Chain of Title (53 page)

292
Steve Dibert trashed Lisa as “a joke”:
Steve Dibert, “Yves Smith's Plea for Votes for Lisa Epstein Puts a Serious Bite into Her Credibility,” Mortgage Fraud Investigations—Miami, August 10, 2012,
http://mfi-miami.com/2012/08/is-yves-smith-at-naked-capitalism-sniffing-glue
.

293
the
Palm Beach Post
, which had endorsed Sharon Bock:
Rhonda Swan, “Editorial: Bock for Clerk of Court,”
Palm Beach Post
, July 25, 2012.

293
Three clerks were under criminal investigation:
Daphne Duret, “West Palm Beach Woman's Arrest Reveals Clerk's Office Probe Focused on 1,000-Plus Missing Oxycodone Pills,”
Palm Beach Post
, August 21, 2012.

293
Michael accused the
Post
of sitting on the story:
Michael Redman, “Well, Wouldn't Ya Know . . . PBC Clerk Sharon Bock's Office Criminal Arrest Reveals Probe Focused on 1,000-Plus Stolen Oxycodone Pills from Evidence Department,”
4closurefraud.org
, August 21, 2012.

293
Lisa was proud to have received 27,003 votes:
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, primary election results, August 14, 2012, available at
http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/FL/Palm_Beach/41045/96143/en/summary.html
.

293
Leticia Arias was a known robo-signer:
Release of Mortgage Lien, Clerk of Palm Beach County Public Records, book 26197, page 1091, recorded July 22, 2013. Sampling of Leticia Arias documents via Lisa Epstein, “Pigs Ass: A Sampler of Ocwen Documents (Leticia Arias Notary Examples),”
Foreclosure Hamlet
, November 16, 2010.

Epilogue

294
the Housing Justice Foundation:
Official website at
http://thjf.org
.

294
SunTrust, a regional bank that paid fines:
Michael Corkery and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “SunTrust Settles with Justice Dept. over Mortgages; Talks Continue for Citigroup and Bank of America,”
New York Times
, June 17, 2014.

295
Brent Bentrim:
Brent E. Bentrim v. Wells Fargo Bank
, County of Charleston, South Carolina, Court of Common Pleas, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Case No. 2011-CP-10-2946, series of filings in the case available at
http://imgweb.charlestoncounty.org/CMSOBView/Service1.asmx/StreamDocAsPDF?viewertype=cms&ctagency=10002&casenumber=2011CP1002946&docseq=P2A14
, case docket at
http://jcmsweb.charlestoncounty.org/PublicIndex/CaseDetails.aspx?CourtAgency=10003&Casenum=2011CP1002946&CaseType=V&Org=CR&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
; Yves Smith, “Repeated Foreclosures on an On-Time Borrower Demonstrate Failure to Fix Servicing and Fallacy of ‘Save Banks at All Costs' Policy,”
Naked Capitalism
, June 17, 2014.

295
Abby Lopez:
HSBC Bank v. Abby Lopez
, Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, Civil Division, Case No. 50-2009-CA-0304030XXMBAW. Emails posted at
4closurefraud.org
, “Lender Processing Services (LPS) Internal Email Accidentally Leaked in a Fraudclosure Case,” April 24, 2012. The Florida First Amendment Foundation filed motions to prevent the purge of the emails from the court record; its filing is available at
http://floridafaf.org/files/2012/12/HSBC-v-Lopez---Motion-for-In-Camera-Hearing-attachment-2.pdf
.

295
Phoenix Light v. JPMorgan Chase
:
Complaint,
Phoenix Light v. JPMorgan Chase
, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, September 4, 2013, available at
www.scribd.com/doc/165380406/Phoenix
.

295
A 2012 case against Barclays Bank:
Consolidated Complaint,
HSH Nord-bank et al. v. Barclays Bank
, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, Index No. 652678/2011, filed April 2, 2012, available at
www.iabaton.com/en/cases/upload/HSH-v-Barclays-Consolidated-Complaint.pdf
.

296
“some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street wasn't illegal”:
Interview with President Obama,
60 Minutes
, CBS News, December 11, 2011, transcript p. 8,
www.cbsnews.com/news/interview-with-president-obama-the-full-transcript/8
.

297
“This Assignment of Mortgage was inadvertently not recorded”:
Second Amended Complaint,
United States of America ex rel. Lynn E. Szymoniak v. American Home Mortgage Servicing et al
., United States District Court, District of South
Carolina, Rock Hill Division, Case No. 10-cv-01465-JFA, 47, available at
http://mattweidnerlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/complaint-symoniak-false-claimS.C.-Second-Amended-Complaint-ECF-3.pdf
.

297
the Justice Department declined to intervene:
Jef Feeley and David McLaughlin, “Mortgage Whistleblower Stands Alone as U.S. Won't Join Lawsuit,”
Bloomberg Business
, April 27, 2014.

297
Judge Joseph Anderson threw out most of the case:
Order,
United States of America ex rel. Lynn E. Szymoniak v. American Home Mortgage Servicing et al
., United States District Court, District of South Carolina, Rock Hill Division, Case No. 10-cv-01465-JFA, filed May 12, 2014, available at
https://casetext.com/case/united-states-ex-rel-szymoniak-v-am-home-mortg-servicing
.

297–298
Lynn kept alive a sliver of the case:
Notice of Appeal,
United States of America ex rel. Lynn E. Szymoniak v. American Home Mortgage Servicing et al
., United States District Court, District of South Carolina, Rock Hill Division, Case No. 10-cv-01465-JFA, filed June 26, 2015.

298
Damian said Lynn stole his research:
Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial,
Figueroa v. Szymoniak
, Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Broward County, filed March 4, 2013, available at
www.scribd.com/doc/168544786/Figueroa-v-Szymoniak
; Martin Andelman, “Some of Lynn Szymoniak's Millions May Belong to Someone Else,”
Mandelman Matters
(blog), September 16, 2013.

298
Damian, whose class action suits against the banks were all dismissed:
Per Curiam Opinion,
Figueroa v. Merscorp, Inc
., United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Case No. 11-10984, May 11, 2012, available at
https://casetext.com/case/figueroa-v-merscorp-inc
.

298
That line is the essence of Damian's argument:
Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial,
Figueroa v. Szymoniak
, 5.

299
just 83,000 homeowners received a first-lien principal reduction:
David Dayen, “Just 83,000 Homeowners Get First-Lien Principal Reduction from National Mortgage Settlement, 90 Percent Less than Promised,”
Naked Capitalism
, March 19, 2014. Total first-lien mortgage modifications (less “conditional” forgiveness, which can be withheld, and “180DPD forgiveness,” which extinguishes a loan that is unrecoverable): Bank of America 30,609, JPMorgan Chase 18,114, Citi 10,296, Wells Fargo 23,428, Ally Bank (known post-bankruptcy as ResCap) 1,149, for a total of 83,596.

299
Donovan touted over $50 billion in tangible benefits:
Shaun Donovan, “Mortgage Settlement Begins to Deliver,”
Politico
, June 21, 2013.

299
Servicers received credit for “forgiving” debt already discharged:
Shahien Nasiripour, “US Mortgage Bond Investors Take Large Hit,”
Financial Times
, November 15, 2012; Gretchen Morgenson, “How to Erase a Debt That Isn't There,”
New York Times
, September 29, 2012.

299
this supposed “gift” to homeowners had no material value:
David Dayen, “IRS Confirms That $12 Billion in ‘Mortgage Relief' in National Mortgage Settlement Completely Worthless,”
Naked Capitalism
, November 18, 2013.

299
an insulting $1,480, less than two months' rent:
$1,480 figure via the Joint State-Federal National Mortgage Servicing Settlement FAQ,
www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/faq
.

299
Oklahoma . . . set up a mortgage fund:
Cary Aspinwall and Casey Smith, “Facing Foreclosure: Oklahoma Goes Its Own Way in Facing the Foreclosure Mess,”
Tulsa World
, October 20, 2013. It should be noted that the Oklahoma program has helped significantly fewer borrowers, as the state tried to make subjective determinations of harm, which limited payouts. But each homeowner received an average of $11,173, according to the Oklahoma attorney general.

300
The other big settlement:
Yves Smith,
Whistleblowers Reveal How Bank of America Defrauded Homeowners and Paid for a Cover Up—All With the Help of “Regulators,”
self-published e-book based on an investigative series published at
Naked Capitalism
, available at
http://econ4.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Naked-Capitalism-Whistleblower-Report-on-Bank-of-America-Foreclosure-Reviews-12.pdf
.

300
banks instead paying $3.6 billion in cash:
“Amendments to Consent Orders Memorialize $9.3 Billion Foreclosure Agreement,” press release, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, February 28, 2013; Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement Details, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2013/nr-ia-2013-60a.pdf
.

300
But robo-signing, document fraud, and predatory servicer abuse continue:
Roger Lohse, “Couple's Paid-Off Home Foreclosed Mistakenly,” WPLG-TV Miami/Fort Lauderdale, March 17, 2014; Matt Drange, Amy Julia Harris, and Elizabeth Wagner, “Error Claims Cast Doubt on Bank of America Foreclosures in Bay Area,” KNTV-TV San Francisco, April 27, 2013.

300
no executive director, no offices, no phones, and no staff:
Mike Gecan and Arnie Graff, “Obama's Mortgage Unit Is AWOL,” New York
Daily News
, April 18, 2012.

300
“most of the investigative work”:
Robert Khuzami, testimony before House Financial Services Committee, May 17, 2012; David Dayen, “Waters Challenges Khuzami on Securitization Fraud Task Force, Gets Revealing Answers,” FDL News, May 18, 2012,
http://shadowproof.com/2012/05/18/waters-challenges-khuzami-on-securitization-fraud-task-force-gets-revealing-answers
.

300
the task force secured several headline-grabbing settlements:
Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “Tentative Deal Hands JPMorgan Chase a Record Penalty,”
New York Times
, October 19, 2013; Aruna Viswanatha, “Citigroup to Pay $7 Billion to Settle U.S. Mortgage Probe,” Reuters, July 14, 2014; Evan Perez, “Bank of America to Pay $16.65 Billion over Mortgages,” CNNMoney, August 21, 2014.

300
a high “bullshit-to-cash” ratio:
Yves Smith, “Bank Settlement Grade Inflation: High Bullshit to Cash Ratio in $17 Billion Bank of America Deal,”
Naked Capitalism
, August 21, 2014.

301
the $37 billion fine looked more like $11 billion:
David Dayen, “Tony West's Departure Ends Era of Pathetic Bank Settlements,”
Naked Capitalism
, September 5, 2014.

301
Theresa and Joe Giudice:
Karen Sudol, Todd South, and Chris Harris, “Despite Tearful Pleas, ‘Real Housewives' Stars Joe, Teresa Giudice Sentenced to Prison,”
NorthJersey.com
, October 2, 2014. Case was
United States of America v. Giuseppe & Teresa Giudice
, United States District Court, District of New Jersey, filed July 29, 2013, available at
www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-nj/legacy/2013/11/29/Guidice%2C%20Giuseppe%20and%20Teresa%20Indictment.pdf
. “Stars of ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey' Television Series Indicted on Fraud and Tax Charges,” press release, U.S. Department of Justice, July 29, 2013, lists four agencies that worked on the case.

301
Lanny Breuer and Eric Holder:
Katelyn Polantz, “Holder's Return to Covington Was Six Years in the Making,”
National Law Journal
, July 5, 2015; Catherine Ho, “Lanny Breuer, Chief of DOJ's Criminal Division, Returns to His Old Law Firm Covington and Burling,”
Washington Post
, March 28, 2013.

302
Lorraine O'Reilly Brown:
United States of America v. Lorraine Brown
, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, Case No. 3:12-cr-198-J-2S, filed November 20, 2012, available at
www.scribd.com/doc/113917843/Brown
.

302
LPS wiggled out of criminal indictments:
“Florida-Based Lender Processing Services Inc. to Pay $35 Million in Agreement to Resolve Criminal Fraud Violations Following Guilty Plea from Subsidiary CEO,” press release, U.S. Department of Justice, February 15, 2013.

302
the 10,567 polluted DocX land records:
John O'Brien, Affidavit and Request for Restitution,
United States of America v. Lorraine Brown
, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, Case No. 3:12-cr-198-J-25, filed January 11, 2013.

303
“I don't know how you fix that”:
Excerpt of Sentencing Hearing,
United States of America v. Lorraine Brown
, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, Case No. 3:12-cr-198-J-25, April 23, 2013, 17–18.

303
Brown got five years, the maximum sentence:
“Former Executive at Florida-Based Lender Processing Services Inc. Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Role in Mortgage-Related Document Fraud Scheme,” press release, U.S. Department of Justice, June 25, 2013.

305
Too many judges in Florida, and really nationwide:
Allison Fitzgerald, “Homeowners Steamrolled as Florida Courts Clear Foreclosure Backlog,” Center for Public Integrity, September 10, 2014.