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Recently in Foreclosure crisis Category
Firm commentary: This should come as no surprise.
The full list of the top 10 state with the highest foreclosure rates:
"1. Nevada: 6 percent (1 in 16 housing units received at least one foreclosure filing in 2011)
2. Arizona: 4.14 percent (or 1 in 24)
3. California: 3.19 percent (or 1 in 31)
4. Georgia: 2.71 percent (or 1 in 37)
5. Utah: 2.32 percent (or 1 in 43)
6. Michigan: 2.21 percent
7. Florida: 2.06 percent
8. Illinois: 1.95 percent
9. Colorado: 1.78 percent
10. Idaho: 1.77 percent"
Source:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlewaterfronthomes/2012/01/16/top-10-states-with-highest-real-estate-foreclosure-rates-in-2011/
Thanx to Max Gardner, Esq
Firm commentary: the article below details how the Federal Government has failed to prosecute lenders, servicers and agents for the mass foreclosure fraud being perpetrated throughout the country. To see a sample the type of phony documents ther Firm sees daily...click this link:
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21961710/467931748/name/Watchdogs+Didnt+Bark.pdf
THE U.S. HAS PURSUED NO CRIMINAL CASES OVER FORECLOSURE PRACTICES -
BUT POTENTIAL LEADS ABOUND.
FOUR YEARS after the banking system nearly collapsed from reckless mortgage lending, federal prosecutors have stayed on the sidelines, even as judges around the country are pointing fingers at possible wrongdoing.
The federal government, as has been widely noted, has pressed few criminal cases against major lenders or senior executives for the events that led to the meltdown of 2007. Finding hard evidence has proved difficult, the Justice Department has said.
The government also hasn't brought any prosecutions for dubious foreclosure practices deployed since 2007 by big banks and other mortgage-servicing companies.
But this part of the financial system, a Reuters examination shows, is filled with potential leads:
Foreclosure-related case files in just one New York federal bankruptcy court, for example, hold at least a dozen mortgage documents known as promissory notes bearing evidence of recently forged signatures and illegal alterations, according to a judge's rulings and records reviewed by Reuters. Similarly altered notes have appeared in courts around the country.
Banks in the past two years have foreclosed on the houses of thousands of active-duty U.S. soldiers who are legally eligible to have foreclosures halted. Refusing to grant foreclosure stays is a misdemeanor under federal law.
The U.S. Treasury confirmed in November that it is conducting a civil investigation of 4,500 such foreclosures. Attorneys representing service members estimate banks have foreclosed on up to 30,000 military personnel in potential violation of the law.
In Alabama, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled last month that Wells Fargo & Co. had filed at least 630 sworn affidavits containing false "facts," including claims that homeowners were in arrears for amounts not yet due.
Wells Fargo "took the law into its own hands" and disregarded laws banning perjury, Judge Margaret A. Mahoney declared.
And in thousands of cases, documents required to transfer ownership of mortgages have been falsified. Lacking originals needed to foreclose, mortgage servicers drew up new ones, falsely signed by their own staff as
employees of the original lenders - many of which no longer exist.
But the mortgage-foreclosure mess has yet to yield any federal prosecution against the big banks that are the major servicers of home loans.
REUTERS HAS identified one pending federal criminal investigation into suspected improper foreclosure procedures. That inquiry has been under way since 2009.
The investigation focuses on a defunct subsidiary of Jacksonville, Florida-based Lender Processing Services, the nation's largest subcontractor of mortgage servicing duties for banks.
People close to the investigation said indictments may come as early as the end of this month. Nationwide press reports had showed photos of what appeared to be obviously forged signatures on foreclosure affidavits.
The Justice Department doesn't disclose pending investigations, making it impossible to say if other criminal inquiries are underway. Officials in state attorneys' general offices and lawyers in foreclosure cases say they have seen no signs of any other federal criminal investigation.
"I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history," said Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written articles analyzing the role of courts in the financial crisis. "I can't think of one where you have literally tens of thousands of fraudulent documents filed in tens of thousands of cases."
Spokesmen for the five largest servicers - Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JP Morgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc., and Ally Financial Group - declined to comment about the possibility of widespread fraud for this article.
Paul Leonard, spokesman for the Housing Policy Council, whose membership includes those banks, said any faults in foreclosure cases are being addressed under a civil settlement earlier this year with federal regulators.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials say they have brought mortgage-fraud criminal cases through their "Operation Stolen Dreams." None, however, were against big banks. All targeted small-scale operators who allegedly defrauded banks with forged mortgage applications or took advantage of homeowners by falsely promising arrangements to get them out of default and then pocketing their money.
Justice Department spokeswoman Adora Andy declined to comment on the absence of prosecutions for foreclosure practices by big banks. She said in a statement: "The Department of Justice has been and will continue to aggressively investigate financial fraud wherever it occurs, including at all levels of the mortgage industry and, when we find evidence of a crime, we will not hesitate to pursue it."
Some judges have accused banks of falsely stating in court that they are working on loan modifications for homeowners in default.
In a Nov. 30 court hearing, not previously reported, a federal bankruptcy judge in New York accused Bank of America of falsely telling courts and the public that it was working to renegotiate loans.
"Bank of America issues constant press releases about how it is responsive to their borrowers on these issues. They are not, period," said Judge Robert Drain, in a case involving homeowner Richard Tomasulo, a pharmacist from Crompond, New York. Drain said Bank of America had been telling the court since January that it was working to modify Tomasulo's mortgage, but hadn't done so.
"Whoever is in charge of this program and their supervisor, who should be following it, should be fired" because "they are frankly incompetent."
Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said the bank has completed "nearly one million" modifications since
2008. The U.S. Treasury this year suspended loan modification incentive payments to the bank because it was "seriously deficient" in responding to requests for modifications.
FORECLOSURE FRAUD came to light in September 2010, with evidence that employees of Ally Financial Corp. had committed "robo-signing," in which low-level workers signed and swore to the facts in thousands of affidavits they hadn't read or checked.
The affidavits were notarized outside the signers' presence, in apparent violation of state and federal criminal laws.
Since then, mounting evidence of possible foreclosure fraud has convinced judges and state regulators that servicers have harmed homeowners and the investors who bought mortgage-backed securities.
A unit of the Justice Department that oversees bankruptcy court cases, the U.S. Trustees Program, said in its 2010 annual report that there were "pervasive and longstanding problems regarding mortgage loan servicing," which "are not merely 'technical' but cause real harm to homeowners in bankruptcy."
Banks, the Trustees Program says, have falsified affidavits by claiming homeowners owe fees for services never rendered and by overstating how much owners are behind on payments.
Former federal prosecutor Daniel Richman, a professor of criminal law at Columbia University Law School, says a central question is who prosecutors would target in criminal investigations. Richman said it would be easy but not worthwhile to charge large numbers of rank-and-file workers who, directed by supervisors, falsely churned out affidavits.
He said criminal investigations would be warranted, but harder to bring, "if there are particular individuals who lie at the heart of this conduct in a very significant way."
In October 2010, members of Congress pressed the Justice Department to investigate. Attorney General Eric Holder said investigations were best left to the states, with help from the Justice Department.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the top bank regulator, quickly negotiated settlements with the 14 largest servicers, requiring changes in practices and "remediation" for harmed homeowners. That settlement allows the banks to choose their own contractors to determine who was harmed and by how much.
Lawmakers and homeowner advocates have criticized the arrangement, contending that it will let the banks avoid making all
wronged homeowners whole, because the contractors are paid by and answer to the banks.
Since then, the department's civil division has worked with a shaky coalition of all 50 states, which have been seeking a civil settlement with five banks that are the largest loan servicers. The negotiations center on requiring them to pay $20 billion or more in penalties, only some of which would go to compensate wronged homeowners.
FEDERAL LAW enforcement has been noticeably absent, even in areas hardest hit by the crisis, such as Las Vegas.
In 2010 the FBI's Las Vegas office shut down its mortgage fraud task force, which had focused on small-scale swindlers.
Tim Gallagher, chief of the FBI's financial crimes section, said that the Las Vegas office had asked to transfer agents to other duties.
Impatient with the lack of federal prosecution, states including New York, Massachusetts, Delaware and California have launched their own investigations of the banks.
In November, it became the first state to file criminal charges. The state attorney general obtained a 606-count indictment against two California-based executives of Lender Processing Services.
It accuses the executives of paying Nevada notaries to forge the pair's signatures and falsely notarize them on notices of default, documents Nevada requires in foreclosure actions. State officials said more indictments are expected.
In an interview, John Kelleher, Nevada's chief deputy attorney general, said the investigation began in response to citizen complaints.
"We were concerned and then shocked at the sheer number of fraudulent documents we were finding that had been filed with the county recorder," Kelleher said.
Investigators found "tens of thousands" of false records filed on behalf of big mortgage servicers, he said.
The two executives have pleaded not guilty. In a press release, the company said: "LPS acknowledges the signing procedures on some of these documents were flawed; however, the company also believes these
documents were properly authorized and their recording did not result in a wrongful foreclosure."
THE U.S. ATTORNEY'S Office in Manhattan is the federal prosecutors' office that traditionally has filed the most cases against top banks and financiers. But it hasn't brought any foreclosure-related criminal cases involving Wall Street's biggest financial houses or the law firms that represent them.
To date the only step it has taken publicly was an October 2011 civil settlement with New York State's largest foreclosure law firm.
The Steven J. Baum P.C. law firm, based near Buffalo, New York, in recent years filed approximately 40 per cent of all foreclosures in New York State, on behalf of banks and other mortgage servicers. Court records show that the firm angered state court judges for alleged false statements and filing suspect documents.
Arthur Schack, a state court judge in Brooklyn, in a 2010 ruling said that pleadings by the Baum firm on behalf of HSBC Bank, a unit of London-based HSBC Holdings, in a foreclosure case were "so incredible, outrageous, ludicrous and disingenuous that they should have been authorized by the late Rod Serling, creator of the famous science-fiction television series, The Twilight Zone."
Another state judge that year imposed $5,000 in sanctions and ordered the firm to pay $14,500 in attorneys' fees, ruling that "misrepresentation of the material statements here was outrageous."
But the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan filed no criminal charges against the Baum firm. Instead, it signed a settlement with Baum ending an inquiry "relating to foreclosure practices." The agreement made no allegations of wrongdoing, but required the firm to improve its foreclosure practices.
Baum agreed to pay a $2 million civil penalty, but didn't admit wrongdoing.
The law firm said it would shut down after New York Times columnist Joe Nocera in November published photographs of a 2010 Baum firm Halloween party in which employees dressed up as homeless people. Another showed part of Baum's office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed houses.
"The settlement between the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office and the Steven J. Baum Law Firm resulted in immediate and comprehensive reforms of the firm's business practices," said Ellen Davis, spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office.
Earl Wells III, a spokesman for Baum, said the lawyer wouldn't comment because "he's laying low right now."
An HSBC spokesman said: "We are working closely with the regulators to address any matters raised regarding" the bank's foreclosure practices.
THE MOST SERIOUS potential foreclosure violations involve falsified mortgage promissory notes, the documents homeowners sign vowing to repay mortgage loans. Courts uniformly have ruled that unless a creditor legally owns the promissory note, it has no legal right to foreclose. For each mortgage there is only one promissory note.
Bankruptcy court records reviewed by Reuters show that at least a dozen radically different documents purporting to be the authentic promissory note have turned up in foreclosure cases involving six different properties in the federal bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York.
In one, Wells Fargo is battling to foreclose on the Bronx home of Tindala Mims, a single mother who works as an ambulance driver. In September 2010, Wells Fargo filed a promissory note bearing a signed stamp showing that the note belonged to defunct Washington Mutual Bank, not Wells Fargo. The judge threw out the case.
In a second attempt, the court was given a different version of the note. But inspection showed physical alterations. A variety of marks on the original were missing or seemed obviously altered on the second. And the second version had a stamped endorsement, missing on the first, that appeared to give Wells Fargo the right to foreclose.
The judge threw out the second attempt too. Wells Fargo is trying a third time. It declined to comment on the case.
Linda Tirelli, Mims' lawyer, in October sued Wells Fargo, alleging "fabrication of documents."
"It seems to me that Washington is deathly afraid of the banking industry," Tirelli said. "If you're talking about filing false documents and filing false notarizations, do you really think that the U.S. Attorney would find it too difficult to prosecute?"
The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan has routinely brought charges involving forgery and filing false documents against smaller targets.
In April, the FBI arrested seven employees of the USA Beauty School in Manhattan. Bharara's office alleged that the seven suspects had forged documents such as high school diplomas, attendance records and applications for financial aid for students taking cosmetology classes.
In August, Bharara's office filed felony charges against a sports-memorabilia company's CEO, accusing him of auctioning jerseys falsely advertised as "game used" by Major League Baseball players.
In a press conference, a U.S. Postal Inspection Service official said prosecution was important because "victims felt that they had a piece of history only to be defrauded and left with a feeling of heartbreak."
Given the record of Bharara's office, and those of his fellow U.S. Attorneys around the country, to aggressively pursue violations both big and small, the absence of cases involving the foreclosure fiasco seems to stand out.
"Why there hasn't been more robust prosecution is a mystery," said Brescia, the visiting professor at Yale.
BY SCOT J. PALTROW
NEW YORK, DEC 22
Firm commentary: The take away from the announcement that the two states attorney generals will enter into a joint investigation alliance designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry is that California AG Harris is playing catch up and is not up to speed on the scope of fraudulent foreclosures in California.
Harris is overly focused on a few rogue attorneys and scam artists who have exploited homeowners. She did not express any knowledge of the ROBO-SIGNING fraud that is prevalent in the courts and public record system. No mention was made of the lenders and servicers practice of manufacturing ASSIGNMENTS so as to create the illusion of valid mortgage transfers instead of modifying loans.
While protecting homeowners is important, throwing all FC defense attorneys in the class of KASLOW KRAMER is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. Correct the practices of lenders and you eliminate much of the opportunity of foreclosure predators.
That said, the announcement was a step in the right direction especially if it allows the AG to get up to speed and join the fight against these fraudulent practices.
Attorneys General of California and Nevada Announce Mortgage Investigation Alliance
Video news conference, part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE5hDJcEKsk&feature=youtu.be
Video news conference, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLJVMV1KqFU&feature=youtu.be
Press release :http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=2590
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, including a lawsuit alleging false representations and other unlawful conduct in the marketing of multi-million dollar "mass joinder" lawsuits, 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.
http://ag.state.nv.us/newsroom/press/2011/robosignnotarycomplaint.pdf
Firm commentary:
Criminal charges were announced today against NV notaries Meghan Shaw, Jennifer Lowe and Joseph Noel for involvement in a scheme to file fraudulant documents to facilitate foreclosure.
Tracy Lawrence, the notary who stepped forward and admitted to signing tens of thousands of false documents herself, was found dead on November 29, the day of her sentencing hearing. She plead guilty to one charge of notary fraud, with a potential jail sentence of one year and a fine of up to $2000.
The Attorney General's office says the three testified before a grand jury that indicted two California title officers last month. The title officers,Gary Randall Trafford and Geraldine Ann Sheppard, face more than 600 criminal charges alleging they masterminded the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent foreclosure documents in Las Vegas.
This should come as no surprise given the scope of the fraud...the question is ...where is OUR California Attorney General?
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General
555 E. Washington Avenue, Suite 3900
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Telephone - (702) 486-3420
Fax - (702) 486-3283
Web - http://ag.state.nv.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jennifer López
DATE: December 5, 2011 702-486-3782
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES MORE
COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST THREE NOTARIES IN ROBO-SIGNING
CASE
Las Vegas, NV - The Office of the Nevada Attorney General announced today that
complaints have been filed against three more notaries in the State's ongoing massive
robo-signing investigation. Meghan Shaw, Jennifer Lowe and Joseph Noel have all
been charged with notarization of the signature of a person not in their presence.
"These complaints are the result of notary practices which did not conform with legal
requirements of our state. These requirements were enacted to ensure the integrity of
public documents and our action today is another step in our attempt to determine those
responsible" said Chief Deputy Attorney General John Kelleher.
The charges stem from the notaries' involvement in the scheme to file fraudulent
documents with the Clark County Recorder's office. The documents, referred to as
Notices of Default (NODs), were used to initiate foreclosure on local homeowners.
Through an investigation led by the Attorney General's office the notaries charged in
this case have confirmed that their job duties included signing another person's name
on a document and then notarizing that signature.
Shaw, Noel and Lowe are set to make an initial appearance in court on Wednesday,
December 28, 2011 at 8:30AM in Justice Court 8.
Anyone who has information regarding this case should contact the Attorney General's
Office at 702-486-3132.
Read the criminal complaint by visiting:
http://bit.ly/ShawBloeckerNoelCriminalComplaint
Homeowners whose primary residence was part of a foreclosure action between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, and whose home loan was serviced by a participating servicer, may be eligible for an Independent Foreclosure Review. This is a money play...it will not necessarily get your home back. Call the Firm for more info.
Your servicer must be on this list:
America's Servicing Co.
Aurora Loan Services
Bank of America
Beneficial
Chase
Citibank
CitiFinancial
CitiMortgage
Countrywide
EMC
EverBank/EverHome Mortgage Company
GMAC Mortgage
HFC
HSBC
IndyMac Mortgage Services
MetLife Bank
National City Mortgage
PNC Mortgage
Sovereign Bank
SunTrust Mortgage
U.S. Bank
Wachovia Mortgage
Washington Mutual (WaMu)
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (federal bank regulators) have required an Independent Foreclosure Review by an independent consultant to identify eligible customers who may have been financially injured due to errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in their foreclosure process. If the review finds that financial injury occurred, the customer may receive compensation or other remedy.
To qualify, your mortgage loan would need to meet the initial eligibility criteria:
- Your mortgage loan was serviced by one of the participating mortgage servicers.
- Your mortgage loan was active in the foreclosure process between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.
- The property was your primary residence.
Eligible customers will be mailed a letter by December 31, 2011 that explains the Independent Foreclosure Review process and a Request for Review Form that identifies some examples of situations that may have led to financial injury. The form must be completed and postmarked not later than April 30, 2012.
CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST "ROBO-SIGNERS" in Nevada...why not in CALI?
FIRM COMMENTARY:
Yesterday on Wednesday, November 16th, JOHN P. KELLEHER, Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of Nevada, filed the first in what may be a long series of criminal charges in an alleged robo-signing case in the name of Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General of the State of Nevada. This office has previously met with Mr. Kelleher to discuss the fraudulent practices of lenders and banks as the attempt to create the illusion of valid mortgage loan transfers. As promised, Nevada is now targeting this criminal activity. California homeowners are encouraged to contact our Attorney General, Kamala Harris and encourage her to take the same legal actions against robo-signers. To read the actual criminal indictment, click http://alfn.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Docs/Nevada-Robosigning-Indicment.pdf.
"According to the indictment, defendant Gary Trafford, a California resident, is charged with 102 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor). The indictment charges defendant Gerri Sheppard, also a California resident, with 100 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor). The indictment alleges that both defendants directed the fraudulent notarization and filing of documents which were used to initiate foreclosure on local homeowners."
"The State alleges that these documents, referred to as Notices of Default, or "NODs", were prepared locally. The State alleges that the defendants directed employees under their supervision, to forge their names on foreclosure documents, then notarize the signatures they just forged, thereby fraudulently attesting that the defendants actually signed the documents, which was untrue and in violation of State law. The defendants then allegedly directed the employees under their supervision to file the fraudulent documents with the Clark County Recorder's office, to be used to start foreclosures on homes throughout the County. The indictment also alleges that these crimes were done in secret in order to avoid detection."
Credit to: William M. LeRoy, President & CEO
American Legal & Financial Network (ALFN)
Firm commentary: At the heart of the foreclosure crisis, again we find FANNIE MAE. The U.S. Governments's agent to supervise the Home Affordable Mortgage Program or HAMP, has known about allegations of improper foreclosure practices since 2003...but has done nothing. Its no wonder the HAMP program has been a failure.
Warned of the practice, FANNIE hired an outside law firm in 2005 who concluded that foreclosure attorneys were "routinely filing false pleadings and affidavits."
Think about this business practice for a second...
Fannie Mae's network of attorneys were found to be filing phony documents in the Courts, so as to create the ILLUSION of valid mortgage transfers and set up foreclosures of people's homes.
Am I missing something or does this constitute FRAUD?
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mortgage giant Fannie Mae knew about allegations of improper foreclosure practices by law firms in 2003 but did not act to stop them, a government watchdog says.
Similar allegations are the subject of a probe by state attorneys general into how lenders and law firms ignored proper procedures to handle a crush of foreclosure paperwork.
An unnamed shareholder warned Fannie Mae of alleged foreclosure abuses in 2003, the inspector general for the agency that regulates Fannie says in a report being released Tuesday.
Fannie Mae responded by hiring a law firm to investigate the claims in 2005. The law firm reported in 2006 that it had found foreclosure attorneys in Florida "routinely filing false pleadings and affidavits."
Fannie officials said they told a government official about the law firm's findings in 2006. That unnamed official, who now works for Fannie's regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said he couldn't recall the conversation, the report says.
Fannie began using a network of attorneys in 1997 to help handle foreclosures, evictions and bankruptcies. In 2008, the network grew to 140 law firms. And the number of foreclosures in Fannie's portfolio reached historic highs. Foreclosures more than doubled from 2007 to 2008. They grew 50 percent in 2009.
In June 2010, FHFA officials went to Florida to study the foreclosure crisis. They found that the mortgage industry was overwhelmed by foreclosures; that the average foreclosure processing time had grown from 150 days to more than 400 days; that lenders were beset by flawed documentation; and that law firms weren't devoting enough time to cases.
The worst practices, known collectively as "robo-signing," led some lenders to suspend foreclosures last fall. And it led to an ongoing investigation by all 50 state attorneys general.
Several states, including California, Delaware and New York, oppose a proposed settlement with the lenders. They complain that the lenders would receive unfair immunity from civil litigation under the deal.
Fannie and its sister company, Freddie Mac, own or guarantee about half of U.S. mortgages. That equals nearly 31 million loans worth more than $5 trillion. And they account for nearly all new mortgages.
The Bush administration seized control of the mortgage giants in September 2008, hoping to stabilize the housing industry.
The inspector general's report says FHFA plans to change its oversight policies by the end of 2012. The report is among several government inquiries into the aftermath of the housing crisis.
A broader report into missteps by Fannie and Freddie is expected this fall.
Firm commentary: The article below discusses the withdrawal of California from the "Attorney General deal" and the implications. A committee of 50 attorney generals were attempting to formulate a settlement with the 5 major banks that would include immunity from criminal prosecution for banks, the payment of $20 Billion to help loan mods. The deal would be a windfall for the banks as their potential liability could exceed $400 billion as they will receive one small bill to cover all or most of their legal liabilities stemming from the mortgage fraud practiced leading up to the crash.
"To recap the crime: the banks lent money to firms like Countrywide, who in turn created billions in dicey loans, who then sold them back to the banks, who chopped them up and sold them to, among other things, your state's worker retirement funds.
So this is bankers from Deutsche and Goldman and Bank of America essentially stealing the retirement nest eggs of firemen, teachers, cops, and other actors, as well as the investment monies of foreigners and hedge fund managers. To repeat: this was Wall Street hotshotsstealing money from old ladies. "
Even with the withdrawal of our Atty General, Kamala Harris, Atyy Generals from NY, Delaware and Nevada...the deal is likely to happen after additional concessions are made.
The Obama administration is putting political pressure on the AGs and one can assume that this deal will be done before the 2012 election heats up.
Sadly, this deal will be just another one-sided bailout for the financial institutions even if banks commit to paying double the proposed settlement amount. Read on for the details of why this constitutes another bailout for of friends on Wall Street.
Attorney Generals Settlement and the Biggest Bank Bailout Yet
Rolling Stones.20111007
Matt Taibbi
Amidst all the bad news coming out of Wall Street and the economy, here's something good: California has backed out of the talks for the long-awaited foreclosure settlement, now making it far from likely that the so-called "Attorneys General" deal will happen anytime soon.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris sent a letter to state and federal regulators explaining that she pulled out because the proposed settlement amount for banks guilty of bad securitization practices leading up to the mortgage crisis - said to be in the $20 billion range - was too small. From Business Week:
Harris says in a letter to state and federal negotiators that the pending settlement is "inadequate" and gives bank officials too much immunity.
I'm convinced that the deal will eventually go through, however, after some further concessions are made. Certainly the absence of both New York (whose Attorney General Eric Schneiderman gamely started this mess by refusing to sign on or abandon his own investigation into corrupt securitization practices) and California will make it difficult for the banks to do any kind of a deal. But there is such an awesome amount of political will to get this deal done in Washington that it almost has to happen before the presidential election season really gets going.
If it does get done, expect a great deal of public debate over whether or not the size of the settlement was sufficient. Did the banks pay enough? Should they have paid ten billion more? Twenty? Even I engaged in a little bit of that some weeks ago.
But if and when that debate takes place, it will actually obscure the real issue, because this settlement is not about getting money from the banks. The deal being contemplated is actually the opposite: a giant bailout.
In fact, any federal foreclosure settlement along the lines of what's been proposed will amount to a last round of post-2008-crisis bailouts. I talked to one foreclosure activist over the weekend who put it this way: "[The AG settlement] will be a bigger bailout than TARP."
How? The math actually makes a hell of a lot of sense, when you look at it closely.
Any foreclosure settlement will allow the banks to pay one relatively small bill to cover all of their legal liabilities stemming from the monstrous frauds they all practiced in the years leading up to the 2008 crash (and even afterward), when they all schemed to create great masses of dicey/junk subprime loans and then disguise them as AAA-rated paper for sale to big private investors and institutions like state pension funds and union funds.
To recap the crime: the banks lent money to firms like Countrywide, who in turn created billions in dicey loans, who then sold them back to the banks, who chopped them up and sold them to, among other things, your state's worker retirement funds.
So this is bankers from Deutsche and Goldman and Bank of America essentially stealing the retirement nest eggs of firemen, teachers, cops, and other actors, as well as the investment monies of foreigners and hedge fund managers. To repeat: this was Wall Street hotshotsstealing money from old ladies.
Along the road to this systematic thievery, a great many other, sometimes smaller offenses were committed. One involved the use of the MERS electronic registration system. By law, banks were supposed to register with county-level offices in each state every time they sold or resold a mortgage, and pay fees each time.
But they didn't, instead registering with the private deed-transfer agency MERS, allowing them to systematically, and illegally, bypass local taxes.
So any "AG settlement" might allow the banks to avoid legal damages being sought from three different set of enraged creditors: the public institutions who invested in these sham securities, the private investors who did the same, and the localities who were cheated out of their taxes.
Let's take a look at each of those three categories.
As far as private investors go, we've already had one lawsuit directed at Bank of America, over losses linked to purchases of bad MBS (mostly from Countrywide mortgages), which resulted in an $8.5 billion settlement.
That one settlement, covering 22 mostly private plaintiffs, cost one bank, Bank of America, nearly half the size of the entire proposed AG settlement. This is from the Times story about that deal, in June:
In a research note, Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets projected that Bank of America could face a total of $25 billion of losses from the soured mortgages, the most of any of the major banks.
So a private analyst this summer was estimating that just one bank, Bank of America, could face more in damages than the Obama administration and the AGs are now trying to "wrest" from all the major banks, combined, for all their liabilities.
Just a few days ago, news of more such suits came in. An Irish company called Sealink Funding is suing Chase and Bank of America, seeking $4.5 billion combined in connection to losses in mortgage-backed securities sold to them by those banks. Meanwhile, a German bank, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, is suing Chase for an additional $500 million in losses.
These huge amounts - a few billion here, a half a billion there - are coming from single companies, directed at single banks. And think about the Bank of America settlement for $8.5 billion: what's the usual payoff in a lawsuit settlement? Ten cents on the dollar? Five?
In fact, the settlement amount in that case was just 2% of the face value of the loans when they were securitized ($424 billion), and represented just 4% of the principal still outstanding ($221 billion).
Why do those figures matter? Because the way these securitizations were structured, legally, Bank of America is obligated to buy back any loans that were sold fraudulently at face value - that is part of the legal language in the "pooling and servicing agreements" under which all of these mortgages were pooled.
So minus a settlement, Bank of America - one bank -- had a potential liability of $424 billion just from its Countrywide holdings! And it got off for $8.5 billion, a major victory.
All of which puts in perspective the preposterously small size of the proposed AG settlement. $20 billion would be a lousy number if we were just talking about Bank of America. But all the big banks combined?
And that just covers legal exposure to private investors. How about public agencies and institutions? Well, just recently, the Federal Housing Finance Agency sued a group of the major banks (Chase, Barclay's, and Citi, among others) over losses connected with, again, bad MBS.
This suit covers sales to the two GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and they're seeking $200 billion. The're asking for $25 billion from Merrill Lynch (which is now owned by Bank of America) and $6 billion from Bank of America proper, meaning they're claiming $30 billion in damages from just one bank.
This, again, puts into perspective the idea of a collective $20 billion settlement covering all the major banks.
But wait, there's more. The FHFA lawsuit only covers the GSEs. How about state pension funds?
Well, over the summer, Bank of America caught another lawsuit, when a group of union and state pension funds sued Merrill Lynch for misleading them in a $16.5 offering of, you guessed it, MBS certificates. The suit included claims from Mississippi and Los Angeles County employees, the Connecticut Carpenters' Annuity Fund, and others.
So again, just with those two lawsuits, one bank, Bank of America, is facing nearly $50 billion in damages. And this doesn't even cover all of the other states and localities that were wiped out by sales of fraudulently-conceived MBS. California's state pension fund, CalPERS, lost $100 billion all by itself between 2008 and 2009, largely due to plummeting MBS values.
That would explain why Kamala Harris had to pull out of the settlement talks: she must have realized that going through the courts, her state could probably recover far more than whatever California's share of $20 billion would have been. It's incredible that other states have not already come to the same conclusion.
Lastly, of course, there is the matter of lost taxes. To date, most of the lawsuits filed by counties over unpaid fees have been directed at MERS, the private electronic registry company through which the banks "legally transferred" all of these mortgage deeds.
For example, my old home county of Essex County, Massachusetts, recently sued MERS for $22 million in unpaid fees. Dallas County, Texas, lost even more, suing MERS and claiming it lost between $50 and $100 million in fees.
You can do the math. That's two counties - not states, but counties - claiming they lost a total of at least $70 million. And yes, they're suing MERS, but ultimately the real liability probably rests with the banks, who would probably have been paying those fees had MERS not existed.
Will any AG settlement cover that potential liability? I have no idea. But if the settlement is broad enough, and covers all activities connected with securitization, it might very well cover these unpaid fees.
How many hundreds of millions in fees will the states lose if that deal goes through? Has anyone even asked? Have any county officials even been consulted?
The point of all of this is, if you add up all of the MBS-related liability out there, the banks as it stands are facing an Armageddon of claims from all sides. It can't possibly be less than a trillion dollars, and it's probably much, much more.
But the Obama administration's current plan is to let them all walk after paying a few shekels apiece into a $20 billion kitty.
Certainly, of course, one can see the logic of a universal deal that avoids the probable end result minus a federal settlement - bankruptcy for one or more of the big "TBTF" companies (especially Bank of America). After all, if all the suits go through, then the final settlement for most of those defrauded parties will be squat or close to it, since there won' tbe any money left to recover. So if they can come up with a deal that satisfies plaintiffs at least in part and keeps the banks solvent, I suppose that might be a good thing.
But the negotiators really have three actors they have to consider: the banks, the investors, and the homeowners, who of course were also victims of this artificial bubble.
The current proposed deal is a huge giveaway to the banks, a major shafting to most of the investors, and would probably give homeowners either next to nothing or some cosmetic reward, i.e. a little bit of principal forgiveness, counseling, etc.
If the Obama administration was serious about helping actual human beings through this settlement, then it would be fighting for homeowners to get the same bailout the banks would get. If the banks are getting a trillion or more dollars of legal immunity, why shouldn't homeowners get that much debt forgiveness? Or, half that much? A quarter?
It's encouraging that California and New York have already come to this conclusion. Hopefully, down the road, there will be a settlement, but one that's fair to everyone. It's probably up to the states to stop this TARP-on-crack of a deal.
Law Offices of J. Arthur Roberts
Joseph Arthur Roberts, Attorney at Law
Newport Beach Office
Main: (949) 675-9900 3345 Newport Blvd., Suite 213 Newport Beach, CA 92663 Fax: (888) 989-9309 joe@jarlegal.com
Firm commentary: This is good news for California's homeowners facing financial distress. The sweetheart deal that banks have been demanding from the committee representing all 50 Attorneys General is not likely to happen. California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris has decided to join Nevada, Delaware and New York's AGs in a more aggressive stance which should include a full investigation into foreclosure practices. The Obama administration has been pressuring the AGs to make a deal with the banks.
Banks had been seeking civil and criminal immunity from state prosecutors despite having flooded courts and county recorder's offices with fabricated "assignments" that purportedly prove legitimate mortgage sales to investment trusts. Of course, banks are unwilling to consider principal reduction.
CA foreclosure defense attorneys have been highly critical of the proposed 50-state settlement and expressed concern that AGs may let the banks off too lightly and provide immunity from other efforts to bring them to account for misdeeds.
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris position should be welcomed by distressed homeowners as a step in the right direction.
See:
California breaks from 50-state probe into mortgage lenders [Updated]
-- Alejandro Lazo and Nathaniel Popper
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will no longer take part in a national foreclosure probe of some of the nation's biggest banks, which are accused of pervasive misconduct in dealing with troubled homeowners.
Harris removed herself from talks by a coalition of state attorneys general and federal agencies investigating abusive foreclosure practices because the nation's five largest mortgage servicers were not offering California homeowners relief commensurate to what people in the state had suffered, Harris told The Times on Friday.
The big banks were also demanding to be granted overly broad immunity from legal claims that could potentially derail further investigations into Wall Street's role in the mortgage meltdown, Harris said.
"It has been a process of negotiating and sitting at a table in good faith, but ultimately I have decided that we have to go our own course and take an independent path. And that decision is because we need to bring relief to Californians that is equal to the pain California experienced, and what is being negotiated now is insufficient," Harris told The Times in an interview.
Harris delivered the news in a letter sent Friday to Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, who has been leading the 50-state coalition.
[Updated 5:36 p.m.: Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, who has been leading the negotiations, vowed to press on.
"California has been an important part of our team and has made a significant contribution to this case," Miller said in a statement. "However, the multistate effort is pressing forward and we fully expect to reach a settlement with the banks."]
The removal of California from the discussions is a major blow to fraying efforts by the coalition, which has been trying to strike a settlement deal with the big banks for months. The move by Harris to reject the settlement talks is also a key departure from efforts by the Obama administration, which has been pushing for a fast resolution to the so-called robo-signing scandal that erupted last year.
"This whole concept of a settlement on foreclosure abuse is probably dead," said Christopher Whalen, the founder of Institutional Risk Analytics. "Nobody in their right mind is going to opt into a settlement right now."
For California homeowners, the move means the probable end of an opportunity for relatively quick relief stemming from revelations last year that banks improperly foreclosed on troubled borrowers. Key reforms to mortgage-servicing and foreclosure practices pushed by the attorneys general may also be delayed.
Harris has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks from inside and outside the state to reject any deal that was considered too weak, particularly as the foreclosure crisis in the Golden State appears to be worsening.
Among the states with the highest foreclosure rates, California led the pack in new foreclosure proceedings last month, with an increase of 55% over July, according to data from Irvine-based RealtyTrac. Metro areas in the inland parts of California posted big jumps in August, with Riverside and San Bernardino counties soaring 68%, Bakersfield 44% and Modesto 57%.
In rejecting the 50-state talks, California also widens the riff among law enforcement officials nationwide over the best approach to pursuing banks for mortgage misdeeds.
New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman, who was originally part of the 50-state negotiations, has launched a wide-ranging investigation into Wall Street's role in the mortgage meltdown -- focusing on the efforts to bundle low-quality mortgages into sophisticated bonds.
Schneiderman has been highly critical of the proposed 50-state settlement and expressed concern that his counterparts in other states may let the banks off too lightly and provide immunity from other efforts to bring them to account for misdeeds. Schneiderman has also won support from attorneys general in Delaware, Nevada, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Minnesota, some of whom have launched their own investigations.
A spokesman for Schneiderman, Danny Kanner, welcomed Harris's move.
"Attorney General Schneiderman looks forward to his continued work with Attorney General Harris and his other state and federal counterparts to ensure those responsible for the mortgage crisis are held accountable and homeowners who are suffering receive meaningful relief," said Kanner.
Law Offices of J. Arthur Roberts
Joseph Arthur Roberts, Attorney at Law
Newport Beach Office
Main: (949) 675-9900 3345 Newport Blvd., Suite 213 Newport Beach, CA 92663 Fax: (888) 989-9309 joe@jarlegal.com
Firm Commentary: Has the rage and frustration of citizens with MEGA banks and corporations begun to congeal in California as in New York? The attached presser details planned foreclosure protests around the bay area. How and when will we begin to see a grassroots movement in the epicenter of the mortgage meltdown....the Southland?
Something disruptive needs to happen or the status quo will remain. On the mortgage side: The HAMP has been a failure, our Congress refuses to pass BK cramdown, the state legislature has not revamp the non-judicial foreclosure statute, most attorneys general are seeking to give banks a slap on the wrist despite widespread robosigning fraud and the Courts remain biased against homeowners in financial distress. To say our system of government has been infected and highjacked by excessive financial influence is not news; nor is it to say our Court's have been flooded with phony and fabricated documents and attestations.
The last time I checked...the U.S. Constitution begins "We the People"...not "We the shareholders". A democratic government is supposed to be an extension of the citizenry, not a facilitator of casino capitalism. The financial industry's subtle infection of our political system mirrors the subtle extraction of wealth from our economy...billions of small transaction fees at a time.
But protests are messy and require selflessness and activism is time consuming and unentertaining...are Southern Californians really to the point that they will stand up and oppose our new corporatocracy? Or if the NFL and reality TV still too compelling to ignore?
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21961710/896359907/name/66-CALL-TO-ACTION-PROTESTS-PLANNED-FOR-NORTHERN-CALIFORNIA-SF-BAY-AREA-THIS-WEEK-SEPT-26TH-2011-STOP-THE-BANK-S-RACKETEERING-ST
CALL TO ACTION: Make the Banks Pay! OAKLAND & SAN FRANCISCO, CA
OAKLAND CALIFORNIA EVENTS
MONDAY (9/26/2011) & WEDNESDAY (9/28/2011), NOON: FORECLOSURE
DEMONSTRATION AT THE ALAMEDA COUNTY COURTHOUSE AT FALLON
STREET (AT LAKE MERRITT) IN OAKLKAND
MONDAY AFTERNOON: OCO DIVESTMENT AT THE BANKS AT LAKE
MERRITT AREA IN OAKLAND
It's Time to Make Banks Pay!
Big Banks helped to crash our economy, destroy our communities and wreck
our budgets.
Now they are back to record profits & bonuses while we are forced to pay for
the mess they helped to create!
SAN FRANCISCO CA EVENT
Thursday, September 29th 3 PM Downtown SF
And the days preceding...
Join us, as community groups, students, workers, faith leaders and others
come together for a Week of Action to stop playing defense and start going
on the offense to say:
It's time for Big Banks and Large Corporations to Pay Up!
During the week of September 26th-29th we will hold a series of actions and
mobilizations to:
- remind us all that it was Big Banks and Large Corporations and NOT
working people and students who have helped to collapse our economy
- insert the real solutions needed into the debate, and
- set the stage for the 2012 budget fight and election season so that
politicians and candidates have to choose which side are they on: Wall
Street or Our Street?
Some of us are dedicating full or half days, Mon - Wed September 26th-
28th when we will have action squads blitzing points of interest in various
financial centers of Oakland and SF. Others are just coming out for the big
day on September 29th. Attached is a flyer and sign-up form. Below is a
version you can fill in right now and e-mail back to us.
How you can participate:
1. Have your organization participate in the Week of Action (see form
attached)
2. Invite your members or network to our Facebook page:
"WEEK OF ACTION" COMMITMENT SHEET
(Return osaportas@gmail.com or fax to (510) 451-6928.)
Check the boxes below for the day(s) you can commit to participate:
*OAKLAND ACTIONS:
[ ] Monday, Sept. 26 ("Move Our Money"- meet 4pm at Snow Park, 20th
St. & Harrison St.)
[ ] Monday, Sept. 26: ("Stop the Foreclosure Auctions"- meet 12pm,
Alameda County Court House, 12 th St. & Fallon St. on back South side.)
[ ] Wednesday, Sept. 28 ("Stop the Foreclosure Auctions"- meet 12pm,
Alameda County Court House, 12 th St. & Fallon St. on back South side.)
[ ] Wednesday, Sept. 28 ("Community Clean Up"- meet at 2pm, Oakland
Coliseum BART parking lot.)
*SAN FRANCISCO ACTIONS:
[ ] Tuesday, Sept. 27 ("Play Fair"- meet 4:30pm, Juan Marichal statue,
AT&T Park, at 3 rd St. and Berry St.)
[ ] Thursday, Sept. 29 ("Financial District March" - meet 3pm, 555
California St., "Banker's Heart" sculpture.)
Participant Information:
LAST NAME:_____________________________________________
FIRST NAME:____________________________________________
CELL PHONE:____________________________________________
EMAIL:__________________________________________________
UNION/COMM. ORG.:_____________________________________
Mayor Bloomberg's budget will lay off thousands of
teachers, close firehouses, and cut funding to human
services, schools, childcare, student aid, senior
centers, and more. There's an alternative.
Mayor Bloomberg can save $1.5 Billion if he stops the
corporate welfare, tax loopholes, sweetheart deals, and
subsidies for the Big Banks and super-rich.
ON MAY 12
ONMAY12.ORG * FACEBOOK.COM/ONMAY12 * TWITTER: @ONMAY12
Big Banks crashed our economy,
destroyed our communities and
wrecked our budgets.
WE BAILED OUT WALL STREET,
NOW IT'S TIME MAKE BIG BANKS AND MILLIONAIRES PAY TO MAKE THEM PAY!
EDUCATION
City Hall
260 Broadway
IMMIGRATION
Battery Park
STUDENTS
Charging Bull
26 Broadway
TRANSPORTION/ENERGY
Bowling Green
1 Bowling Green
HOUSING
Staten Island Ferry
1 State Street
PEACE
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
55 Water Street
JOBS
Wall Street Fountain
110 Wall St
HUMAN SERVICES/SAFETY NET
South St. Seaport
20 Fulton St
ON
MAY 12: COME TO
THE
MASS TEACH-IN
ON WALL STREET
CALL BLOOMBERG
EVERY DAY AT (212) 788-3000
AND TELL HIM TO:
Make Wall Street banks and millionaires pay their
fair share in taxes
Stop the giveaways, special deals and loopholes for banks
and corporations
Restore the city budget cuts to schools, CUNY, seniors,
childcare, human services, homeless housing and
HIV/AIDS programs
End city business with banks that won't stop foreclosures
and that invest in war and dirty energy.
At 4 pm thousands of people will stage a
giant Teach-in around Wall Street to educate
the world how the big banks are destroying
our community, and what we need to have a
just economy.
ASSEMBLY SITES:
More Information/RSVP: 510-269-4692 ext 0, www.MakeBanksPayCalifornia.org
facebook: Make Wall Street Banks Pay in California twitter: #makebankspaycalifornia
NAME: ____________________________________________
PHONE:_____________________ CELL:___________________
EMAIL: ____________________________________________
ORGANIZATION: __________________ CITY:________________
!
MONDAY--- Sept 26 - 4pm-6pm
Move Our Money!
Join us to divest and Move Our Money out of the
big banks and kick off the week of actions!
Meet at Snow Park, corner of 20 th St. and
Harrison in downtown Oakland
TUESDAY --- Sept 27 - 4:30 pm-7:30pm
Saving Home!
Bank of America and Wells Fargo executives are
attending the Bay Area Council meeting at AT&T
Park - join us to meet them at their private
entrance and ask them to keep our families Safe
at Home!
Meet at the Juan Marichal Statue at ATT
Park - it on 3 rd St right by the bridge, close
to the intersection of Berry St. in San
Francisco
WEDNESDAY--- Sept 28, 3:30pm-
6pm
Community Clean Up!
Tired of Bank Blight? Join us to Clean Up
and we'll take the blight back to its owners
- the Banks!
Meet behind Peet's Coffee in the parking
lot at Fruitvale and MacArthur in East
Oakland
Stop the Foreclosure Auctions!
Mon. 9/26 and Wed. 9/28, 12noon-1pm
Stop the Banks from selling our homes.
Meet at the back steps of the Alameda
County Courthouse at 12 th St and Fallon
(on the side by Lake Merritt)
MAKE BANKS PAY
WEEK OF ACTIONS: SEPT 26-29
T HURSDAY--- Sept 29 - 3pm-6pm
SF Financial District March
We'll conclude our Week of Actions with a mass action in the Financial District of
San Francisco. We'll pay visits to many of the big banks causing this economic
crisis.
CWA
# 9119
Más información: 510-269-4692 ext 0, www.MakeBanksPayCalifornia.org
facebook: Make Wall Street Banks Pay in California twitter: #makebankspaycalifornia
NOMBRE: ___________________________________________
TEL:_____________________ CEL:___________________
EMAIL: ____________________________________________
ORGANIZACIÓN: _________________CIUDAD:________________
!
HAGANLES PAGAR
LUNES Sept 26 - 4pm-6pm
Movemos Nuestro Dinero
Para empezar, junta con nosotros a quitar nuestro
dinero de los bancos grandes.
Juntamos en el Parque Snow Park,esquina de 20 th
St. y Harrison en el centro de Oakland
MARTES Sept 27 - 4:30 pm-7:30pm
Que Mantengan un Juego Limpio!
Los jefes de Banco de America y Wells Fargo van
a la junta del Concilio del la Area de La Bahia en
el Parque AT&T - vamonos a juntar con ellos!
Juntamos en la estua Juan Marichal en el
Parque ATT -en la 3 rd St cerca del Puente y
la calle Berry en San Francisco.
MIERCOLES Sept 28, 3:30pm-6pm
Limpiamos la Communidad!
Estamos cansados de la basura en nuestra
communidad - la vamos a regresar a sus
dueños - ¡los bancos!
Juntamos detras de Peets en la MacArthur y
la Fruitvale en Oakland
¡Paramos las Subastas!
Lun. 9/26 and Mier. 9/28, 12noon-1pm
Paramos que los bancos venden nuestras
casas.
Juntamos detrás del Alameda County
Courthouse en 12 th St y Fallon (en el lado
del Lago Merritt)
Los bancos quebraron nuestra
economía destruyeron nuestras
comunidades y Quebraron
nuestros presupuestos
NOSOTROS SALVAMOS A WALL
SEMANA DE ACCIONES: SEPT 26-29
JUEVES Sept 29 - 3pm-6pm
Marcha en el Distrito Financial de San Francisco
Terminamos la semana con una marcha grandisimo en el Distrito
Financial de San Francisco. Visitamos a los bancos que causaron este
crisis económico.
Juntamos en 555 California St., San Francisco
CWA
# 9119
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