Why Hasn’t Anyone Gone to Jail?

February 22nd, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

foreclosure-exit-sign

Under the terms of the 50-state mortgage foreclosure settlement, US
taxpayers could end up paying billions in penalties that were supposed
to be paid by the banks. That’s the gist of a front-page story which
appeared in the Financial Times on Thursday, February 17. ~ Mike Whitney

The
widely-cited article by Shahien Nasiripour notes that the 5 banks that
will be effected by the settlement — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial – will be able to use Obama’s
mortgage modification program (HAMP) to reduce loan balances and
“receive cash payments of up to 63 cents on the dollar for every dollar
of loan principal forgiven.”

And that’s not all. If borrowers stay
current on their payments after their loans are restructured, the banks
could qualify for additional government funds which (according to the
FT) “could then turn a profit for the banks according to people familiar
with the settlement terms.”

How do you like them apples? Leave it
to the bank-friendly Obama administration to turn a penalty into a
windfall. In effect, the settlement will help the banks avoid losses on
mortgages that are vastly overpriced on their books and which were
probably headed into foreclosure anyway.

Taxpayers will stump up
the money for the principle writedowns that will allow the banks to
extract even more tribute from underwater homeowners. What kind of
penalty is that?

Here’s how Mark Gongloff sums it up over at Huffington Post:

“Banks
will get government cash as an incentive to work down mortgages as part
of a settlement that is supposed to punish them for their malpractice.

Banks have been getting taxpayer money under loan modification programs
like HAMP all along: $615 million in modification incentives so far.
Those incentives were tripled on Jan. 28 just days before the mortgage
settlement was announced, making the deal appear even sweeter for the
banks.

“You can’t say this settlement has anything to do with
deterrence or is punitive in nature if money is flowing into banks from
taxpayers as part of the settlement,” said New York University Law
professor Neil Barofsky, former special inspector-general of the
Troubled Asset Relief Program.” (“Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement: Who
Pays?”, Huffington Post)

Of course, no one knows for
sure how many perks and “bennies” the banks will eventually nab,
because the written copy of the settlement still hasn’t been released.
Our guess is that the banks’ will come out smelling like a rose and that
the 50 Attorneys General will end up looking like fools for taking
their victory lap too soon.

Keep in mind, that the banks are
really only on the hook for $5 billion in cash. The rest of the $25
billion settlement will be shrugged off onto investors in
mortgage-backed securities (MBS) many of who are retirees and
pensioners. They’re going to get clobbered while the perpetrators of
this nationwide crime walk away Scott-free.

It’s also worth
reviewing what this case is all about, which is industrial-scale fraud
directed at millions of people whose lives have been ruined by the
banks. Here’s a clip from an article in Reuters that helps to put it all
in perspective:

“A report this week showing rampant
foreclosure abuse in San Francisco reflects similar levels of lender
fraud and faulty documentation across the United States, say experts and
officials who have done studies in other parts of the country.

The
audit of almost 400 foreclosures in San Francisco found that 84 percent
of them appeared to be illegal, according to the study released by the
California city on Wednesday.

“The audit in San Francisco is the
most detailed and comprehensive that has been done – but it’s likely
those numbers are comparable nationally,” Diane Thompson, an attorney at
the National Consumer Law Center, told Reuters.

Across the
country from California, Jeff Thingpen, register of deeds in Guildford
County, North Carolina, examined 6,100 mortgage documents last year,
from loan notes to foreclosure paperwork.

Of those documents,
created between January 2008 and December 2010, 4,500 showed signature
irregularities, a telltale sign of the illegal practice of “robosigning”
documents.” (“Foreclosure abuse rampant across U.S., experts say”,
Reuters)

Repeat: “84 percent of them appeared to be illegal …(and) those numbers are comparable nationally.”

So,
why are we talking about “mortgage foreclosure settlements” instead of
criminal prosecutions? Why hasn’t anyone gone to jail with evidence this
compelling?

Look: The banks have been foreclosing on homes they
don’t even legally own. That’s what robosigning is. Would you be willing
to accept a measly $2,000 for being tossed out of your home and onto
the street by someone who doesn’t even own the mortgage? Of course, not.

9
million homes have been lost to foreclosure since 2007, and there will
be another 9 million before we’re done. Homeowners have lost $8 trillion
in home equity (in the last 4 years) and 11 million people are
currently underwater on their mortgages. All of this is unprecedented.
All of this is the result of fraud.

Forget about the mortgage-foreclosure settlement. It means nothing. Someone has to go to jail. That’s what matters.

Mike Whitney – February 21 – posted at WakeUpFromYourSlumber

Source – Counterpunch

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