Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks

Yes, the Federal Government was definitely at fault for removing the protections of Glass-Steagal with Gramm-Leech-Bliley, and allowing the industry to balloon without necessary oversight and regulation.

plaidvillain wrote: Perhaps you are unaware the OCC has mandated an audit of the fourteen largest mortgage lenders and servicers which is currently occurring and scheduled to end later this year. One issue of the audit is whether the banks foreclosed appropriately against borrowers. There are many facets to the audit, and there will be repercussions to the banks from the findings.

The split between "small" banks and "large" banks is mostly a made up idea...the only way for "small" banks to do business such as lending out millions of dollars per month for residential or commercial real estate is to then turn to the big banks and sell those loans to them. Do you think the local credit union has a few billion dollars sitting in their little safe? No, so they originate some loans, but have to sell those off to maintain liquid for their operations. Now, I will agree that some (if not all) of the biggest banks are primarily responsible for many of the problems, as they set the rules the smaller banks had to live with to stay in business...but don't imagine the smaller banks are out to protect you anymore than the big banks.

I've said this all along: the mortgage collapse and meltdown was due to fault AT EVERY LEVEL. EVERY level...from the investors to the lenders to the originators to the appraisers to the title companies to the credit reporting agencies...all the way down to the borrowers. Yes, you and you and you and you and me all share some responsibility in the collapse. If you want to point a finger, point it in a mirror first. Its amazing that the one group who profitted the most from this whole mess is the same group the conservatives want to continue to defend - Wall St. Wall St. investors screamed for more product and for more loosening of guidelines. The "sub-prime" mess was not created by FNMA/FHLMC, it happened because Wall St. wanted more product to bundle into securities. They wanted low FICO, weak income and asset loans, that they then took hedges against, then profitted tenfold (hundredfold? thousandfold? millionfold?)when it all fell apart.

And on that topic...

Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks

(Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.

In recent weeks the Justice Department has come under renewed pressure from members of Congress, state and local officials and homeowners' lawyers to open a wide-ranging criminal investigation of mortgage servicers, the biggest of which have been Covington clients. So far Justice officials haven't responded publicly to any of the requests.

But he said that the background of Holder and Breuer at Covington -- and their failure to act on foreclosure fraud or publicly recuse themselves -- "doesn't pass the smell test."

In an interview in late 2011, Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written about foreclosure practices said, "I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/ ... PH20120120

Any wonder why the DOJ has failed to prosecute? Read the WHOLE article.

Okay, so your article is accusing DOJ of not bringing forth any charges of fraud, etc...and I am saying an audit by the OCC is currently happening. Perhaps there are other departments/agencies working on different elements of investigation into the whole mess. Do you have any evidence there are orders to not bring charges? Seems to me the investigation is still in process.

plaidvillain wrote: Okay, so your article is accusing DOJ of not bringing forth any charges of fraud, etc...and I am saying an audit by the OCC is currently happening. Perhaps there are other departments/agencies working on different elements of investigation into the whole mess. Do you have any evidence there are orders to not bring charges? Seems to me the investigation is still in process.

Read the article again.