OHIO says enough !! - 9 Indicted from ARGENT MORTGAGE

UPDATE (6) (latest) New charges filed against some (HERE)
Others may be "singing" in an attempt to negotiate settlements !
NEXT court date: Trial scheduled for Monday 1-09-2012

UPDATE (5) discovery delays & legal Jiu Jitsu delay 10-13-11
trial (re-scheduled to 11-14-11) be continued until January 9, 2012

UPDATE (4)  Pre Trial continued until Thursday 10-13-11

UPDATE (3)  Pre Trial continued until Thursday 9-15-11

UPDATE (2)  Pre Trial re-set for Thursday 8-25-11

UPDATE (1)  13 Arraigned in Cleveland Ohio 7/7/2011 - (CLICK HERE)

Bill Mason*

"[This is] the first time in Ohio and...few instances nationwide that a mortgage fraud investigation has led to CRIMINAL CHARGES against [Argent Mortgage] employees {and} of a sub prime lender. The securitization and selling of these fraudulent, sub prime loans to Wall Street typified the rampant greed of the industry that ultimately led to the financial crisis " said Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Bill Mason.

The City of Cleveland, through prosecutor Bill Mason and the Cuyahoga County Mortgage Fraud Task Force, handed down 9 indictments to former employees of the now defunct lender. Three (3) Argent "Account Executives" helped coach independent Mortgage Brokers (Dale Adams, Nick Myles, and James Sims) located in Northeast Ohio with creating mortgage applications that would be approved by 2 Supervisors and 4 Underwriters all working in concert from Argent's Rolling Meadows office located in Chicago.

The following defendants were employed by Argent Mortgage Company:

Denise (O'Brock) Kobus - Argent Account Manager

Michael Scola - Argent Account Manager

Angela Pasternak - Argent Account Manager

Terry Forbes - Argent Supervisor

Gerald Steinkuehler - Argent Supervisor

Dee Anne Shaw - Argent Underwriter

Kirk Porter - Argent Underwriter

David Mongriotis - Argent Underwriter

Erin Foley-Ottaviano - Argent Underwriter

Linda Warner and Gerald Spuzzillo - Ohio Appraisers, were indicted for falsifying appraisals on real estate deals submitted to both Argent and Long Beach Mortgage

ARGENT MORTGAGE came out of nowhere and quickly became Cleveland's #1 lender (2004) while originating over 10,000 loans in just a three year span (2002-2005)

This Orange County California headquartered mortgage company made BILLIONS in profits created from high-risk and sub-prime loans which they peddled to inner city Cleveland homeowners. Now - seven years after ARGENT MORTGAGE became #1 lender in Cleveland - street after street of local neighborhoods are lined with blighted and abandoned homes. Entire communities have been wiped out!

The high-profile mortgage company sponsored Indy Car driver - Danica Patrick.

        

WE WERE WARNED !! Yet...No one did a thing!!!

SHOCKING, STUNNING, and ACCURATE predictions are quotes from a now almost 3 year old (2008) article (linked below):

"We called it early... Nobody listened,"There was blood on the streets of Cuyahoga County. But it wasn't until there was blood on the streets of Wall Street that anyone cared."
(Jim Rokakis - Cuyahogo County Treasure)

'This is going to become an epidemic,' and they sat on their hands. For whatever reason, they didn't act. But if you were looking, the handwriting was on the wall. If you were looking, it was obvious something was wrong."
(Tony Stevenson, a staff attorney with Housing Advocates Inc. in Cleveland)

"Regulators allowed loose lending to keep the economy going. All the regulators knew what was going on."
(Raj Aggarwal, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron)

For years the city of Cleveland had been WARNING the "asleep-at-the-wheel" State and Federal regulators of what was to come.  Home prices become so outrageous in value, that during a 6 year period, median home prices (in Cleveland) rose 56%, according to county real estate records, while the city's population dropped 4% ...during this same period. It didn't make sense!

*The case involves 100 properties in Cuyahoga and Summit counties that were financed with nearly $13 million in Argent loans and sold by Uri Gofman, the owner of Cleveland-based Real Asset Fund, one of his companies. The new investigation grew out of a Cuyahoga County case being prosecuted against Uri Gofman, who was indicted in August 2008, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, for his role in what was then said to be one of the biggest mortgage fraud schemes in U.S. history. It is said to involve 453 homes purchased with $44 Million in FRAUDulent loans and $31million in siphoned profits.



Related Links:

As Decade Dawned signs of Crisis:   9-28-2008 - Roger Mezger

*Former Employees of Sub-Prime Lender Indicted:  6-23-2011 - Mark Gillispie

JP Morgan Chase sued - for FRAUD - Again !!!

Two (2) Major Lawsuits seek close to $ 1 BILLION DOLLARS 

Mounting evidence of outrageous behaviour and even more examples of outright FRAUD (committed by JP Morgan Chase?) has become so overwhelming & obvious, that soon, we'll need "State Scorecards" to track the sheer volume and huge numbers ...of lawsuits... being filed against JP Morgan Chase.

Getty Images -WSJ

JP Morgan Chase may end up... making Bernard Madoff....look like a "Penny Stock" broker.
The latest legal actions, seek a combined total of almost $1 BILLION dollars, and come from two lawsuits filed by the National Credit Union Association (NCUA)

Today's Wall Street Journal story (Link HERE) states in part:
......The National Credit Union Administration lawsuits, filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas, are the most aggressive action to date by federal authorities seeking to recover more than $800 million tied to the sales of bonds backed by (FRAUDulent) risky mortgages to failed credit unions. The lawsuits filed Monday allege that the offering documents provided to credit unions in conjunction with the sale of mortgage-backed securities by.... J.P. Morgan contained (LIES and FRAUD) "untrue statements of material fact," or  (hid the fraud for corporate greed and short selling)"omitted to state material facts"  in violation of state and federal securities laws, according to the complaints. (oh - did we tell you? - the bogus mortgages we helped create - never transferred - to the trust?)

Today's Business Insider (Clusterstock) story (Link HERE) states in part:

......At first glance, the lawsuit seems to take issue .... that ratings agencies used "credit enhancement" to give shoddy mortgages high ratings. The NCUA was not aware of the credit enhancement.Here's one key sentence from the lawsuit against JP Morgan:

If the Credit Unions had known about the Originators’ pervasive disregard of underwriting standards - contrary to the representations in the Offering Documents - the Credit Unions would not have purchased the certificates

JP Morgan CEO...JAMIE DIMON.....could have possibly resolved this (in the past) by calling his friend - John Kasich (OHIO Governor). Unfortunately, OHIO governor Kasich was too busy golfing with "Crying" OHIO speaker John Boehner and the President of the United States.

Looks like the JP MORGAN CEO will have to prepare for this crisis ...by once again notifying the "Riot Police" to "protect us" from the truth!  Columbus Dispatch 5/17/11:
..."There was heavy security at the meeting with police, some on horses, blocking the protesters at the five entrances to the massive complex."
The Chase executives will be safe (from news media) behind the police protected - moat surrounded - walled off Columbus OHIO COMPOUND complex (Polaris Circle)

Recent actions by Showdown in America Groups* included trying to Foreclose on a Chase Bank Branch in Illinois. Hopefully someone will be successful in this endeavor as we (The People) may need the collateral property value ($$$) of the Chase Bank buildings...to settle some of the Billions needed ....for "Restitution" to pay all the alleged defrauded investors. (subject of the lawsuits)

Picture **

By hiding - at least no one has to make any "official comments" regarding the 
(186 pages of documented) allegations. Please download a copy of this lawsuit. 
It's a great education and read (PDF copy HERE) (Courtesy link from Wall Street Journal)


* Showdown (In Ohio) Groups were organized by National People’s Action (NPA) and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, part of the New Bottom Line Campaign 
**  Picture Courtesy of Chase Morally Bankrupt dot Com

Other groups to contact include: Illinois Taxpayers Demand that Wall Street Pays Their Fair Share

Golfing Ohio leaders "out of touch" with main street

Two OHIO leaders spend day golfing & drinking beer with PRESIDENT

 President with OHIO's Governor (John Kasich) & US House Speaker (John Boehner) 

The two OHIO leaders spent hours golfing at the Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility course located in suburban Maryland. After a relaxing day, they retired to the patio of the luxurious clubhouse where they enjoyed beers while watching coverage of the U.S. Open being played at the nearby Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

A Republican consultant and former Boehner aide, Terry Holt, claimed the House speaker was having fun while being “very relaxed and easy-going.”  

Meanwhile in OHIO thousands spend day homeless as FORECLOSURES ravage Kasich and Boehner's communities

A new report by National People’s Action shows that nearly 1 of every 20 housing units in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus have been lost in foreclosure and became bank-owned properties in the last 3 years.

OHIO is ground zero and one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic of foreclosure and joblessness caused by Wall Street. It is a state where unions have been under attack, and where hard-won labor rights that built the middle class have been stripped away from teachers and public sector workers.  Big banks (like Columbus-based JP Morgan Chase) are destroying neighborhoods across the state with record foreclosures. 

More than 280,000 homes are expected to go into foreclosure in Ohio by the end of next year, putting even more families out on the streets and depleting the tax base further. JP Morgan Chase had rejected 354,822 families from the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) almost as many as Bank of America and Wells Fargo combined. 

Photos: courtesy of  Washington Times and AP Photographer Charles Dharapa, and The DailyCaller

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS Deutsche Bank AG

Feds Seize $404 Million from Deutsche Bank (Settlement HERE)

photo from Courthouse News

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara follows through! (HERE)

This is the real deal !! and only the beginning !!
We've been waiting...for this news.......since May 5th...
more ($$$) to come... when below case ...is PROSECUTED !

May 5th 2011 OHIO FRAUDclosure Blog Headline

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

VS

Deutsche Bank AG

United States Court: Southern District of New York
Case: 2011 CV 2976   Jury Trial Demanded

from Bloomberg Buisness: (story HERE)

“Nobody was doing any mortgage due diligence whatsoever,” said Christopher Thornberg, principal at Beacon Economics LLC in Los Angeles. He said the government may have brought the claim against Deutsche Bank as a “test case” before targeting other banks or seeking to force settlements. "The only question is, ‘Who’s next?"

According to the Justice Department’s complaint,  filed in the Manhattan federal court, Deutsche Bank's subsidary (MortgageIT) endorsed (via FHA program) more than 39,000 loans making them “highly marketable for resale,” ...of those.....12,500 defaulted.

(Click HERE to read full/original 5/5/11 post)

            

Explosive News.…. or …........Flash Bang …....you decide           

I’ll present the information, and then you decide. Is this major EXPLOSIVE NEWS...or …just a "Flash Bomb."  This is bigger than the State of OHIO and proof positive of our U.S. Government taking action! .

MAJOR Explosion, MAJOR News, MAJOR Headline,.... to be posted here - soon

Michigan AG office DEMANDS "Robo-Signing" investigation

FRAUD BOMBSHELL: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette Subpoenas LPS !!

Michigan AG

The Michigan Attorney Generals office issued subpoenas as part of a CRIMINAL investigation into questionable mortgage documentation filed with Michigan’s Register of Deeds offices. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said his office served Lender Processing Systems(LPS), Fidelity National Financial, and CT Corporation System. Additional investigative subpoenas were issued to LPS owned company - DocX. The subpoenas were approved by the state court and require responses by June 30.

DocX office - Alphretta GA.

DocX employees - earning $10 an hour and creating 4,000 documents a day - were all released when their rubber-armed & "robo-signed" creations were found to be have been FRAUDulently used - as evidence - to foreclose on millions of home - across the U.S. Of course, when closing the DocX office, an LPS spokesperson claimed "we executed documents per industry standards" (FRAUD, forged, illegal, bogus)

Linda Green courtesy -CBS 60Min.

The attorney general said he is seeking information about documents signed by DocX employees both male and female FRAUDulently signing as “Linda Green.” “Allegations of forged mortgage documents are very serious and require a thorough investigation, I will continue to work closely with federal and local authorities to find answers."

Contact the Michigan AG office at                     Main Number : (517) 373-1110
Fax any of the FRAUD documents here:            Facsimile:         (517) 373-3041
Email Fraud information to:  miag@michigan.gov
Today's MI AG Office: PRESS RELEASE  (right click and open in new tab)

The loud noise you hear?  ...ZZZZ... is snoring .... from
... ZZZZZZ....neighboring state OHIO's AG office......ZZZZZ..

The Wizard of OZ (Wall Street Trusts) - REVEALED !!

Who are the N.Y. Banks & Trusts Foreclosing on Ohio Homeowners ?

"I am the Foreclosure Wizard - I own your Mortgage and Note - I'm taking your HOME"
Shortly thereafter when the courtroom is cleared of the smoke & MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) the local OHIO civil court judge... shouts out in fear - YES - take the home - SUMMARY JUDGEMENT awarded to you oh great Wall Street Wizard

Anyone reading this blog knows this FORECLOSURE WIZARD of Wall Street.  This huge - scary - to big to fail entity - is best known as...."THE TRUSTEE"
   
The trustee is a legal administrator that is supposed to make sure the big bad Trust LEGALLY OWNS and HOLDS the homeowners NOTE and MORTGAGE ... BEFORE ... they come into a courtroom blowing smoke and making all kinds of scary threats to foreclose. The simple requirements (rules and guidelines) on how to transfer and hold the mortgages and notes - were actually set up by the Banks themselves. The Banks first made up the Mortgage Rule handbooks and then they filed them with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This legal handbook is known as a Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA). The self created document spelled out in very specific detail how each homeowner Mortgage was to be pooled (bundled together) and assigned. Thus, by following their own rules (in the PSA) the "Wall Street Wizards" could now sell ALL these bundled mortgages as investments. Rules were to be followed for the assignment and delivery of each and every mortgage purportedly being sold and transferred to the TRUST. The Trustees for the so called Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) claimed they held thousands of mortgages that were worth BILLIONS of dollars (creating millions in commissions and corporate profits)

But then - something happened! While the Trusts were FRAUDulently scaring all the judges into awarding foreclosures - a couple "TOTO" attorneys  - decided to pull back the curtain on these great big scary fire-breathing "Wizards of Wall Street" and Guess what they found?

   The Wall Street Trusts - Have NO MORTGAGES - They CANNOT FORECLOSE !

The FRAUD has been exposed. The fire, smoke and loud noises are FAKE - The computer generated and Robo-Signed documents are outright FRAUD. The mortgages are NOT in the Trusts - They never were. The man behind the curtain is "Linda Green" - operating a giant LPS computer and trying to transfer all the mortgages and notes FRAUDulently.

Linda Green Robo-signing

"We have 60 million mortgages - we are too big to fail! I have to keep scaring people and illegally taking homes. I AM LINDA GREEN - I CANNOT BE STOPPED - I MUST FORECLOSE - I AM THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL...WIZARD of WALL STREET"

See below - N.Y. and Wall Street Trusts - GAME OVER !!
If you've been served a notice of default from one of these "Empty Trusts" or "Bogus Lenders" or Pretend Banks - Get a Lawyer!! and fight back!!
Below are some of the phony or false plaintiff suing parties being exposed:
Bank of America, Bank of New York, Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bank N.A.

 Article by Gretchen Morgenstern (Right click and open in new tab)
2 State Attorney Generals, from New York and Deleware, are investigating Wall Street’s bundling of loans into securities to determine whether they were properly documented and valid. The attorney general of New York (Eric Schneiderman) has teamed with his counterpart from Delaware ( Joseph R. Biden III) Their joint effort centers on the back end of the mortgage assembly lines - where big banks served as trustees overseeing the securities for investors....A complex process that produced hundreds of billions of dollars in securities during the lending boom, the issuance of mortgage securities began with home loans, which were then bundled into investments and sold to pension funds. mutual funds, big banks and other investors. The bundles were created as trusts overseen by institutions such as Bank of New York and Deutsche Bank; they were supposed to make sure (they didn't) the complete mortgage files for each loan were delivered within a specified time and with the proper documentation. (they failed)

HUFFINGTON POST: Article by Shahien Nasirpour (Right click and open in new tab)
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has targeted Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, in a new probe that questions the validity of potentially thousands of mortgage securities and their associated foreclosures. In some cases where trusts moved to seize borrowers' homes, judges have determined the trusts lacked legal standing due to faulty documentation. The inquiry could prove explosive: Wall Street's great mortgage securitization machine took millions of home loans and bundled them into securities for sale to investors. If the legal steps that guide securitization -- like taking mortgage documents from one party to another, a critical step under New York law -- were not undertaken, then the investors who bought the bundled loans could force the companies to buy them back, compelling them to eat enormous losses. While several investigations remain ongoing at the state and federal level, no agency has systematically examined loan-level documents to ensure the creation of mortgage securities complied with state laws or to examine the scope of sloppy paperwork in foreclosure proceedings, like the so-called "robo-signing" fiasco. In its November report, the bailout watchdog said that the "robo-signing of affidavits served to cover up the fact that loan servicers cannot demonstrate the facts required to conduct a lawful foreclosure." "In essence, banks may be unable to prove that they own the mortgage loans they claim to own," the panel said.

Wall Street Journal: Article by Nick Timiraos (Right click and open in new tab)
On Monday, a Michigan judge overturned a foreclosure after concluding that the foreclosing entity couldn’t have owned the mortgage after it failed to comply with certain mortgage securitization rules. Jeff Barnes, the lawyer for Hendricks, successfully argued that  U.S. Bank N.A. as trustee didn’t have the right to foreclose, in part because it hadn’t been assigned ownership of the loan in accordance with strict rules required to ensure the tax-exempt status of mortgage-bond investments. (Hendricks still lives in the house. Michigan gives borrowers a six-month “redemption period” and Barnes says the foreclosure challenge was filed during that time.) The decision is a possible setback for the securitization industry, which has argued that its transfers of mortgage loans are valid under the Uniform Commercial Code, which governs commerce across the nation. The Michigan court ruled that the specific securitization agreements didn’t comply with New York trust law, which superseded the UCC because it governs most so-called pooling and servicing agreements(PSA).

Yet in OHIO our Local courts are still systematically awarding Summary Judgements to Robo-Signed and "Empty Trusts" which hold No Note and No Mortgage. Do we really have to wait for Michigan, New York and Delaware to "figure it out" for us? Come on OHIO COURTS! Below are some guidelines for any OHIO Civil Judges:
You can't take-back ... something you've never owned !
You can't get a divorce settlement .... if you've never married !
You can't foreclose.... on a mortgage and note... you don't own !!

John Boehner - US House speaker - sheds no tears for American Homeowners especially in home state of OHIO

Yes, by now, we have all seen, one of the tug-at-your-heart, emotional - crying episodes from
                  US HOUSE speaker - OHIO republican John Boehner

Courtesy of Huffington Post

Boehner claims he is a typical American and one of us, and that he'd spent his whole life "chasing the American Dream." It's hard not to get emotional - when listening to him - tell the story of what he and his working class family have accomplished. One of the families crowning jewel accomplishments - buying and owning a home - in the great state of OHIO.

Only 7 months ago (election night - Nov 2) and just after he learned the GOP had taken majority control of the House of Representatives, Boehner, in an emotionally charged speech - addressed the crowd. He said....

"....Listen, I hold these {American} values dear because I've lived them. I've spent my whole life chasing the American Dream.... I started out mopping floors, waiting tables, and tending bar at my dad's tavern. I put myself through school working every rotten job there was and night shift{s}, [A]nd I poured my heart and soul into running a small business." Boehner continued, his voice trembling. "And when I saw how out-of-touch Washington had become with the core values of this great nation,... I put my name forward and ran for office."

Boehner consistently voted with Wall Street on major policy issues.

In 2008 Boehner voted in favor of giving billions in bailouts to the Banks and Wall Street firms. But, in 2009 and 2010 he strongly opposed any oversight legislation that would have led to some financial reform. In his new job as House Speaker, Boehner is tasked with leading the GOP's Congressional agenda and heading up the corporate fundraising efforts.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, late last year, John Boehner made a public pitch and open challenge to James Dimon, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of J.P.Morgan Chase, at a Capitol Hill restaurant. The challenge - GIVE US MORE MONEY!!! Mr. Boehner was alleged to have told Mr. Dimon that congressional Republicans had stood up to President Obamas' efforts to curb Wall Street pay and to impose new regulations. Apparently Boehner voiced his disappointment that many of the Wall Street Banks and investment firms continued to donate money to Democrats, while the Republicans were doing all the political "heavy lifting."  J.P. Morgan declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal for the article.

Boehner: you see all these little kids running around….(sniffle- sniffle)…I can’t talk about it

Leslie Stahl: Why? (can’t you talk about the kids without crying?)

Boehner: ...making sure these kids… have a shot at the American Dream….. Like I did.

It took only 6 months...to forget the American Dream ...after becoming Speaker.

"Crying - all the Way to the Bank"
As foreclosures have steadily ravaged his eighth district, Boehner has raked in millions of dollars of campaign cash from his friends working in the financial sector. Boehner has raised a staggering $4.25 MILLION dollars during his public career from the finance, real estate and insurance industries (according to the Center for Responsive Politics) Then, in just the first four months since becoming Speaker of the House, Boehner raised an additional $638,000 from this same sector - for his political action committees (PAC) and the Republican Party (according to Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation)

For more on Boehner, please read the excellent (below linked) piece by Zach Carter (Huffington Post)

John Boehner Fights Foreclosure Relief As Housing Crisis Ravages His Ohio District

And a special thanks to a FRAUDclosure fighter -  Lisa E of (Foreclosure Hamlet)