Bank Of America Faces New Probe; NY AG Launches Investigation Into Mortgage Securitization

[Hissyspit]

Source: Huffington Post

Bank Of America Faces New Probe; New York Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Mortgage Securitization (EXCLUSIVE)

First Posted: 06/13/11 12:30 AM ET Updated: 06/13/11 01:00 AM ET
Shahien Nasiripour
[e-mail]

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has targeted Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, in a new probe that questions the validity of potentially thousands of mortgage securities and their associated foreclosures, two people familiar with the matter said.

The investigation, which began quietly in recent weeks, is part of a larger inquiry that is scrutinizing whether mortgage companies and Wall Street firms took the necessary steps under New York state law when creating mortgage-backed securities, these people said, who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the probe.

Court testimony and independent studies have raised questions over whether banks and other financial firms passed along the required documents to trusts, the independent entities that oversee securities for investors. In some cases where trusts moved to seize borrowers' homes, judges have determined the trusts lacked legal standing due to faulty documentation.

The inquiry could prove explosive: Wall Street's great mortgage securitization machine took millions of home loans and bundled them into securities for sale to investors. If the legal steps that guide securitization -- like taking mortgage documents from one party to another, a critical step under New York law -- were not undertaken, then the investors who bought the bundled loans could force the companies to buy them back, compelling them to eat enormous losses.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/13/bank-of-america-mortgage-investigation-schneiderman_n_875681.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

[dkf]

1. I don't know what took so long.

[aquart]

2. Well, if it's a spin-off of a grand jury.....

They might have issued an evidence subpoena a year ago and the documents only just showed up. Or they could have been stored in a warehouse that conveniently burnt down. Or the documents could have been submitted in such deliberately unreadable order that they have only just begun to decipher them.

And that's only what happened on one case I know of. And let's not forget the endless perjury.

Know how to show a jury a witness is lying? Ask him what you know he'll lie about, then ask him something he can answer truthfully. The voice and throat will audibly relax. The tone change will be so obvious it's a wonder anyone bothers to lie under oath.

I'm sure there are many other ways to delay justice. Those are the ones I witnessed.

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[dipsydoodle]

4. About time too

.

[No Elephants]

5. The SEC should have stopped sale of those securities and, failing that, should have

investigated and prosecuted.

Dream on, no elephants, of a government that not only collects taxes from working people, but also serves their interests, instead of the interests of big business. Dream on.

[Hissyspit]

6. Kick nt

[Kaleko]

7. Hmm, let's see what they can dig up to assassinate Schneiderman's character...

One... two... three... go!

There must be some dirty secret in his past that can derail him.

[MasonJar]

8. Good! I hope they have to buy every one back. maybe they

will follow the law in the future.

[librechik]

9. Finally! there is a statute of limitations issues coming up on a lot of these

corporate financial crimes. They've been running out the clock and the entire govt is helping them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. The statute issue is why the TRUSTEES are now under fire.

Apparently, they have to affirm annually that their trust holds bona fide mortgages, so the statute deadline doesn't apply to them, thus to save their butts in the face of shareholder's suing them , they are now suing the banks.

Which raises the question of why the trustees did not verify that the bonds were genuine ( backed by mortgages) all this time.
Were they bribed?
Snookered?

There is thought now that the reason the mortgages were not put into the trusts way back when is because the banks had actually sold the same mortgages to more than one trust, so to speak.