The section of the attorney general’s office that investigates irregularities in foreclosure cases is likely to expand under new Attorney General Pam Bondi, an agency attorney told a Senate committee Tuesday.
Associate Deputy Attorney General Trish Conners told the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee that Bondi plans to enhance the effort to go after robosigners and law firms using other unscrupulous practices.
“We expect in this new administration to beef up the resources working on this issue in the economic crimes unit,” Conners told the panel, which continued Tuesday to take testimony on the difficulties in the home lending market in Florida and the efforts to respond to it. “Only then can we ensure the integrity of the process is back.”
Sen. Joe Negron, however, urged caution in portraying the problem as wider in the banks, law firms and servicing organizations than it might be, and being too quick to assume offices handling lots of foreclosures are doing something wrong. He said not all firms that are processing lots of foreclosures are committing crimes.
“‘Foreclosure mill’ could also be called ‘very busy law firm,'” said Negron, R-Stuart.
Conners said Florida remains deeply mired in the foreclosure crisis, citing statistics from the banking industry, about half of the foreclosures being pursued by Bank of America and the same for JP Morgan are in Florida, Conners said.
The News Service Florida
