Woo Hoo !!! - 'Mortgage Fraud: State (CA) A Holdout In Bank Settlement' - S.F.Chronicle

[WillyT]

Mortgage fraud: State a holdout in bank settlement
Andrew S. Ross, Chronicle Columnist
Saturday, November 12, 2011


State Attorney General Kamala Harris says homeowners deserve more from the banks. Rich Pedroncelli / AP

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With all due respect to the Occupy Wall Street movement and its local offshoots, there are some real battles being waged on behalf of members of the 99 percent that have little do with tent encampments, general strikes and shutting down the Port of Oakland. Take the case pitting California Attorney General Kamala Harris against the combined forces of the Obama administration and the nation's biggest banks. Harris said Sept. 30 that she would not be party to a proposed settlement between the banks and the nation's 50 states, which, she said, holds the banks insufficiently accountable for illegal practices that have thrown millions of Americans out of their homes and left others owing more than their homes are worth.

The proposed settlement - $20 billion in tribute from the banks, primarily for mortgage write-downs, in exchange for release from most legal liability - is "inadequate for California homeowners," Harris wrote in a letter addressed to U.S. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who have been leading the talks. Apart from the money, which does little for the millions of California homeowners in foreclosure or underwater, the state "was being asked for a broader release of claims than we can accept, and to excuse conduct that has not been adequately investigated," Harris wrote.

Banks, feds not pleased

This has pleased neither the banks, which would just as soon clear up matters relating to abusive lending practices and robosigning of foreclosure notice off its books once and for all, nor the Obama administration, which wants to be seen doing more to revive the depressed housing market, especially with an election looming. Since Harris pulled out of the deal, various carrots and sticks have been offered. The banks' price tag is now at $25 billion, administration pressure is being applied on other recalcitrant state attorneys general to come around, and Harris, according to the Wall Street Journal, has "been wooed by (pro-agreement) states in a bid to finalize the multibillion-dollar settlement." While her office has not commented on the reports, Harris has not returned to the talks. Nor, I'm told, has she budged from her position. And without a sign-on from the state hit hardest by the mortgage meltdown, it's hard to see how an agreement could reached.

Last month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley appeared to be joining Harris, saying she had "lost confidence that the banks will bring to the table an agreement that properly holds them accountable for wrongful foreclosures." "Because our office for some time has anticipated that result, we have begun preparing for litigation," Coakley said in a statement.

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More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/12/BULN1LTE4U.DTL

:kick:

[lunatica]

1. Good for her!

[tabatha]

2. Thank you, Kamala Harris

Women can be as tough as needs be!

If she wins this, she should run for President.

[woo me with science]

3. THANK YOU, KAMALA HARRIS!

Keep standing strong! We need others to join you!

K&R

[Riley18]

4. One good attorney general out 50...I wonder Florida stands on this?

[Merlot]

7. Actually, New York and Delaware AG's are in the process of filing charges

[Citizen Worker]

5. Doesn't this monetary "settlement" meet the legal definition of a bribe? I say it does. Any

individual or institution proposing a similar solution would be charged with and tried for bribery. My high school econ teacher was right when he said, "there are two things rich people don't do. They don't pay taxes and they don't go to jail." How right he was. The one real difference is that these bastards now conduct bribes in the open for everyone to see.

[WillyT]

6. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

:bounce:

:kick:

[alfredo]

8. Kentucky is a holdout too, and the AG who is holding out

just got reelected.

[WillyT]

9. Yeah Baby...

:bounce:

:hi:

:kick:

[alfredo]

10. He whupped a Teabagger.

[lovuian]

11. thousands of corrupt banksters and their affiliates

need to be arrested for the fraud and dishonesty

[WillyT]

12. Morning Kick...

:kick: