Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Orlando) today continued his year-and-a-half-long fight on behalf of Central Florida’s many victims of fraud and abuse at the hands of out-of-control foreclosure firms. In front of the home of Nancy Jacobini, an Orlando resident and recent victim of the increasingly abusive practices of foreclosure firms, the Congressman called upon federal law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute these entities.
Congressman Grayson said, “This lawlessness simply must stop. My constituents, and many other hardworking people across the nation, are being outright bullied by a gang of greedy and reckless foreclosure firms. It’s time for investigations and, where necessary, jail time.”
The Congressman released a letter sent this morning to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Robert O’Neill, requesting that the officials move beyond accepting the offending banks’ insincere apologies (when caught) and immediately initiate an investigation into their fraudulent activities.
In the letter, Congressman Grayson wrote, “Who is going to buy a house if a bank can simply take it, or if it isn’t clear who even has the right to sell it?…Without clear property rights, and a legal system that insists on clear proof of those rights before transferring ownership by force, the economy will fall apart.” The full letter can be found here. Other recent letters fighting for homeowners’ rights can be found on the Accountability page of the Congressman’s web site.
The Congressman was joined by local attorney Matthew Weidner, who represents several victims of foreclosure fraud in Central Florida. Mr. Weidner represents Ms. Jacobini, who made national headlines last week after a contractor hired by her bank broke into her house and changed her locks, even though she was not in foreclosure. Mr. Weidner attested to the legal violations his clients have been experiencing.
“What I’ve seen would amaze you,” Mr. Weidner said. “Signature forgery. Breaking and entering. It’s a jungle out there right now.”
Congressman Grayson has made fighting foreclosure fraud and abuse a priority issue. JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Ally Financial heeded the Congressman’s calls for a suspension of potentially fraudulent foreclosures in Florida. Congressman Grayson will continue the fight to protect those abused by “foreclosure mills.”
Nobody has brought up the distinct possibility that the loan servicers may well have bundled and sold each of these loans MORE THAN ONCE to differernt investors via the securitization process. THIS COULD BE THE REAL REASON THAT THERE IS NO DOCUMENTATION / PAPER TRAIL. The non-existent documentation and accounting is entirely consistent with this scenario. This means that the entire plan was a true Ponzi scheme in the worst sense. In other words, rather than selling the loan once to investors, as we have all naively been assuming, there is no reason to believe that they did not double-dip or quintuple-dip and sell the exact same loan to completely new buyers. THIS IS A LEVEL OF FRAUD THAT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HAS NOT YET CONTEMPLATED.