Prosecute JPMorgan!!

elements-of-futurism-and-cubismProsecute JPMorgan!!

I am tired of these settlements. How can business ethics be taken seriously when massive illegality produces meager fines. Yes, 4.5 billions is chicken feed compared to what was made. If getting caught is just a cost of doing business, why not commit any illegality you can afford?

Is this is how it is going to be, why don’t we just take business ethics as a course offering and throw it out the window, then replace it with a new course. We’ll call the new course, “Rule Breaking Costs.” Instead of looking at ethical systems, we’ll apply the lessons of JPMorgan to business ethics: We obey the rules only when it is profitable to do so and we break the rules when the risk is justified by a cost-benefit analysis. See, no more nasty talk about good or bad, we just use a calculator. Of course, we have to worry that someday, somehow, against all current business free market analysis, will prosecute these criminals but what are the chances of that?

My students can go to jail for failing to pay parking tickets or using marijuana. JPMorgan can ruin tens of thousands of lives through their vicious and unprincipled manipulation of the mortgage markets, and not even be prosecuted once for a criminal offense.

Is that justice?

Is that a lesson I want my business ethics students to learn?

James Pilant

JPMorgan reaches tentative $4.5 billion deal with investors | Al Jazeera America

The bad news continued to pile up for JPMorgan Chase & Co. with Friday’s announcement of a $4.5 billion settlement reached with investors who said the bank deceived them about bad mortgage investments, part of a string of recent legal deals that contributed to the nation’s largest bank rare third quarter loss this year.

The newest settlement covers 21 major institutional investors, including JPMorgan competitor Goldman Sachs, BlackRock Financial Management and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The mortgage-backed securities were sold by JPMorgan and Bear Stearns between 2005 and 2008.

As the housing market collapsed between 2006 and 2008, millions of homeowners defaulted on high-risk mortgages. That led to billions of dollars in losses for investors who bought securities created from bundles of mortgages. Those securities were sold by JPMorgan and other big Wall Street banks.

Separately, JPMorgan has been negotiating with the U.S. Justice Department to settle a civil inquiry into its sales of mortgage-backed securities. While that case has yet to be full resolved, the bank reached a tentative deal last month to pay $13 billion.

As part of the $13 billion settlement, $4 billion will resolve U.S. government claims that JPMorgan misled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage-backed securitie

via JPMorgan reaches tentative $4.5 billion deal with investors | Al Jazeera America.

From around the web.

From the web site, Living Lies (Good Site! – jp).

http://livinglies.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/jpmorgan-to-pay-13-billion-in-mortgage-settlement-which-homes-are-affected/

The banks have paid tens of billions of dollars in settlements with Federal and State agencies and law enforcement. Where did the money go? But more importantly the real question arises out of the investigation and the question Elizabeth Warren keeps asking — which homes were found to have defective notes and mortgages as alleged by investors in their lawsuits against the investment banks? Which homes did the agency investigation find were foreclosed by parties who were strangers to the transaction. I agree with Sen. Warren who thinks that nothing could be more important to answer as required public informations hand the finding already made by investigators and admitted by the banks to be illegal Foreclosures on defective mortgage liens based on enforceable notes.

About Those Notes…Evidence of Securitization Fail (via foreclosuresinmass)

I’ve been arguing the same thing, – that there was much more to the mortgage crisis than robosigning. So, give this a read. I like skepticism and intelligence. This article has both.

James Pilant

Since last October, shortly after the robosigning scandal broke, I've been talking until I turned blue in the face about robosigning being the tip of the iceberg with mortgage problems and that the real issue was chain of title. Robosigning appeared to be an almost unexpected deposition by-product; the real goal in the depositions that uncovered the robosigning was exposing the backdating of mortgage endorsement. And that they did–the notaries' … Read More

via foreclosuresinmass

MCOA rules that MERS lacks standing to foreclose by advertisement (via Great Lakes Law Blog)

I’ve been a consistent critic of MERS, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. I consider incredible that the mortgage industry could set up this monstrosity which was in violation of state laws across the nation without trying to get some legislation from somebody somewhere to at least give it some iota of legality. Instead they just adopted it with an ethical sense very similar to listing your five grey tabby cats as children on your income tax. As far as I’m concerned, MERS is a semi-sorta legal device used to evade paying state registration fees and avoiding the basic work of transferring title by paper and all this so that these mortgages could be used as chips in global speculation.

This is an excellent brief discussion of MERS and the court system in Michigan.

James Pilant

In my introduction to MERS post, I indicated that a lot of litigation revolved around whether the Michigan Electronic Registration System (MERS) has standing as a party.  On April 21, 2011, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided that it did not in Residential Funding Co v Saurman.  The court said that MERS is not a party with an interest in the mortgage and cannot foreclose by advertisement.  MERS, as mortgagee, only holds an interest in the prope … Read More

via Great Lakes Law Blog

Another Successful Foreclosure Fraud Happy Hour (via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge)

These are some great people. They took up a public fight on a major issue before the media or the government recognized the problem. In fact, the government and the press denied there was a problem. These people are heroes, using the power of the internet as visionaries have hoped.

I wish them well!!

James Pilant

Another Successful Foreclosure Fraud Happy Hour Picture of some of the guests at our latest happy hour. Had another great time. We all wore “Hello My Name Is” stickers. Funny thing, almost everybody there was named Linda Green! It really confused the bartenders, they didn’t know which tab to ring the drinks under… Over the weekend I will be posting the history of all of our happy hours and how you can get them going in your town. I want to see this happen in every city every month until the … Read More

via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge

Fraudclosures | Federal Reserve: They Broke The Law (via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge)

For about seven months now, I have argued over and over again that lying to the courts with false affidavits and actions amounting to fraud were prosecutable. I have used the word, crimes, and I meant it.

Why is it that if one of my students breaks the law by stealing a few dollars that he will go to jail and these banks can commit these acts and reap huge profits without fear of prosecution?

I want these law-breakers, these greedy well placed fraudsters, to go to jail, to do the perp walk, to pay enormous fines, and to serve as a warning to every Armani clad crook haunting the board rooms of our great investments banks.

James Pilant

My thanks to “Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge.”

Fraudclosures | Federal Reserve: They Broke The Law The Market Ticker – Federal Reserve: They Broke The Law but nobody cares…. (including us) The reviews found critical weaknesses in servicers’ foreclosure governance processes, foreclosure document preparation processes, and oversight and monitoring of third-party vendors, including foreclosure attorneys.While it is important to note that findings varied across institutions, the weaknesses at each servicer, individually or collectively, resulted … Read More

via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge

DYLAN RATIGAN: FORECLOSURE FRAUD; $45 TRILLION DOLLARS (via Dylan Ratigan Show)

A family seizes their home back from the banks.

It’s pitiful that Americans have to take justice into their own hands.

James Pilant

Foreclosure Fraud – Lawyers Cannot Support Fraud

An attorney discusses widespread fraud and attorney participation.

This is devastating to the banks.

James Pilant

Guest Post | Stay Calm, Remain in Your Homes (via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge)

We have many crises going on all at once. Why?

A convergence point has been reached. The foreclosure crisis is one element in a series of development.s In the United States, the critical development has been the continuous conversion of the economy from manufacturing to finance. Everything else flows from that.We make and less actual products each year. Our primary source of income as a nation is financial innovation.

Manufacturing requires large capable work forces to function. Finance requires a handful of people.

A huge financial sector demands several policies. 1. Free trade, in particular, the free movement of money and credit across national borders. 2. Relentless inflation control, this involves suppressing wage pressure and allowing economic growth only in a controlled manner. 3. As little taxation or no taxation on anything related to their operations. The people of the United States bear the principal burden of taxation. The financial sector has incredible profits while other parts of the economy flounder. Yet the tax burden does not shift to follow the money. 4. A intertwining of the government and the financial sector. More and more the government appears to be an arm of investment banking. The government insures the great financial houses of protection from failure. The government provide inexpensive loans for these companies. The government works with frantic intensity to control inflation. 5. Diminished public spending and the rigorous control of all social programs from education to unemployment insurance. This is to justify continuous cuts in taxes and to shift the burdens of a civilization from organizations to individuals. 6. This is a characteristic no often mentioned, but I kept finding it in report after report. A frantic, bizarre mania for numbers indicating a perception of higher form of reality, the music of the spheres. 6. Natural resources, in particular, basic human needs like water are to be divided for use by the private sector. 7. All endeavors from the military to the public schools must be converted from the public to the private, regardless of the outcomes. 8. An almost religious determination to follow the markets wherever they lead, cheaper workforces, better purchasers. 8. A visceral contempt for Americans under a certain income level. The “lower” classes are considered to be lazy, self-indulgent, burdens upon the elite producers. This is indicated by the absence of influence by the middle class on any policy decisions and the continuous development pf the doctrine of personal responsibility demonstrated by such changes policies as bankruptcy “reform” to student loan collections.

The change is focus from producing things to manipulating money might seem to be the most significant change here, but it is not. There is one overriding change that anchors and justifies all the others. The most important change over the past fifty years has been the development of a philosophy justifying profit taking over all other values.

When one part of society did something to damage the social order there were countervailing ideas. We can see this in the Progressive movement, the New Deal, the Fair Deal and the Great Society. Other ideas of how things should work. We as a society called upon a variety of intertwining values to make decisions. But these are no longer considered valid. In the past, there could have been calls to patriotism. These are irrelevant in modern business philosophy. There could have been calls to God and religion. These are irrelevant in modern business philosophy. There could have been calls to the great philosophical systems of history. These are irrelevant in modern business philosophy. There could have been a call to righteousness or ethics. There could have been a call to the rule of law. These are all irrelevant.

For a single nation, only Kafka could explain the motives and values of the financial class. But for international business, the logic is clear.

Here is a posting about these changes beginning with the foreclosure crisis.

George Mantor writes this piece. He has his own web site at Keepin’ it real.

Stay Calm, Remain in Your Homes This is standard advice in times of emergency.  The principle is simple and logical. Authorities are dealing with limited resources in a critical environment wheGuest Post | Stay Calm, Remain in Your Homesre every second counts.  The fewer events and people they need to deal with, the more effective they can be. If you know me, you know that I am upbeat and positive by temperament and challenges don’t faze me.  I’m pretty level-headed, and I do my own thinki … Read More

via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge

NJ | Sheriff’s Officers Accused Of Emptying Wrong Home In Botched Foreclosure (via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge)

There are few assaults upon our dignity as crushing as the theft of all of our possessions. It is not so much the large items like refrigerators and televisions that are missed. Humans attach value to the strangest things. Instead of the microwave they lament the loss of their wedding pictures. When logic would dictate the loss of the computer should be the first cause of regret, they think of the old worn chair that has sat in the living room for years. Considering the great value placed upon personal privacy and possessions, would it not seem logical and prudent that those entrusted with the safety of the public should investigate and seek to punish the guilty. But the investigators would only need a mirror to discover the perpetrator of this crime, law enforcement itself.

It seems unfair that the bank never has to worry about these mistakes in judgment. It seems unfair that the bank, should use so many public resources to serve its interests.

The victim is asking $500,000 dollars in damages.

That seems fair, first, to recompense her for damages and second, to discourage the sheriff and his deputies from any more random home raids.

James Pilant

NJ | Sheriff’s Officers Accused Of Emptying Wrong Home In Botched Foreclosure Sheriff’s Officers Accused Of Emptying Wrong Home In Botched Foreclosure HILLSIDE – A 76-year-old Hillside woman has filed a claim for damages against Union County, alleging that officers of the county sheriff’s department illegally entered her home and removed the entire contents because they had the wrong address of a foreclosure. In the document, obtained by Tina Renna of The County Watchers, Ozzie Leak claims that Union County Sheriff Ralph F … Read More

via Foreclosure Fraud – Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge