Corruption? | Foreclosure Fraud Investigators Forced Out at Pam Bondi's Office
http://4closurefraud.org/
A lead foreclosure fraud investigator for the state said she and a colleague were forced to resign from the Florida attorney general's office, unexpectedly ending their nearly yearlong pursuit to hold law firms and banks accountable.
Former Assistant Attorney General Theresa Edwards and colleague June Clarkson had been investigating the state's so-called "foreclosure mills," uncovering evidence of legal malpractice that also implicated banks and loan servicers.
Despite positive performance evaluations, Edwards said the two were told during a meeting with their supervisor in late May to give up their jobs voluntarily or be let go. Edwards said no reason was given for the move.
"It all happened very abruptly," said Edwards, who had worked in the attorney general's office for about three years.
The foreclosure investigations were launched under former Attorney General Bill McCollum, but Edwards said she sensed changes were coming under Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
"I think they wanted to put people in there that were more in line with their thinking," Edwards said.
Bondi's press secretary said Tuesday that foreclosure investigations are still open and are being personally led or supervised by Division Director Richard Lawson.
"The division has made these investigations a top priority and will continue to actively pursue all of our investigations into foreclosure law firms," said Jennifer Krell Davis.
But Edwards said she was given no time to brief anyone on the investigations and that there were notes that had yet to be transcribed and filed.
Davis said she could not comment on personnel issues when asked about the nature of the resignations.
On May 20, Edwards said she and Clarkson were summoned together to a meeting at 3:30 p.m. and told by Robert Julian, then the South Florida bureau chief for the Economic Crimes Section of the attorney general's office, that they had the opportunity to resign or would be let go immediately. They turned in nearly identical resignation letters that day.
"We had absolutely no idea it was coming," said Edwards, who in an April 22 performance review she provided to The Palm Beach Post was praised by Julian.
"During this interim period, Ms. Edwards has, along with another attorney, achieved what is believed to be the first settlement in the United States relating to law firm foreclosure mills," the review says. "Her work has been instrumental in triggering a nationwide review of such practices."
The Fort Lauderdale-based Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson agreed to pay $2 million in March to settle the attorney general's investigation.
Clarkson, who is on vacation and could not be reached Tuesday, also received high marks from Julian on a performance evaluation in September, which was obtained through a public records request. She was given "above expectation" or "exceptional" rankings in 14 of 15 categories.
Edwards said Julian has since been placed in another position. A message left at his office Tuesday was not returned.
In sworn statements taken by Edwards and Clarkson as part of their investigation of the Law Offices of David J. Stern, former employees described conditions where signatures were regularly forged on foreclosure documents, paperwork was notarized by non-notaries, and flawed files were hidden from auditors of federal mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fannie and Freddie subsequently fired Stern's Plantation-based firm, and would eventually stop sending business to two other South Florida firms facing state inquiry.
"I know those two ladies did a yeoman's job, and it perplexed me when they left the office," Josh Bleil, a partner in the Ticktin Law Group foreclosure defense firm, said about Edwards and Clarkson. "They were instrumental in creating the Power Point presentation that blew up everything."
Bleil is referring to a 98-page report titled "Unfair, Deceptive and Unconscionable Acts in Foreclosure Cases," which outlines instances of questionable signatures and notarizations, as well as foreclosures filed by entities that might not have had the legal ability to foreclose.
Julian notes in Edwards' April performance review that the foreclosure investigation has faced criticism.
His opponents said McCollum was politically motivated when he issued subpoenas to three law firms in August before the Republican primary. McCollum, who now works for the SNR Denton law firm in Washington, could not be reached Tuesday.
And the investigation has had setbacks. The Boca Raton-based firm Shapiro & Fishman won a ruling in the 4th District Court of Appeal in April to quash its subpoena. The state is not challenging the decision but Davis said the investigation remains ongoing.
In January, Bondi's office told lawmakers in a Senate Banking and Insurance Committee meeting that Florida's foreclosure process is in "total disarray" with a "morass" of fraudulent paperwork.
Committee member Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, criticized suggestions that banks should be pushed to employ foreclosure alternatives such as short sales. He also objected to the term "foreclosure mill" when referring to the state's large law firms that represent banks.
"Foreclosure mill could also be called very busy law firm because you provide excellent service to your clients," Negron said.
Edwards and Clarkson have opened their own foreclosure defense firm based in Hollywood and hope to help homeowners with the knowledge they gained in the attorney general's office.
"It's been a very unexpected change in circumstance," Edwards said.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
OBAMA IS A JACKASS ON Social Security Payments !!!
The Fearmongering At The Top Begins: Obama Says "Can Not" Guarantee Social Security Payments Without A Debt Ceiling Hike
It worked for Hank Paulson who showed up in Congress with a three page termsheet, delusions of grandeur, a scary story, and an easily frightened audience. Why should it not work for the president. As Reuters reports, "Barack Obama said in an interview on Tuesday that checks to recipients of the Social Security retirement program may not go out in early August if he and congressional leaders do not agree a debt deal. "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue," Obama said in an interview with CBS, according to a transcript on the network's web site. "Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said." Is that so Mr. President? Please explain then how according to the most recent DTS the YTD (fiscal) amount paid out on Social Security is $469 billion, well below the amount collected from Federal Tax Deposits of $780 billion. As a comparison, this number is lower than the combination of Medicare and Medicaid ($638 billion YTD), and the combination of Defense and Education Payments ($480 billion). Indicatively, Federal salaries are a whopping $137.6 billion, or said otherwise, all of the SSN payments to date are just three times bigger than what the government pays its own employees. Perhaps a bigger issue is that the debt held by the public has increased by $720 billion YTD, a number which will soon grow to $1.5 trillion if the government does get debt hike it so desperately needs.
It worked for Hank Paulson who showed up in Congress with a three page termsheet, delusions of grandeur, a scary story, and an easily frightened audience. Why should it not work for the president. As Reuters reports, "Barack Obama said in an interview on Tuesday that checks to recipients of the Social Security retirement program may not go out in early August if he and congressional leaders do not agree a debt deal. "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue," Obama said in an interview with CBS, according to a transcript on the network's web site. "Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said." Is that so Mr. President? Please explain then how according to the most recent DTS the YTD (fiscal) amount paid out on Social Security is $469 billion, well below the amount collected from Federal Tax Deposits of $780 billion. As a comparison, this number is lower than the combination of Medicare and Medicaid ($638 billion YTD), and the combination of Defense and Education Payments ($480 billion). Indicatively, Federal salaries are a whopping $137.6 billion, or said otherwise, all of the SSN payments to date are just three times bigger than what the government pays its own employees. Perhaps a bigger issue is that the debt held by the public has increased by $720 billion YTD, a number which will soon grow to $1.5 trillion if the government does get debt hike it so desperately needs.
Wake up America is going down hill fast !!!!
It is estimated that there are 450 billionaires and 3,000,000 millionaires in United States as per 2011. The net worth of all households in US population around 310 million { with at least 20 - 40 million illegals } was US$56 trillion. The 450 billionaires are worth US$1 trillion, while 3,000,000 millionaires are worth US$11 trillion – which comes to one percent of US population owning more than 21 per cent of countries resources.
Many of these billionaires and millionaires have accumulated their wealth by managing fellow Americans’ money or looting the resources of under-developed nations around the globe.
International monetary system (WB, IMF, WTO, USAID, etc.) is based on crony Capitalism and is maintained by the super-powers for the benefit of their minority rich elites which was the driving force behind western colonization of most of Asian and African nations. These greedy and corrupt elites feel no mercy for their own countrymen either. The controlled governments always are there to bail then out by using taxpayers’ hard earned money.
One America’s largest bank, Washington Mutual, collapsed and shareholder lost US$80 billion plus US$200 billion in bad assets . The world’s largest insurance company, A.I.G Insurance { to big to fail could not insure a pile of dung } which has posted a loss of US$1,500 billion. Then there is the Lehman Brothers, whose stocks went from US$85 down to $.21 cents. The company declared a loss of US$500 as result of stock loss, account payable, debt and other liabilities.
American Crony Capitalism is based on monopoly , Usury, & greed. Which is not truly free market capitalism. Temujinist hold the view that economic disorder is caused by unrestrained greed , arrogance , apathy and stupidity. Which cause a nation’s miseries and result in a nation’s moral degradation. Sadly most of America today lacks a firm just moral Character .
US Payrolls +18,000
Last Month Quietly Revised Lower to +25,000 from +54,000
US Unemployment Unexpectedly Rises +.1 to 9.2% Despite Drop in Participation Rate
Since March, Number of Unemployed Rises by 545,000
Household Survey Number Unemployed Up 173,000
Household Survey Number of Employed Down 445,000
272,000 people dropped out of the labor force, reversing the labor force gain of 272,000 last month.
Average Weekly Workweek Drops by .1 Hours
Average Manufacturing Hours Drops by .3 Hours
Average Private Hourly Earnings Decrease 1 Cent
There has been virtually no improvement in part-time employment in a full year. 8.5+ million workers want a full time job and cannot find one.
Recall that the unemployment rate varies in accordance with the Household Survey not the reported headline jobs number, and not in accordance with the weekly claims data.
Digging deeper into the Household Survey, we see some more interesting data. In the last year, the civilian population rose by 1,799,000. Yet the labor force dropped by 263,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,063,000.
Last month the labor force rose by 272,000. This month the labor force fell by 272,000. How's that for symmetry?
The 6-month labor force total for 2011 is +4,000.
Many of those millions who dropped out of the workforce would start looking if they thought jobs were available. Indeed, in a 2-year old recovery, the labor force should be rising sharply as those who stopped looking for jobs, once again started looking. Instead, the labor force is not expanding at all.
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force for the past two years, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
June 2011 Jobs Report
Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) June 2011 Employment Report.
Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June (+18,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in most major private-sector industries changed little over the month. Government employment continued to trend down
32 States Now Officially Bankrupt: $37.8 Billion Borrowed From Treasury To Fund Unemployment; CA, MI, NY Worst
Many of these billionaires and millionaires have accumulated their wealth by managing fellow Americans’ money or looting the resources of under-developed nations around the globe.
International monetary system (WB, IMF, WTO, USAID, etc.) is based on crony Capitalism and is maintained by the super-powers for the benefit of their minority rich elites which was the driving force behind western colonization of most of Asian and African nations. These greedy and corrupt elites feel no mercy for their own countrymen either. The controlled governments always are there to bail then out by using taxpayers’ hard earned money.
One America’s largest bank, Washington Mutual, collapsed and shareholder lost US$80 billion plus US$200 billion in bad assets . The world’s largest insurance company, A.I.G Insurance { to big to fail could not insure a pile of dung } which has posted a loss of US$1,500 billion. Then there is the Lehman Brothers, whose stocks went from US$85 down to $.21 cents. The company declared a loss of US$500 as result of stock loss, account payable, debt and other liabilities.
American Crony Capitalism is based on monopoly , Usury, & greed. Which is not truly free market capitalism. Temujinist hold the view that economic disorder is caused by unrestrained greed , arrogance , apathy and stupidity. Which cause a nation’s miseries and result in a nation’s moral degradation. Sadly most of America today lacks a firm just moral Character .
US Payrolls +18,000
Last Month Quietly Revised Lower to +25,000 from +54,000
US Unemployment Unexpectedly Rises +.1 to 9.2% Despite Drop in Participation Rate
Since March, Number of Unemployed Rises by 545,000
Household Survey Number Unemployed Up 173,000
Household Survey Number of Employed Down 445,000
272,000 people dropped out of the labor force, reversing the labor force gain of 272,000 last month.
Average Weekly Workweek Drops by .1 Hours
Average Manufacturing Hours Drops by .3 Hours
Average Private Hourly Earnings Decrease 1 Cent
There has been virtually no improvement in part-time employment in a full year. 8.5+ million workers want a full time job and cannot find one.
Recall that the unemployment rate varies in accordance with the Household Survey not the reported headline jobs number, and not in accordance with the weekly claims data.
Digging deeper into the Household Survey, we see some more interesting data. In the last year, the civilian population rose by 1,799,000. Yet the labor force dropped by 263,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,063,000.
Last month the labor force rose by 272,000. This month the labor force fell by 272,000. How's that for symmetry?
The 6-month labor force total for 2011 is +4,000.
Many of those millions who dropped out of the workforce would start looking if they thought jobs were available. Indeed, in a 2-year old recovery, the labor force should be rising sharply as those who stopped looking for jobs, once again started looking. Instead, the labor force is not expanding at all.
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force for the past two years, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
June 2011 Jobs Report
Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) June 2011 Employment Report.
Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June (+18,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in most major private-sector industries changed little over the month. Government employment continued to trend down
32 States Now Officially Bankrupt: $37.8 Billion Borrowed From Treasury To Fund Unemployment; CA, MI, NY Worst
YES FRIENDS BEEN UNDER THE WEATHER !!!
Thank You to all my loyal readers. This illness has laid me down , but not out !!!. Keep those cards & letters coming. Let's all keep up the good fight !!!
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