Nevada Attorney General Masto Defends Robo Signing Probe
Dec 17, 2011 - VegasInc.com
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is disputing claims by a foreclosure processor that her office has improperly outsourced a foreclosure document robosigning investigation.
The claim was made Friday by Lender Processing Services Inc., a big national foreclosure processor based in Florida, after Masto’s office hit the company with a fraud lawsuit. More Here
NV Attorney General: Illegal Foreclosures Now A Felony In Nevada! Get up to 10 years in prison for Robo-Signing
NV Joins States Balking at Bank Releases in Foreclosure Practices Deal
A possible settlement of a 50-state probe of foreclosure practices drew more state scrutiny as Nevada’s attorney general joined three other states in voicing concern about a deal that protects banks from continuing mortgage investigations.
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, whose office sued Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and is conducting civil and criminal foreclosure probes, said she will be “very cautious” about agreeing to a settlement that hinders those inquiries.
“If it’s impacting my ongoing litigation and any other future litigation or current investigation, I’m going to be cautious about whether to sign on or not,” Masto said yesterday in a phone interview.
State and federal officials are negotiating a settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers, including Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America and New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), over their servicing and foreclosure practices.
A person familiar with the matter said last month that banks want liability releases that cover other areas of their mortgage operations besides servicing, including the bundling of loans into securities.
Dan Frahm, a spokesman for Bank of America, said the bank shares Masto’s goal of helping homeowners. Check out the rest here.
Two Title Officers Indicted in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Nevada attorney general's office says two title officers have been indicted in Las Vegas on more than 600 charges alleging they directed a "robo-signing" scheme that led to the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent foreclosure documents.
A Clark County District Court judge issued warrants Wednesday for California residents Gary Randall Trafford and Geraldine Ann Sheppard after a grand jury handed up the 439-page indictment.
It accuses Trafford and Sheppard of directing employees to produce fraudulently notarized notices of default for filing with the Clark County recorder's office from 2005 to 2008.
Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto says Trafford and Sheppard face more than 200 felony charges of offering a false instrument and false certification of an instrument, and more than 100 misdemeanor notarization charges. More Here
4.3 million victims of improper foreclosure practices can submit claims
Fourteen mortgage servicers have begun mailing out 4.3 million letters to potential victims of robo-signing. The letters will invite borrowers to submit their cases for a free review by independent consultants. See Story Here
I, Robobsigner... A Three Act Play about Affidavit Fraud in Attorney General Masto's Nevada
As the month of August came to a close, Nevada’s attorney general, Catherine Masto, filed her second amended complaint against Bank of America and friends. Yves Smith provided the analysis in her post on Naked Capitalism, Nevada Lawsuit Shows Bank of America’s Criminal Incompetence, and all I can tell you is that it reads like a John Grisham or even a Robert Ludlum novel, I don’t know if it quite rises to the level of a John le Carre, but it’s a great read. Oh, and spoiler alert… there’s going to be a sequel.
She says that the litigation by the attorney general is “significant not merely due to the damages and remedies sought, but because it paves the way for private lawsuits.” So, that I like the sound of that… private lawsuits are good where Bank of America is concerned. Here’s what she had to say about the complaint itself. More Here
Dear AG Masto: Thank You For Your Courage, Leadership & Common Sense By Abigail Caplovitz Field November 18, 2011
Dear Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, and your Deputies John P. Kelleher and Robert G. Giunta:
Thank you for your courage, leadership and common sense. To date, no other law enforcer has been willing to act on the obvious: the banks’ document fraud is criminal. Despite the crime-minimizing connotations of the term “robo-signing”, of course it’s criminal to forge signatures and lie about notarizing them when creating official public records. The fact that the records start the brutally swift non-judicial foreclosure process only makes the crime worse. More Here
California AG Harris Announces Mortgage Fraudclosure Investigation Alliance with Nevada AG Masto
California Attorney General Harris, joined by Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, today announced that their states have entered into a joint investigation alliance designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry. See Video Here
