Prosecutors Take it Easy on Wall Street

The Law Offices of Evan M. Rosen, P.A.

In the fall of 2010, after years of tireless work by foreclosure defense attorneys and citizen activists, the media finally shed light on what is widely known as robosigning.  Robosigning is a dismissive term for the widespread manufacture of evidence, including real estate document fraud and forgery by banks, in order to fraudulently claim the right to foreclose on the homes of millions of American citizens, when the paperwork to legally do so did not exist.  The forgery and fraud was also committed in order to continue the fraudulent mortgage-backed-investment scheme used to deplete American’s retirement savings, pension funds, and 401ks.

Within a few months of the media exposure, a working group comprised of all 50 state’s attorneys general and regulators from federal banking and housing agencies came together, albeit some state’s AGs dragged their feet and only joined the group after it was too politically toxic to remain on the sidelines.  The former Alabama AG, Troy King, was so in the thrall of the banks that he stalled until he could no longer do so.  He was the 50th AG to join the group.   In 2011, Luther Strange succeeded King.  As Alabama’s new AG, he was equally reluctant to investigate or rein in the fraudulent practices of the fraudulently foreclosing banks.  Many of these prosecutors believe that we should be satisfied with and celebrate the Justice Department gloating over harsh prosecution and punishment of the small fry, regular people caught up in the foreclosure fraud crisis.

The Attorney General group was headed by Iowa’s Attorney General, Tom Miller, who, at first, used strong language and, in December 2010, stated publicly that criminal investigations and indictments of foreclosure fraud would be forthcoming.  He was up for re-election.  Miller received a flood of campaign contributions from the financial industry, and soon after his reelection took on a much weaker, more conciliatory tone.  Four Republican attorneys general from Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia were outwardly hostile to the groups’ efforts to prosecute bank crimes and provide relief for millions of the citizens whom they represent in their respective states.  Despite the promise of quick action, it took a year for news of possible settlement filtered into the media.  Several Democratic AGs from Nevada, California, Delaware,  Massachusetts, and New York, were opposed to the first settlement proposals, faulting the weak provisions and insufficient penalties for the massive scale of the wrongdoing.  Each of them filed their own civil lawsuits against banks for a variety of mortgage servicing and foreclosure abuses.  Miller, the group’s lead AG, even went so far as to kick NY AG Schneiderman off the group’s executive panel due to Schneiderman’s strong objections to weak and useless settlement proposals.

In January 2012, there were press leaks and reports about the imminent release of a settlement.  A lot of attention was focused on the “Justice AGs” from NV, CA, DE, MA, and NY.  The Obama administration was desperate to get the deal completed and signed before the 2012 state of the union address.  The day before Obama’s speech, a draft of the settlement was released and widely discussed in the media and on financial blogs.  Without a signed settlement, the Obama administration resorted to Plan B and formed a Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) working group and appointed Schneiderman as a co-chair.

On January 24, 2012, in his State of the Union address, President Obama announced the creation of his new RMBS federal prosecutorial working group.  On February 9, 2012, the holdout AGs got with “the program”.  To much fanfare, the White House announced the twenty-five billion dollar foreclosure fraud settlement with the nation’s top five banks (Chase, BoA, Citi, Wells, and Ally/GMAC).  Many outside the financial industry immediately denounced the settlement as far too little and far too late and suspected that the lawsuits filed by the individual holdout AGs would soon be dropped or settled quietly.  These criticisms were proven true.  To get a sense of how squeamish the state AGs are when asked about investigating and prosecuting banks which manufactured evidence, watch the GA AG, Sam Olens, shuck-and-jive in an investigative news interview.

April 2012, stories about the lack of resources, including no office, no phone, no staff, and no executive director, devoted to the silent RMBS working group popped up over the past eight months.  Later, Schneiderman himself confirmed these reports.  Then last week, Eric Schneiderman announced the first lawsuit to be filed under the RMBS working group umbrella of agencies.

The disappointing suit against JP Morgan Chase/Bear Stearns will be the topic of another blog post.

~
If you are looking for help with debtforeclosurereal estate or want more information about bankruptcy law, call us at (754) 400-5150 or fill out our online form for a FREE CONSULTATION. Let the lawyers and staff at the Law Offices of Evan M. Rosen serve you!

We are a debt relief agency. In addition to other legal services, we help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.

Client Reviews

Mr. Rosen was recommended to us by our friends and we highly recommend him for his excellent service. He represented us in the matter of foreclosure defense. His comprehensive and detailed knowledge of Florida law, federal law, and ongoing relevant cases was key to building a robust and winning...

Jadwiga M.

In a few words, Evan Rosen saved my house. He got a final judgment in my favor. The judge gave the bank many opportunities (continuance of the trial even a mistrial) to solve all the issues that Evan Rosen will bring up to the judge (issues that were wrong with my case). In the end, his arguments...

Oscar D.

I am so grateful first to god and for the blessing of putting attorney Evan Rosen and his team of professional, in our lives. If you are going through a foreclosure and don't know what to do, I can honestly tell you that attorney Evan Rosen is the person to talk (855-55-Rosen) he takes his time to...

Julie D.

Contact Us

  1. 1 Treat You Like We’d Want To Be Treated
  2. 2 Treat Your Case As if It Was Our Own
Fill out the contact form or call us at 754-400-5150 to schedule your consultation.

Leave Us a Message