New York Judge Describes Widespread Fraud in Foreclosure Process
Washington, DC – December 3, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) led a full committee hearing on “Foreclosed Justice: Causes and Effects of the Foreclosure Crisis,” in which the Committee discussed with invited witnesses the government’s response to the country’s foreclosure crisis.One of the witnesses, a New York bankruptcy judge, testified that he had routinely encountered in his court foreclosure attorneys who: failed to know who they represented, lacked the underlying note evidencing their entitlement to seek foreclosure, failed to establish the legal chain of title establishing the standing of their client-mortgagees, and submitted to the court false affidavits attesting to the ownership of the note and mortgage.
“I am dismayed that after more than four years and millions of foreclosures, the nation still remains paralyzed by unnecessary and unjust foreclosures wiping out our homes,” said Conyers. “Today’s hearing is part of a continuing effort by my Committee to get to the bottom of the foreclosure crisis and to identify solutions. At the next hearing, the Committee intends to hear from the principal financial institutions that rush to foreclose on millions of American families.I am relieved that the U.S. Treasury Office of Comptroller of the Currency announced yesterday that it would encourage financial institutions to stop so-called “dual tracking” whereby in the midst of negotiations with a homeowner to modify their mortgage, they simultaneously move to foreclose on the home.”
