For the past couple of years, “foreclosure squatters” have been able to stay in their homes without making a mortgage payment. In the first quarter of this year, the average time between the first missed payment and foreclosure was 370 days. Now that the banks have agreed to the $26 billion dollar settlement though, there are many who believe that “the golden age of foreclosure squatting” has come to an end.   My personal feeling is that it is likely that foreclosures will speed up for homes in more modest price ranges. Sales have been doing very well, so it…
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This former Countrywide loan officer may not be the worst mortgage fraudster to operate in the Phoenix area, but she’s got to be up there.  Using straw buyers, she had them purchase a total of 60 properties at inflated prices.  This was achieved using bogus appraisals, allowing her to pocket the profits.  And that’s just the beginning.  Check this out: [Thanks L!]   How likely is it that the victims will ever see any of that $22 million dollars in restitution she is to pay?  I suspect that if this woman has to do an honest day’s work to earn…
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Catherine Reagor, real estate reporter for the Arizona Republic, must have taken the easy way out a few days ago and just published a press release as “news”.  She “reported” on a “penny auction” for a home in Phoenix: [Thanks L!] Penny auctions are popular for selling everything from gift cards to cars at discount prices. Now in metro Phoenix, a former foreclosure home is scheduled be auctioned off cent by cent. Real-estate agent Todd Talbot plans to hold an online penny auction for a Glendale home next week. The house at 6214 W. Acoma Drive, Glendale, was purchased for…
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Sometimes the camera doesn’t lie (Onion-ready pic from the article, I’m so tempted to make it my desktop background): NYT (1/27 ’12): “New Fraud Investigation Group Issues Subpoenas to Financial Companies” Mr. Donovan said that a separate settlement being worked out between state attorneys general and mortgage servicing companies would not thwart the new group’s investigations, even if the settlement released companies from further law enforcement efforts related to mortgage servicing. // “We would not be standing here today if we were not absolutely confident,” Mr. Donovan said, adding that any releases being contemplated “are narrow enough to allow us…
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Bank in 2008, Bank of America purchased the ailing Countrywide Financial.  This acquisition has turned out to be poisoned pill for BofA, in spite of former CEO Ken Lewis’ optimistic comment at the time of the purchase: “Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation’s premier lender to consumers,” Lewis said in a statement. MSNBC said at the time: It also places Lewis in the position of a market savior. By buying Countrywide, he’s keeping the…
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A big hat tip to Ohio Fraudclosure for directing us to this fascinating 60 Minutes looking for “Linda Green”, the “bank vice-president” who signed all kinds of fraudulent mortgage documents.     Read the Ohio Fraudclosure article while you are it. Oh, if you are in foreclosure, you might want to double check your docs.  

The average homeowner probably doesn’t pay much attention to the “robo-signing” scandal, unless they find themselves in foreclosure. Reuters had a very informative interview with bankruptcy attorney Linda Tirelli, who discusses what happens in foreclosure and what you should do if you suspect that your mortgage documents might have been falsified. It has been the hope of some that if they discover that they’ve been “robo-signed”, a judge will cancel their note and give them the house.  This is unlikely.  However, when documents have been shown to be falsified, it has resulted in sanctions against lenders and loan modifications.  If…
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I suppose in the messed up world of robo-signing and fraud-closure, this shouldn’t be so surprising, but who knew you could buy a stolen house? Pity the poor Zahari family, who bought their first home last summer:  [Thanks L!] They custom painted the girls’ bedrooms and sodded the backyard. They stopped making improvements when they found out they’re not the legal owners of the home. “We actually got a call from the FBI who said we just wanted to inform you that your house has been part of a deed fraud scheme,” Zahari said. Karen Tappert is the person the…
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Like all Arizona eighth graders, I took Arizona government. [We won't go into how long ago that was.]  I remember having to learn how a bill progressed through the legislature.  I don’t, however, remember that a bill could proceed like SB 1259 has.  SB 1259′s proposed effect: Provides a chain of ownership during foreclosure proceedings and allows reimbursement of lawyer fees for injunctions or court cases that fail to prove ownership. In other words, lenders would have to be able to actually prove that they owned a mortgage before they could foreclose on a property: You see, the Arizona State…
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Another long road comes to an end.  This says a heck of a lot more about America than it does about Serge Wired (3/18): Goldman Sachs Programmer Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Code Theft ===================== UPDATE: and yet another one coming in under the radar … ZeroHedge (3/19 ’11): FBI Busts Mastermind Criminal For Issuing Silver Currency, Demanding Repeal Of Fed And IRS; Faces 15 Years In Prison ************************* the memo he didn’t get ROUTINE R 230859Z OCT 4004 BCE FM SATAN TO GOD CC GWB BT HELL UNCLAS SIC HJH/HZH EXER/CREAT 004// MSGID/GOLD/HELL/666/OCT// SUBJ/KANDAHAR FALLUJAH EVANSVILLE ET…
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Cross-posted at Doom Network. DailyFinance reported today that a former Balboa Insurance Group employee has leaked sensitive internal documents and e-mails that allegedly implicate the Bank of America subsidiary in force-placed insurance fraud. The information was released via the website BankofAmericaSuck, which is the handiwork of the ‘Anonymous’ hacker group. The informant’s allegations taken from BankofAmericaSuck include: Balboa Insurance/Countrywide [is] knowingly hiding foreclosure information from federal auditors during the federal takeovers of IndyMac Federal (a subsidiary of OneWest) and Aurora Loan Services (a subsidiary of Lehman Bros Holdings), falsifying loan documentation in order to proceed with foreclosures by fixing letter…
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Junior Canadian cabinet minister Bev Oda (the US equivalent would be a Secretary of State dealing with international cooperation) has been under scrutiny for her testimony going back to late 2009 on a decision that it in due course turned out was documented on a robo-signed form with an undated alteration that reversed the sense of the decision. Bureaucracies live and die by the paper trail.  Last time Doom visited this story we made fun of the minister’s inscrutable handling of a staff recommendation.  An office just can’t go altering an official document after the fact.  That way lies madness,…
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Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of Countrywide Financial and the “poster child” of what went wrong with mortgage lending was fined last year for mortgage fraud, but his fate was not shared by all the Countrywide execs.  Mozilo, as well as two others, were charged hefty fines: The deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission requires Mozilo, the highest-profile figure to be accused of wrongdoing in the mortgage meltdown, to personally pay a $22.5-million fine. The government said it would be the largest penalty ever paid by a senior executive of a public company in an SEC settlement. Mozilo, 71, also…
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Well this doesn’t happen every day. UPDATE: I’m beginning to suspect that Amanda’s authoritative tone may have led me to mis-parse the “we” in the below quote.  I’ll link **here** on receiving clarification [FURTHER -- clarification received, Amanda was a Provincial staffer and isn't associated with Oda's office.]  Right now I’m on the fence between whether this is direct evidence or merely brilliant analysis.  In any case it certainly points to a way forward in cracking the case. Big hat tip to commenter Ruth at “Crux of the Matter” blog for the dig “Stuff Occurs” blog (2/19 ’11): “Minister Oda…
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This is almost a ho hum moment–another case of mortgage fraud, this time from Tucson: [Thanks L!] A Tucson loan officer and real estate agent are being indicted for mortgage fraud. A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against  Scott Tyson, 43, and Susan Levy, 69, of Tucson, Ariz.  The indictment charges the defendants with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Arizona now ranks in the top nationally for mortgage fraud due to illegal loans made during and after the real estate boom. According to the indictment, licensed real estate agent Levy obtained $1.2 million dollars in…
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