Predatory Subprime Mortgage Lenders Escape The Law
The most common phrase now associated with finance companies is: "We are happy to cooperate with the ongoing investigation."
However, as the Bush administration's Justice Department has turned a blind eye to wire fraud, mail fraud, RICO and extortion by corporate contributors, those corporate PR flacks are talking more and more about civil investigations, not criminal prosecutions. Civil investigations that will mean fines, not prison. And with the money that's been stolen by predatory lenders from millions of working Americans, the lenders have plenty of cash on hand to pay fines.
This week the Illinois attorney general subpoenaed records from Countrywide Financial investigating violations of lending and civil rights statutes by Countrywide's steering of minority borrowers into more expensive loans. The action by Attorney General Lisa Madigan followed a local magazine study that revealed Countrywide's difference in loan pricing between white and non-white Chicago borrowers.
Last week a United States Trustee filed a second lawsuit against Countrywide Financial for abusing the bankruptcy courts. In the complaint filed last Saturday with the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Miami, the United States Trustee for the Southwest region, Donald Walton, accused Countrywide of wrongly asserting claims related to the property of Miami residents who had reorganized their finances in bankruptcy and who were federally protected from liens or foreclosure actions. Their mortgages were current.
The Miami suit comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit in the bankruptcy court in Atlanta also accusing Countrywide of abusing the bankruptcy courts.
In the Miami case, Mr. Walton said that after a judge ruled Countrywide did not have a valid lien, it nonetheless pursued claims for nearly four years, including attempts to foreclose.
Even though the United States Trustee is a unit of the Justice Department, it is a civil division. Fines for ongoing criminal operations are not the answer. Order will be restored to lending and collections with a return to law enforcement, criminal prosecutions, and prison.
However, as the Bush administration's Justice Department has turned a blind eye to wire fraud, mail fraud, RICO and extortion by corporate contributors, those corporate PR flacks are talking more and more about civil investigations, not criminal prosecutions. Civil investigations that will mean fines, not prison. And with the money that's been stolen by predatory lenders from millions of working Americans, the lenders have plenty of cash on hand to pay fines.
This week the Illinois attorney general subpoenaed records from Countrywide Financial investigating violations of lending and civil rights statutes by Countrywide's steering of minority borrowers into more expensive loans. The action by Attorney General Lisa Madigan followed a local magazine study that revealed Countrywide's difference in loan pricing between white and non-white Chicago borrowers.
Last week a United States Trustee filed a second lawsuit against Countrywide Financial for abusing the bankruptcy courts. In the complaint filed last Saturday with the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Miami, the United States Trustee for the Southwest region, Donald Walton, accused Countrywide of wrongly asserting claims related to the property of Miami residents who had reorganized their finances in bankruptcy and who were federally protected from liens or foreclosure actions. Their mortgages were current.
The Miami suit comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit in the bankruptcy court in Atlanta also accusing Countrywide of abusing the bankruptcy courts.
In the Miami case, Mr. Walton said that after a judge ruled Countrywide did not have a valid lien, it nonetheless pursued claims for nearly four years, including attempts to foreclose.
Even though the United States Trustee is a unit of the Justice Department, it is a civil division. Fines for ongoing criminal operations are not the answer. Order will be restored to lending and collections with a return to law enforcement, criminal prosecutions, and prison.
Labels: predatory lending
posted by Credit Report at
3:28 AM
