Category Archives: Mortgage Fraud
Feds Give Up Mortgage Fraud Case Against Countrywide’s Mozilo
Prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department are reportedly giving up their quest to take action against the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corp. for his alleged role in doling out risky subprime mortgages that played a major role the national financial crisis. Bloomberg reports federal prosecutors informed Mozilo via letter that it did not plan… Read More »
Naked Capitalism: Robo-Signing an Ongoing Plague
It’s been five years since widespread foreclosure fraud, sometimes referred to as the “robo-signing scandal,” was first revealed. You may recall, this was a type of fraud that involved banks and mortgage servicers colluding to produce false documentation of property ownership they did not actually have in order to obtain foreclosures on those properties…. Read More »
“Too Big to Jail”: Wall Street Accountability Promises Fall Flat
In May, Attorney General Eric Holder insisted that no bank – or bank executive – was too large or too powerful to be prosecuted if they engaged in criminal activity. No individual or company, he said, no matter how profitable, would be able to skirt the law. However, the announcement of Holder’s resignation brings… Read More »
Ongoing Mortgage Fraud Unaddressed By Government
The system of mortgage documentation in the U.S. housing industry remains broken. Courts continue to unearth evidence that banks have been systematically committing fraud by fabricating critical pieces of documentation necessary to foreclose. And yet, since the $26 billion mortgage settlement agreement (the terms of which most of the banks haven’t totally adhered to… Read More »
Report: Banks Will Continue to Evade Prosecution for Mortgage Misdeeds
A recent internal report generated by the U.S. Department of Justice concedes that the successes of the mortgage fraud crackdown efforts were grossly overstated, Not only were the number of mortgage fraud cases egregiously low, the agency considered these matters to be of the lowest possible priority. In some jurisdictions, the report reveals, it… Read More »
Audit Reveals DOJ Unable, Unwilling to Address Mortgage Fraud
In the six years since the housing market crash and subsequent financial crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice has been challenged on its response, which has largely lacked any significant criminal prosecution. Our Miami foreclosure defense attorneys known that the DOJ’s retort to this has pretty much remained constant: We’re doing all we can…. Read More »
Extensive Subprime Mortgage Scam Revealed in Lawrence E. Jaffe Pension Plan v. Household International Inc.
Although many talking heads have espoused in recent years the theory that the housing market tanked because banks were forced to lend to borrowers who couldn’t afford it, the facts revealed in Lawrence E. Jaffe Pension Plan v. Household International Inc. should put that line of thinking to rest once and for all. Although… Read More »
Pundits Decrying JPMorgan Settlement Slammed By Jon Stewart
Word that the government had reached a $13 billion settlement with financial giant JPMorgan Chase, for the role its acquired firm, Bear Stearns, played in the 2008 financial crisis, sent media pundits into a frenzy. Rather than welcoming the idea that a large bank would be held accountable for actions that played a prominent… Read More »
Countrywide Conviction: Will It Mean Anything to Floridians in Foreclosure?
The subprime lending arm of Bank of America was found guilty by a jury of defrauding government-backed mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The finding, following a four-week trial, means that Bank of America will almost certainly be compelled to pay a large civil penalty, as yet-to-be-determined… Read More »
Mortgage Fraud Trial Begins for Bank of America
Barring a last-minute settlement agreement, Bank of America is slated to stand trial for allegedly defrauding taxpayers via government-backed mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Specifically, the finance giant’s Countrywide arm, acquired by Bank of America in 2008, is alleged to have approved billions of dollars worth of government-backed mortgages that it knew… Read More »
