Tom Miller: 'We Will Put People In Jail' For Foreclosure Fraud

[laughingliberal]

The leader of a nationwide investigation of foreclosure fraud told homeowners Tuesday that the probe will have some serious consequences for bankers.

"We will put people in jail," Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said, according to homeowner advocates present at the meeting in Des Moines.

Miller said the 50 attorneys general participating in the investigation want criminal prosecutions as part of a big settlement with home-loan providers. The probe launched this fall in the wake of news that the foreclosure processes at many large banks are as bogus as the lending practices that fed the housing bubble in the first place, as banks granted loans indiscriminately to feed derivatives-market speculation and failed to track original mortgage documents after packaging the loans and selling them to investors.

Several banks temporarily halted foreclosures shortly after some of the more egregious practices were revealed, but resumed seizing homes as the scandal fell off the front pages.

Other components of the proposed settlement would require banks to modify home loans and reduce debt burdens for customers whose homes are worth less than their mortgages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/tom-miller-foreclosure-fraud-jail_n_796647.html

The states' Attorneys' General are on the right side of this issue. Washington chose to fritter the HAMP money away by slanting the program towards more bank bailout than homeowner assitance. It is good to see some people in the country still realize who the real crooks were and who really needs help.

[L0oniX]

1. LOL ...sure.

[Fumesucker]

2. +1

[Lucky 13]

7. +2

[dkf]

3. Forgery needs to be punished.

That is a no brainer.

[Ilsa]

4. Which people? The 23 year olds hired to sign ten thousand

Documents a month to protect the executive management? How about putting the designers of this fraud in prison?

[Initech]

5. Why don't we put... bankers in jail for foreclousre fraud?

[moondust]

6. Tom Miller has been on this stuff for years.

October 9, 2008

They Warned Us About the Mortgage Crisis

State whistleblowers tried to curtail greedy lending—and were thwarted by the Bush Administration and the financial industry.

More than five years ago, in April 2003, the attorneys general of two small states traveled to Washington with a stern warning for the nation's top bank regulator. Sitting in the spacious Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, with its panoramic view of the capital, the AGs from North Carolina and Iowa said lenders were pushing increasingly risky mortgages. Their host, John D. Hawke Jr., expressed skepticism.

Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Tom Miller of Iowa headed a committee of state officials concerned about new forms of "predatory" lending. They urged Hawke to give states more latitude to limit exorbitant interest rates and fine-print fees. "People out there are struggling with oppressive loans," Cooper recalls saying.

~more~

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104036827981.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis

[laughingliberal]

8. He has my respect for fighting the vultures. It really is time the real villains suffered for what..

they did to our country. The collapse of the housing market has done damage to our economy that will not be undone for many years to come. And the crooks are richer than ever.

[Kaleko]

9. Who has any confidence that these perps will be held accountable, though?

[laughingliberal]

10. Not much hope considering a thread about it on a Democratic website gets so little attention.

Seems a lot of our ranks have capitulated to the banksters.

[Kaleko]

11. During the last two weeks many have lost the last shred of confidence in the Obama admin.

Maybe millions of Dems now feel betrayed, disheartened, uncertain where to turn for an understanding of what to do next. We've experienced a massive shake-up on several levels at once. Personally, I think that the US is headed for a constitutional crisis and, hopefully, a fairly bloodless revolution.

[laughingliberal]

13. Can't disagree with any of that. The hope in this story, though, is it is the 50 states'...

Attorneys' General going after the assholes. They were instrumental in killing the bill that Obama pocket vetoed (them and Elizabeth Warren). From what I've read, they have raised holy hell every time the federal government has tried to do an end run around state laws to let the banksters off the hook.

The feds may win in the end and absolve the banksters of all wrong doing but the states' Attorneys Generals have beat them back on it, so far. Hell, even my pretty red state has a very good Attorney General. I see this as being very important to these guys at the state level as the states are experiencing the problems caused by the housing crash in a lot more immediate and acute way. They are, therefore, more likely to fight to see some justice.

[Waiting For Everyman]

12. Big K&R!

:kick:

[gratuitous]

14. He's a state attorney general

So it's possible he could have some effect.

[laughingliberal]

15. That's my hope. Seems most of the states' Attorneys General are on this.

They also seem to be less than amused by some end runs the federal government has tried to make around them to protect the banksters. So far, they've shut them down on several attempts.