leading both states to make mortgage-related law enforcement action a top priority.
In May 2011, Attorney General Harris formed a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, now composed of nearly 40 attorneys and investigators, that has launched a wide series of investigations and litigation. The Mortgage Fraud Strike Force has instigated legal actions in cases including a fraudulent multi-million dollar “mass joinder” lawsuit operated by the law firm Kramer and Kaslow, and the arrests earlier this month of three top officers of a Stockton real estate company who took thousands of dollars in up-front loan modification fees and made false promises to assist struggling Central Valley homeowners with lowering their mortgage payments.
In 2007, Attorney General Masto formed the Nevada Mortgage Fraud Strike Force that launched a wide series of investigations and litigation into areas including violations of the law related to mortgage lending, servicing, and foreclosure practices and the creation, rating, marketing, sale, and management of mortgage backed securities. The Nevada Mortgage Fraud Strike Force has taken action against predatory “mortgage rescue” companies and individuals claiming to offer services to stop foreclosures. Last month, the Strike Force announced the indictments of Gerri Sheppard and Gary Trafford, who led a massive robo-signing scheme which resulted in the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents. Nevada is also suing Bank of America and its subsidiaries, including Countrywide, for violations of a Consent Judgment for mortgage servicing and mortgage origination irregularities.
The Mortgage Investigation Alliance is the product of weeks of discussion between Attorneys General Harris and Masto regarding the most effective and efficient means of achieving justice for their respective states. Today’s announcement formalizes an agreement reached between the two officials last week.
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The banks might have already been paid back by several unidentified investors on your home loan, multiple times, and by credit default swaps and insurance! A potential insurance fraud! Then the taxpayer had to bailout AIG! Now they want the homeowner to pay them again!”
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If the chain of title is broken or you can prove that your loan was concurrently pledged to multiple Trusts, then essentially, I have heard that the borrowers will NO LONGER OWE ANY MONEY ON THE LOAN WHERE AN ASSET HAS BEEN SOLD TO MULTIPLE BENEFICIARIES.
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My name is John Wright AND I AM FIGHTING BACK!
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John’s Daily Blog: http://piggybankblog.com/2011/12/30/break-in-chain-of-title/
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John Wright
Piggybankblog.com
And Pam Bondi?
What exactly does “violation of a consent judgement for mortgage sevicing” mean?
That just covers about everyone who was a mortgagor during the roaring 2000’s when the Central Banksters created the greatest boom and bust cycle in world history, and not just in this country. To think that the Central Bankers did not know what they were doing and what the future consequences would be from the extensive mortgage orginations throughout that time period, is naive. If I and many others knew it, so did they and if they say they didn’t, that is still not a reasonable excuse. You can’t put out the $trillions they did, then pull the plug on lending and not expect these results. I’ll really be suprised though, if even one central banker or major member banker of the Federal Reserve or any other Central Banker throughout the industrialized world goes to jail.
The only difference between the 88% of the population with no say and the 12% that approve of our decision makers, is that the 12% are organized. The fact that Calif. and Nevada are working together to solve problems is the beginning of a powerful, organized, movement with a mission to fix the problem and prosecute instead of chasing trinket fees that won’t deter repeat offenders. Please determine the gains from crime and go for triple damages. Please have a G-88% meeting and invite Eric Schneiderman, Beau Biden, Alan Grayson, Neil Garfield, Elizabeth Warren, all the players that are making a difference and demand specific changes to save the 88%. 2 day conference: day one flow chart all the problems in the mortgage industry/ day 2 solutions that will work for each problem in the mortgage industry and which agency needs to make it happen. After the meeting saturate the press and give the public a list of demands you need help with and what they need to do, including the people in the street provide them signs. Please don’t let anybody like Florida AG (Pam) in the club. Real Americans with real solutions only. This is the lesson that we have been missing and needed to learn from the 12% that control everything! A Washington club of winners, demanding change! The kind people that are at the sit ins all over the country want change so bad and they need a dream team to make it happen to bring back hope. Please announce a team right before Christmas. This would be an amazing present for the entire country. 🙂 I would like to thank all of the above for everything they do individually!!! As a team you would be unstoppable! The 88% only wants 3 main things unity, solutions and prosecutions.
Harris and Masto for Pres and Vice Pres:). Yes it took too long. Too much suffering. But kudos to you two women who finally decided to do the job you were elected to do. Thank you!!!!!
A very merry Christmas indeed!!!