Update on our campaign to send Wall Street bankers to jail.
After months of activism from people like you, President Obama announced in his State of the Union speech the creation of a new task force to investigate and hold banks accountable for causing the foreclosure crisis and financial meltdown.
The task force will have five co-chairs, one of whom is New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a progressive hero who has worked tirelessly to hold the Wall Street banks accountable for their crimes.
CREDO joined other groups in calling on President Obama to announce an investigation into the mortgage fraud that led to the economic collapse.
And we are heartened that the President of the United States responded to this grassroots pressure with such a high-profile mention in his State of the Union address.
This is especially remarkable when some were speculating that the president might use the address to announce a deal with the mortgage servicers that would grant the Wall Street banks immunity from prosecution of crimes that have not yet been investigated.
Given the White House’s abysmal record on holding Wall Street accountable, President Obama’s State of the Union announcement was so extraordinary that many of our allies in the progressive movement have declared victory.
We certainly hope they’re right, but from our perspective it is still too soon to know whether this will lead to the kind of meaningful justice the American people both need and deserve.
One of the greatest sources of potential good in the creation of this task force comes from the inclusion of New York Attorney General Schneiderman, who has been at the forefront of bank accountability fights, as one of its five co-chairs.
Yet aside from Attorney General Schneiderman, none of the other co-chairs has done literally anything that achieves our goal of holding banks accountable or prosecuting bankers for criminal activity.
What’s more, the task force won’t be independent but will be housed in the Justice Department’s Financial Fraud Task Force which President Obama established in 2009 “to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial crisis.” That earlier task force has failed to prosecute a single banker in conjunction with the mortgage crisis or hold Wall Street accountable in any kind of meaningful way.
It’s also concerning that three of Schneiderman’s four co-chairs are already members of the current, failed task force at the Department of Justice.1 This means they will have to start behaving very differently if this new task force will follow through on the president’s promise of a real investigation.
Time will tell whether Attorney General Schneiderman will be empowered to aggressively leverage the authority and investigatory resources of the federal government to hold banks accountable, or if his inclusion will serve as a little more than a symbolic ploy in an attempt to quiet the restive base that has reacted with outrage at the lack of accountability for Wall Street’s crimes.
We expect Attorney General Schneiderman will push very, very hard to make the work of the task force a meaningful step toward the prosecutions that have shamefully been missing from any federal action on Wall Street accountability in the last three years.
If Attorney General Schneiderman is able get his fellow co-chairs on board and launch investigations with teeth from his perch within the Department of Justice, this will be a good development indeed.
And we have no doubt that if Attorney General Schneiderman is muzzled in Washington, DC he will simply return to New York, where he can use subpoenas and his powers under the Martin Act to investigate and then prosecute. This is exactly what he did to help scuttle the terrible 50-state deal with the banks pushed by the Obama administration, as did several other Attorneys General, including California’s Kamala Harris and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto.
All that said, we still need to make sure that the Obama administration doesn’t close the door on accountability for foreclosure fraud even while it opens the door to investigate other kinds of misdeeds by Wall Street.
This is particularly important given the news over the weekend that a terrible settlement deal with mortgage servicers is closer than ever.
The robo-signing scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. It simply makes no sense for anyone to settle with the largest banks over foreclosure fraud when there has yet to be a full investigation despite what Reuters called “copious evidence” of “widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures….” 2
Six months ago many people thought that this kind of mortgage servicer settlement was a done deal, and that in addition to letting the banks off the hook for fraud and misdeeds when servicing mortgages, the banks would also be given immunity for precisely the behavior President Obama has tasked this new task force with investigating.
Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to jail for crimes related to the mortgage servicing scandal or the financial meltdown. But thanks to your activism, we have thus far stopped the federal government and state attorneys general from giving a sweetheart deal to banks that lets them off the hook for massive amounts of mortgage and foreclosure fraud.
We will continue to fight together to bring Wall Street criminals to justice.
In the wake of the State of the Union we celebrate your activism and its continuing impact on the White House. When there are indictments we will celebrate victory.
Until then here are five things you can do to bring justice to Wall Street.
- Tell New York Attorney Eric Schneiderman: Indict Wall Street criminals immediately and we will have your back.
- Thank California Attorney General Kamala Harris for continuing to help block a bad 50-state settlement.
- Tell your State Attorney General not to accept any settlement with the Wall Street banks that grants them immunity for crimes not yet investigated.
- Tell House Democrats: Co-Sponsor the Baldwin resolution and go on the record opposing any deal that would grant mortgage servicers criminal or civil immunity for potential wrongdoing related to illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices.
- Tell President Obama: Stop pressuring the state attorneys general to cut a sweetheart deal with the banks.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
1. “There’s Already a Financial Fraud Task Force,” David Dayen, FDL News Desk, 01-25-12.
2. “U.S. AG Eric Holder, DoJ Head Lanny Breuer Linked To Banks Accused Of Foreclosure Fraud ,” Scot J. Paltrow, Reuters, 01-19-12.
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IMPORTANT: YOU CAN CLICK ON THE 5 POINTS IN THIS POST TO SIGN PETITIONS!
Stupidity. Send the politicians who forced the bankers into this scheme to jail. The bankers were, at least in the beginning, only doing what they were told to do.
The problem is that the conversation still is that home-owners bought homes they couldn’t afford which is a BIG LIE and that the home owners want a free house which is the other BIG LIE, What the home owners want is justice after the biggest massive fraud ever perpetrated by Banksters and Wall Street. Where is the justice where and where is the fairness
FACT 1: ONLY 20% OF THE LOANS WERE LIARS LOANS….! FACT 2: IT WAS THE MULTIPLE PLEDGING OF NOTES BY WALL STREET …$700 TRILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF MORTGAGE FRAUD….THEIR DEBT THAT IS DESTROYING THE ECONOMY…THESE FIRMS ARE INSOLVENT…THEIR DEBT IS UNSUSTAINABLE AND CAN NEVER BE REPAID..!
MASS DECEPTION IS THE REAL PROBLEM HERE…BY THE MEDIA AND THE POLITICIANS….WALL STREET ARE THE ONLY DEADBEATS OF THIS MANUFACTURED FINANCIAL CRISIS…..THERE IS NO WAY TOO FIX $700 TRILLION DOLLARS IN MORTGAGE FRAUD….NO WAY TO REFI…MODIFY OR WRITE DOWN INSOLVENT DEBT….THEIR FRAUD IS TOO MASSIVE..SEE THE LINK FROM DAILY FINAÑCE.COM…..ENTITLED: BIG RISK: $1.2 QUADRILLION DERIVATIVES MARKET DWARFS WORLD GDP: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/06/09/risk-quadrillion-derivatives-market-gdp/
20% risk would not bring down the world economy….the too much risk came from multiple pledging interests in the notes…exponentionally…that is the fraud on steroids they committed that caused Wall Streets massive unsustainable debt..!
I just cannot thank all who have contriuted to this site, and Ivent, you are fearless, thank you for that, you inspire me. I really don’t know what I would or could have done, I felt so alone. Love and prayers to all of you.
Ali
God Bless Ali. We cant back down to these crooks. That’s what they want. Never give them what they want..that is a sign of weakness and then they will devour us. The Local Community Channel was funny tonite…they showed homeowners shooting guns and this guy said..if anyone tries to enter your house..just shoot first and ask questions later..He said even if they are unarmed you can just shoot them thanks to the CASTLE DOCTRINE…YOU ARE THE KING OR QUEEN OF YOUR CASTLE..GOTTA LOVE THAT!
Tee, Swiss Bank Accounts! Really? Now I think I just threw up in my mouth. Thanks Mike!
Judge Napolitano saying the NYPD..wants to start spying on us with unmanned drones…little flying cameras…FLYING MONKEYS….! They look like they would make good targets for target practice!
Romney stated “if you cant service the debt it is time to move on..” First off …We The People are not prostitutes..here to service Wall Streets massive debt fraud…Second of all ..in a hundred years we wouldnt put a dent in what these crooks owe..and we are not or will we ever allow the moneyed elite to make us slaves to the debt of their perps on Wall Street…! Take that message to your owners!
What we have here is feudalism…..the only way to beat the commies hiding from within is if everyone defaults on everything…property taxes, credit card debt..all of it..! Now Geithner wants to fund the Europeans debt with tax payer money via the IMF..Obama already promised them 5 billion..Stop paying America…!
Dont refi, don’t modify, don’t pay the dirty crooks another dime they are not owed..WAKE UP AMERICA…OUR HOMES ARE PAID FOR…THEY ARE INSOLVENT AND THE MORTGAGE MONEY YOU ARE SENDING THEM IS GOING RIGHT IN THE FAT CATS POCKETS AND THEY WONT STOP ROBBING US UNTIL WERE ALL BROKE AND HOMELESS…! THEY ARE USING THAT MORTGAGE $$$$$$ TO TERRORIZE ALL OF US!!!
OCC is a complete waste of time! They are just more banksters minions! If the President was at all sincere or had any power ALL those responsible would be facing criminal charges by now and we would have our homes. Just sweeping it under the rug as usual. Placating us nothing more. Our elected President is only a puppet. But really….did’nt we already know that? This is a circus!
The OCC is running a protection racket for the crooks..they hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil…They aren’t there to protect us..they are there to protect the crooks.
If they pretend to ignore the federal crimes of these criminal financial institutions then they are not actually aiding and abetting a cover up…more deception….! I guess we all have to serve the steaming pile of Wall Street excriment up to them on a silver platter….There are many who have lost their homes and are fighting eviction who still don’t get it…that is the problem with these widely deceptive practices…My sister was fraudclosed on by Chase with WA MU as the originator and she is fighting eviction via an attorney…who is now fighting to get her a loan mod…even though they cant find jobs…She still doesn’t think there is any fraud.,.Ive tried to explain what they didn’t do ..She just does not get it…her husband is a real estate agent…he doesn’t get it…it is truly frightening how brainwashed people are!
Mary, Mary, Mary, sorry you are late to the game. I should have warned you. I too filed a complaint with the OCC, which led to a an appeal. Which my words were taken out of context and they completely sided with, guess who? When the last assignment was recorded at the recorders office but not sent to me, ever. Then I was notified again about my “recent complaint with the OCC, it confirmed what I thought all along, it was delived with three notices from BOA about loan mods and counsiling and all that crazy shit I”ve already lived through. I have not been in contact since 2010 with the OCC, so somehow BOA contacted the OCC and the flurry of assignments from MERS to BOA, Countrywide, MLD ) dba the Money Store. The message here is don’t trust the President, your Homeowners Insurer, the Local taxing (and Federal too) Get your documentation from your local recording Office, gather everything together re your loans and if any, modifications and hide them. Stop paying these criminals!!!!!!!!! Oh, and Michele “This is the first time in MY adult life that I am ashamed of being an American”. No wonder the rest of the world hates us and will probably never do any kind of investing in America anytime soon.
Ali
The government will protect the banks. The securitization processes that were undertaken illegally/not in compliance will never be deemed null and void in terms of the mortgages they sold to us. The house of cards will collapse….and they don’t want that.
Now, if you or I were to conduct such widespread fraud – we would be thrown in the slammer without hesitation.
Beth A
Everyone must continue to unabashedly and continueously keep on them by writing, calling and any other form of, yes, harrassment. Put the facts of your case together and mail to the OCC, your state AG and everyone else you can think of. I spent over $200 this week in just copying and mailing costs to send out 15 very lengthy packages to the press and misc. agencies. Remember, now is the best time to bombard them. Let them receive stacks and stacks of mail daily. The election is only months away so now is the time. I admit, it may not do one iota of good, but doing not enough will most definitely do no good. We are as low is it gets so there is only one way to go and that is up! Keep up the fight everyone.
It’s unlikely Ofraudclosure is going to send his BFFs to jail, as much as CREDO appears to be “campaigning”.
The Central Bankers, the larger Member Bankers and some of the Officers of the larger investment brokerage companies, some owned by the larger banks are the specific Wall Street Banksters that I think you are referring to. You must also take into consideration, the Insurance company Officers that worked for AIG and others and of course the rating agencies such as S&P and Moodys. Then you need to add in all the corrupt mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers, appraisers, title company and mortgage insurance company personnel and of course all those who committed fraud on their mortgage applications. They’re going to have to empty some jails to fit in all those folks.
Send them to the FEMA DEATH CAMPS!
yes, lets put those FEMA camps to good use!
Yea, the problem is I’m pretty sure I’m on the Black List. The best solution I’ve seen to all this mess, is to somehow reinstate individual rights. The problem is that the Judicary keeps usurping them. So In my opinion only a free market judicial system has the potential of doing this such a the Law Merchant and many of the private Arbitration companies being utilized today. Until you take politics and the protectionism away from the courts we are foreever doomed. http://rsjexperiment.wordpress.com and http://www.toolsforjustice.com are seeking participants to forward the idea of private competitive courts.
Abraham Lincoln warned they would try and destroy the U.S. Constitution and it was up to all of us to protect it… They used Lincoln as well with the addition of the 14 th amendment. That amendment gave the President the power to invoke that amendment and go over the heads of Congress…The devils have always been here. OBAMA threatened to use the 14th amendment to raise the debt ceiling last year. LINCOLN tried to turn the military on the people and Congress stepped in and stopped him…our history books are full of lies..Obama said Lincoln was one of his favorite Presidents..What has Obama done since he became POTUS…? He weakened Posse Comitatus on 11110…same number as Kennedy’s EO 11110…issuing U.S. BANK NOTES..He signed the NDAA..Congress and Obama are both corrupt…that is incredibly dangerous. The devils are not just here…they have infiltrated everything…The U.S. CONSTITUTION must be restored back to its Original form…ABOLISH THE FED….See you tube videos by Eric Jon Phelps about Lincoln and the 14th amendment which allowed the ushering in of the Holy Roman Empire and put too much power in the hands of the Pope…Thanks to the addition of the 14th amendment..the POTUS can invoke the TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE IN ROME ON ALL OF US…!
The above comment is for St. Elmos Fire…It is up to We The People to remove these traitors from within by revealing who they are…..and replace them with We The People ….the real owners of this place…!..Abolish them and the FED….Restore the U.S. CONSTITUTION….the greatest document ever written by men..! Time we abolished the 2 party system…it is completely corrupt and useless…..WE ALL SHOULD WRITE IN OUR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT..!
lvent, that all sounds wonderful but Democracy appears to be an illusionary concept for improving the majority’s social welfare. Because people are not well educated in socio-economics, generally vote their own pocketbooks, are politically motivated to vote for a specific group agenda and there is substantive compromise by politicians, the majority vote is often wrong, setting the stage for additional usurpations as politicians compromise our rights away. Just think of the U.S. as an example. Other then the abolition of slavery and gaining universal suffrage, we have continuously lost our inalienable rights throughout our two hundred + years. In the twentieth century alone, we were either in recession, depression or war, one out of every two years. Sadly, our so-called democratic republic has provided no greater potential success. Even the rule of law is a myth if you truly take the time to evaluate its history. I see no way to protect individual rights other than by introducing a free market judiciary. Our politically run judiciary is full of corruption and it has led us down the road of fascism and a totalitarian state run by the existing oligarchy. Libertarians have been telling society for 45 years, that what is happenig today was going to happen, told society “why” it was going to happen and told society what needed to be done to stop it from happening. Even though libertarian principles are the foundation of our Constitution, the majority of people could not understand/comprehend the positions of the Austrian Economic school, and instead fell for the memes of the ruling oligarchy.
St Elmos Fire..Is it Democracy and Capitalism that are failures? Or is it the evil plans of men..and women who are greedy and hide behind the scenes and infiltrate everything in order to gain complete control of freedom and prosperity??..It appears to me Democracy and Capitalism have been skillfully infiltrated and hijacked over time and made the victims of the greedy plans of a small group of very greedy moneyed elite..!
I believe it is the greed of the moneyed elite who are masters of deception….who hide behind the scenes and infiltrate nations.,.and use their ill gotten gains attained mainly through greed and weapons of mass deception to destroy everything good in the world. You only need to look at the lies in our history books and all of the lies we have been told in past history up to today to see that mass deception and lies are what we should really fear!
What is really needed to save freedom, democracy and free market capitalism..?..The TRUTH..about who the real players are…and what they have done to not only America but, every nation on the planet…to achieve their ultimate goal of ownership by MIND CONTROL of not only everything…but everyone! It has always been about what they can make all of us believe…What is really needed is the truth….we really need to question more and not believe everything that we are told! That is dangerous and the very reason WHY we all are at this point in history…..Weapons of mass deception are the deadliest weapons on the planet…!
How many people have gone to their graves not knowing what really killed them because they believed the lies of this same greedy bunch?
GREED, LIES AND DECEPTION KILL!
Yesterday, I received a response from the AG Washington State from my pleas to all AGs not to rush to a settlement agreement with these criminals. I sent a response to her this morning and asked for her permission to share her letter to me. I won’t comment on her letter, and, if I can share it, will let you all come to your own conclusions. If she will not give her permission, I will then post my response to her and you will have to form your own opinions based on my responses to her. I will up-date when I hear something.
Great Job Katheryn…please let us know..did they say it was confidential? If not I would not hold back..but that’s me..I’m way past the point of being patient..! Its been over 3 years now!
IVent – they not only gave me permission to share but also gave me a copy of another letter sent by their office to a Senator that gives some further insight to how they view the settlement issues. I will post tomorrow. Still haven’t clipped the doggies!!!! I did make dinner though. LOL
Yeah….was thinking the same…..all just Obama false promise……Him and Romney are the same mold. I hope people can see through Romney. He has already and for years been paid off….and now looks to me like he is getting backing from his puppet masters to become president and then banksters go free and the sucking America dry will continue.
Anyone ever think of finding out exactly where the funds came from for his Switz Bank account ? Ill bet some funny stuff going on there too………nuff said.
Tee..I think it is a Caymens bank account..there’s millions in there…! These politicians are so evil I believe they would sacrifice their own family members to get what they want…Religion is a ruse they use to make us believe they are good…most of them are satanists..a coven of witches and evil doers..There is a you tube video with former FBI AGENT TED GUNDERSON CALLED THE CIA AND SATANISM…These politicians will sacrifice anyone in their quest for the rich mans gold…They are evil incarnate..I reject all of them!