dagblog - Comments for "Very Bad But Honest News from Ted Kaufman of TARP. " http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/very-bad-honest-news-ted-kaufman-tarp-7501 Comments for "Very Bad But Honest News from Ted Kaufman of TARP. " en False StatementsR.K. http://dagblog.com/comment/93649#comment-93649 <a id="comment-93649"></a> <p><em>In reply to <a href="http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/very-bad-honest-news-ted-kaufman-tarp-7501">Very Bad But Honest News from Ted Kaufman of TARP. </a></em></p> <div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: medium;"><p>False Statements</p></span></span><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><p>R.K. Arnold</p><p>Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems</p><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><p>Action Date:</p></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: TTE193E2F8t00; font-size: x-small;"></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: TTE182C220t00; font-size: x-small;"><p>Location:</p></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: TTE193E2F8t00; font-size: x-small;"></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: TTE1732830t00; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: TTE1732830t00; font-size: x-small;"><p>As the many problems (frauds) are exposed regarding documents used by mortgage-backed</p><p>trusts in foreclosures, some revelations stand out. Literally millions of foreclosures by mortgage</p><p>backed trusts hinge on a Mortgage Assignment signed by an officer of Mortgage Electronic</p><p>Registration Systems ("MERS") showing that the mortgage in question was transferred to the</p><p>trust by MERS. The "MERS officer" who signs the Mortgage Assignment is actually most often an</p><p>employee of a mortgage servicing company that is paid by the trust.</p><p>MERS itself has only 50 employees and they are not involved in signing mortgage assignments</p><p>to trusts. These servicing company employees sign as officers of MERS "as nominee for" a</p><p>particular mortgage company or bank. They are not employees of the mortgage companies or</p><p>employees of the original named lender, but their titles on the Mortgage Assignment belie this</p><p>and typically read:</p><p>"Linda Green, Vice President, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for</p><p>American Brokers Conduit."</p><p>MERS president R.K. Arnold testified in Senate testimony earlier this week that there are</p><p>20,000 MERS "certifying officers."</p><p>To become a MERS certifying officer, a mortgage servicing company employee need only</p><p>complete an online form and pay $25.00. Because of the concealment of the actual employer on</p><p>the Mortgage Assignments, it is easy enough for Courts, and homeowners, to believe that they</p><p>are examining a document prepared by the lender that sold the mortgage to the trust, when, in</p><p>fact, the signer was a servicing company clerk paid by the trust itself.</p><p>The representative of the GRANTOR is, in truth, a paid employee of the GRANTEE. In hundreds</p><p>of thousands of cases, the authority is, therefore, misrepresented.</p><p>It is now also coming to light that in tens of thousands of cases, the individuals signing these</p><p>forms did not even sign their own names.</p><p>The documents were made to look official because other mortgage servicing company</p><p>employees signed as witnesses and then all four "signatures" were notarized by yet another</p><p>mortgage servicing company employee. The titles were false, the signatures were forged, the</p><p>"witnessing" was a lie, as was the notarization.</p><p>Despite all of these false statements, the BIGGEST LIE on these documents is that the trust</p></span></span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><p>Fraud Digest - Online Fraud Magazine Page 1 of 3</p><p><a href="http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689">http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689</a> 11/19/2010</p></span><span style="font-family: TTE1732830t00; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: TTE1732830t00; font-size: x-small;"><p>acquired the mortgage on the date stated plainly on the Mortgage Assignment. In truth, no such</p><p>transfers ever took place as represented by these MERS certifying officers (or their stand</p><p>forgers).</p><p>The date chosen almost always corresponds not to an actual transfer, but to the date roughly</p><p>corresponding to the time the loan went into default. The Mortgage Assignment was prepared</p><p>only to provide "proof" that the trust owned the mortgage.</p><p>Until courts require Trusts to come forward with actual proof that they acquired the mortgages</p><p>in question, specifying whom they paid and how much they paid for each such trust-owned</p><p>mortgage, the actual owner of these mortgages will never be known.</p><p>In response to the exposure of the widespread fraud in the securitization process, the American</p><p>Bankers Association issued a statement essentially saying that Mortgage Assignments were</p><p>unnecessary. Investors and regulators were told, however, that the trusts owned the mortgages</p><p>and notes in each pool of mortgages and that valid Assignments of Mortgages had been</p><p>obtained.</p><p>Where the proof of ownership put forth by the trusts is a sworn statement by a MERS "certifying</p><p>officer" who had no knowledge whatsoever of the transactions involved and did not even review</p><p>documents related to the transactions, such proof of ownership should be deemed worthless by</p><p>the Courts.</p><p>Other litigants are not allowed to manufacture their own evidence and offer it as proof at trial</p><p>there should be no exception for mortgage-backed trusts.</p><p>In particular, where the "MERS Certifying Officer" is actually an employee of the law firm hired</p><p>to handle the foreclosure, such documents should be stricken and sanctioned. "MERS Certifying</p><p>Officers" should be the next group required to testify before Congress.</p><p>Here are the statistics for one Florida county, Palm Beach County, regarding the number of</p><p>Mortgage Assignments filed by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems:</p><p>January, 2009: 1,164;</p><p>February, 2009: 1,230;</p><p>March, 2009: 1,113.</p><p>An examination of just one day's (March 31, 2009) filed Mortgage Assignments reveals that</p><p>signers of these Assignments are the very same mortgage servicing company employees who</p><p>signed the "no-actual knowledge" Affidavits that triggered the national scrutiny:</p><p>Jeffrey Stephan from Ally,</p><p>Erica Johnson-Seck from IndyMac,</p><p>Crystal Moore from Nationwide Title Clearing,</p><p>Liquenda Allotey from Lender Processing Services,</p><p>Denise Bailey from Litton Loan Services,</p><p>Noriko Colston,</p><p>Krystal Hall, and other well-known professional signers from the mortgage servicing industry.</p><p>The most frequent signers from that particular day were two lawyers, associates in the law firm</p><p>representing the trusts, who signed as Assistant Secretary for Mortgage Electronic Registration</p><p>Systems.</p></span></span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><p>Fraud Digest - Online Fraud Magazine Page 2 of 3</p><p><a href="http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689">http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689</a> 11/19/2010</p><p>Fraud Digest - Online Fraud Magazine Page 3 of 3</p><p><a href="http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689">http://frauddigest.com/fraud.php?ident=4689</a> 11/19/2010</p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: TTE193E2F8t00; font-size: x-small;">WASHINGTON, DC</span></p><p><span style="font-family: TTE193E2F8t00; font-size: x-small;">November 18, 2010</span></p></div></div></div> Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:22:10 +0000 Anonymous comment 93649 at http://dagblog.com I read that Bloomberg News http://dagblog.com/comment/93395#comment-93395 <a id="comment-93395"></a> <p><em>In reply to <a href="http://dagblog.com/comment/93392#comment-93392">It&#039;s most troubling that we</a></em></p> <div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span style="font-size: small;">I read that Bloomberg News had calculated that the <em>actual cost of TARP to taxpayers </em>was in the neighborhood of thirteen trillion dollars.  This mess has the potential of exploding that number to kingdom-come.  (I can't quit shaking my head at the enormity of it all.)  </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Think what effects this will have on counties across the nation: as there are no wet-ink registrations for so many mortgages now, how in hell will they a) establish property valuation norms for figuring year by year assessments for taxation, and b)be able to tax property any way but in multiples of past valuations for those for whom they DO have wet-ink notes and recorded titles?  </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">It makes me wonder if this doesn't give extra credibility to those reports that there are, in fact, commerce-driven amendments protecting MERS and the banks.  Good God all-Friday, Jeezus.  </span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">IOW, if we think the fraud was bad, LOOK OUT FOR THE FIXES!<br /></span></p></div></div></div> Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:14:36 +0000 we are stardust comment 93395 at http://dagblog.com LOL!  Only trouble with your http://dagblog.com/comment/93393#comment-93393 <a id="comment-93393"></a> <p><em>In reply to <a href="http://dagblog.com/comment/93383#comment-93383">I think they should bundle</a></em></p> <div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span style="font-size: small;">LOL!  Only trouble with your thinking is that many mortgages <em>may already be lottery tickets, eh?</em>  Imagine wanting to buy a foreclosed-upon house?  Who would you trust?  There have been some moves to make attorneys sign agreements that paperwork is legal and credible, but dear God, the attorneys will be busy from now until doomsday.  </span></p></div></div></div> Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:00:48 +0000 we are stardust comment 93393 at http://dagblog.com It's most troubling that we http://dagblog.com/comment/93392#comment-93392 <a id="comment-93392"></a> <p><em>In reply to <a href="http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/very-bad-honest-news-ted-kaufman-tarp-7501">Very Bad But Honest News from Ted Kaufman of TARP. </a></em></p> <div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It's most troubling that we have spent hundreds of billions in TARP funds, and yet we have failed to even begin to address the housing and mortgage crisis. Somehow, you just get the feeling that "The Goldman Sachs" is pretty well hedged against the failure of the American economy altogether. Meanwhile, they are quite rapacious in stealing as much as they can from the Treasury whilst there is still anything left. Why should we worry as long as those who count have everything under control?</p><p>{{end of snark}}</p></div></div></div> Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:58:36 +0000 SleepinJeezus comment 93392 at http://dagblog.com I think they should bundle http://dagblog.com/comment/93383#comment-93383 <a id="comment-93383"></a> <p><em>In reply to <a href="http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/very-bad-honest-news-ted-kaufman-tarp-7501">Very Bad But Honest News from Ted Kaufman of TARP. </a></em></p> <div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>I think they should bundle bad mortgages with lottery payoffs. <span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">You Win!</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(but you also have to pay off this toxic mortgage)</span>.</p></div></div></div> Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:51:39 +0000 Donal comment 93383 at http://dagblog.com