MFI-Miami Blog

Texas Judge Orders Dan Gilbert’s Amrock Title To Pay $740 million to HouseCanary In Software Stealing Case A Texas judge has ordered the Dan Gilbert-owned Amrock Title (f/k/a Title Source) $740 million in a software stealing case. Gilbert’s lawyers tried to have the court vacate a  jury’s earlier decision from March. A jury ordered Amrock Title to pay   $706.2 million to HouseCanary   in March after it found that Amrock Title fraudulently misappropriated HouseCanary’s real estate valuation technology and appraisal analytics. breached confidentiality and other agreements between the parties. Amrock questioned the jury’s decision. However, Judge David Canales of the 73rd District Court in Bexar County denied Amrock’s request to vacate the jury’s decision. As a result, he handed down a final judgment in the case. Judge Canales ordered Amrock Title to pay nearly $740 million. This included the $706,200,000 in actual and punitive damages awarded by the jury. HouseCanary was

Massachusetts Mortgage Fraudster Joseph Bates Pleads Guilty To Operating A $4.3 Million Scam For Almost A Decade A Massachusetts mortgage fraudster  admitted in court  that he took part in a nearly decade-long mortgage fraud scheme. He also admitted that he defrauded financial institutions of millions of dollars. Joseph Bates pleaded guilty last week in federal court to one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud. He also confessed to two counts of bank fraud.  Bates and his cohorts took part in a mortgage fraud scheme that stretched from 2006 through 2015. The scam involved at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions that caused $4.3 million in losses to lenders. The Massachusetts Mortgage Fraudster and his cohorts aided in the submission of false borrower information to a number of lenders for properties in Massachusetts. Read more at MFI-Miami

The Massachusetts Courts Have Given The Green Light To A New FHA Foreclosure Defense Strategy FHA foreclosure defense is easier than conventional foreclosure defense because the FHA lending rules are codified. This means that that the United States Congress has voted on it and made it law. However, that doesn’t make the process of saving your home any less painful. You still need to deal with   local judges who are clueless   when it comes to lending laws.  One particular FHA foreclosure defense strategy that seems to be working with the courts is   24 CFR 203.604. 24 CFR 203.604  requires a face-to-face meeting between the lender and the homeowner within the first 61 days of the default to find a solution. If they don’t comply with this law, then they can’t foreclose. However, most mortgage servicers and foreclosure mills ignore this law and for good reason. It delays them from cashing in on the FHA insurance claim. This where you can strike your servicer with the poisono

MAGA Bomber Was A Victim Of An Illegal Foreclosure By President Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Donald Trump-loving MAGA Bomber was  taken into custody   in relation to pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats on Friday.  Public records in Broward County show One West Bank illegally foreclosed on Cesar Sayoc in 2009. United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was the CEO and principal owner of One West.  The MAGA Bomber was living a comfortable life in 2006 when he bought his Fort Lauderdale home. Sayoc refinanced his home with an adjustable rate mortgage with the now-defunct IndyMac Bank for $385,500. The Sayoc’s career as a professional wrestler didn’t pan out and he behind on his mortgage. The future MAGABomber wasn’t the only one having financial issues.  IndyMac Bank collapsed in the summer of 2008 . S ayoc had been living in his van since being evicted from the home in 2010. He worked as a traveling stripper and bodybuilder. Read more at MFI-Miami

Federal Judge In Rhode Island Rules Non-Judicial Fannie Mae Foreclosures Violate US Constitution MFI-Miami lawyers and lawyers in non-judicial foreclosure states have been arguing that non-judicial Fannie Mae foreclosures are unconstitutional. Up until this past August, we have had limited success. One of the roadblocks has been the question of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s current status and their future. Is the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac permanent or indefinite? In other words, are the GSEs private corporations temporarily under government control like when a private bank goes belly up? Or are Fanie Mae and Freddie Mac quasi-government agencies like  Amtrak ?   This more than a question of semantics especially with trillions of dollars on the table.  Read more at MFI-Miami

Fannie Mae Releases The Top 40 Fake Employers Used On Fraudulent Loan Applications The number fraudulent mortgage applications submitted to lenders   has skyrocketed .   The fraud has moved beyond using exaggerated income. Fraudsters are now using fake employers. Thus, the number of fake employers has also skyrocketed.  As a result, Fannie Mae has   issued a warning   to lenders because the situation has become so bad. The GSE has identified more than 40 fake employers showing up on borrowers’ mortgage applications.  The original 35 companies were generally located in the Southern California and Los Angeles County areas. However, the wave of fake employers has spread throughout California including some in Silicon Valley. Read more at MFI-Miami

New York Man Busted Using Fake Court Orders To Remove Negative Google Reviews From the Internet Negative Google Reviews can make or break a business on the internet. Even if  they are fake  and they are extremely hard to remove. Michael Arnstein took it to an extreme and crossed the line. The court sentenced Arnstein to nine months in prison. He conspired with others to forge a federal judge’s signature on counterfeit court orders. Arnstein then submitted the fake court orders to Google to get negative reviews about his business removed from search results.  Arnstein pled guilty on September 15, 2017. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  Michael Arnstein’s blatant criminal scheme to exploit the authority of the federal judiciary for his company’s benefit was outrageous.  As Arnstein has learned, his attempts to remove negative reviews about his business from Google search results by forging a U.S. District Court judge’s signature may have worked in the short

Two Deutsche Bank Traders Convicted For Manipulating LIBOR Index The federal government convicted two Deutsche Bank Traders in New York last week. The government accused the two traders from Deutsche Bank’s Pool Trading Desk of participating in a scheme to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate   (LIBOR). The LIBOR Index is a critical global benchmark tied to trillions of dollars in derivatives and other financial products.     The Deutsche Bank traders were convicted after a month-long trial in Federal Court in Manhattan. A jury convicted former Deutsche Bank supervisor Matthew Connolly of one count of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud. The court also found Gavin Campbell Black guilty of one count of conspiracy. However, they only found him guilty of only a single count of wire fraud.  Read more at MFI-Miami

Psycho Realtor Stalking Soap Star Max Ehrich Pulls Gun On The Young & The Restless Alum Forcing Him Into Hiding The  Young and the Restless   actor Max Ehrich is scared to death and in hiding. A Los Angeles real estate agent is allegedly stalking the soap star. The psycho Realtor allegedly became obsessed with him and pulled a gun on him in a fit of rage after showing him a property. TMZ  is reporting Max Ehrich looked at property in the Los Angeles area with the realtor. The Realtor soon became infatuated with the actor. The Realtor allegedly became sexually aggressive. Ehrich rebuffed his advances. As a result, the psycho Realtor then became enraged and at some point pulled a gun on Ehrich. Although, sources told TMZ it may have only been a pellet gun. Max Ehrich has gone into hiding and hired full-time security. Read more at MFI-Miami

The Five Things Realtors Don’t Have To Tell You When Buying Foreclosed Properties You and your new bride want to buy a house together so you can start a family. You want something affordable that won’t break your bank account or empty out all the loot you received as wedding gifts. So you start looking at foreclosed properties. But be careful. Usually, foreclosed properties in good condition go for market rates especially if the property is under 20 years old. There could be some serious issues if the property is priced below market value for the area. Realtors are not legally obligated to tell you some things about the house. These issues could impact your decision. Most realtors will lie if they neglect to inform you of a material defect. Realtors will say they had no knowledge of the issues they are obligated to tell you. They will also blame the buyer for not having a thorough enough home inspection if the issue is a structural or a material defect that could impact future v

Bankruptcy Of Mark Stopa’s Former Firm, Stay In My Home PA Creates Mess For Thousands Of Former Clients There good news and bad news for former clients of Mark Stopa’s former law firm, Stay In My Home PA. Here’s the good news. The bankruptcy judge has ordered a temporary halt to all court proceedings for Stopa’s former clients. This includes all circuit court and appellate court actions that Stopa and his former firm are the counsel of record. The bankruptcy court overseeing the bankruptcy of Stay In My Home PA issued the emergency order effective until November 6th. This could give hundreds of Florida homeowners a temporary respite from the threat of foreclosure. Stay in My Home PA filed a petition for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation on October 2nd. Bankruptcy Trustee Meininger filed the emergency motion. He stated it has been challenging to identify the cases because paper records are incomplete. In addition, Meininger is unable to access Stay In My Home PA’s elec

Ponzi Schemer Dawn Bennett Attempted To Use Voodoo To Ward Off FBI Agents Investigating Her $20 Million Scam You need to give points to Ponzi schemer Dawn Bennett for creativity for trying to stop an FBI investigation. Most people operating multi-million dollar Ponzi schemes would flee the country or hire high priced lawyers. Not Bennet.  She paid a website operator to arrange for Indian priests to perform religious ceremonies  to ward off federal investigators. Bennett also performed voodoo spells in her home. FBI agents found instructions for a “Beef Tongue Shut Up Hoodoo Spell.” Authorities say the spell was an attempt to halt several federal investigations against her. FBI agents also discovered two freezers containing dozens of sealed Mason jars with the names of SEC attorneys.  Federal agents said Bennett had cast a ‘hoodoo spell’ in hopes of silencing the SEC attorneys investigating her. Agents discovered voodoo spells on her company’s stationery that instructed the u

Red Neck Sex Offender Sentenced To 40 Years In  Prison For Plot To Bomb Target Stores To Manipulate Stock Price Half-wit sex offender  Mark Charles Barnett  is going to federal prison for to 40 years. A federal jury in Central Florida  found guilty of attempted arson and making unregistered destructive devices  on July 27, 2018. Barnett offered a confidential source $10,000 to place homemade bombs inside Target stores along the east coast. The convicted sex offender had theorized that the company’s stock would plunge after the explosions, allowing him to cheaply acquire shares of Target stock before an eventual rebound in prices. Barnett told the confidential source: If someone has to die so that I can make some money, so be it. Barnett purchased the bomb components and assembled at least 10 of the destructive devices. He disguised the devices as common grocery items.   Read more at MFI-Miami

Nationstar Executive Edward Hyne Testifies Aurora Bank Policies Included Forging Note Endorsements How many people have lost their homes because of note endorsement fraud at Aurora? Nationstar Executive Edward Hyne sat for a deposition in a bankruptcy case last month. Normally, this would not be a big deal. However, this time the Nationstar executive dropped a bombshell about the now-defunct Aurora Loan Servicing. He claimed in his deposition that Aurora doctored and forged Note endorsements on loans they were servicing. Aurora Bank has since quit the financial industry. New York Community Bank acquired Aurora’s bank branches. Nationstar acquired their loan servicing. Hyne states in his deposition that Nationstar’s position is that Aurora Bank, FSB policies included forging endorsements. The forgeries are an example the rampant endorsement fraud that plagues the mortgage industry. The deposition is from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in California filed by  Allana Baroni

Foreclosed Homes Are Appreciating Faster than Typical Home  Investors who bought foreclosed homes at the peak of the financial crisis are reaping huge rewards. Foreclosed homes that were foreclosed on during the recession are skyrocketing in value compared to the typical U.S. home. The median crisis-era foreclosed home increased 10.3% in value over the past year. Whereas, homes that were not foreclosed on only rose 6.5% overall   according to a new analysis   from real-estate website Zillow.  Since the recession, foreclosed homes have by  increased 74.5% in value . Whereas, the typical U.S. home only gained 46% in value. Granted, foreclosed homes dropped more substantially in value during the recession. Read more at MFI-Miami

Blowhard Bill Schuette Whines About Blight But Ignored Complaints From Thousands Of Victims Of Foreclosure Abuse Committed By His Contributors Who Caused The Blight Michigan Gubernatorial candidate Blowhard Bill Schuette is a brilliant guy when it comes to exploiting the work of others for his political gain. Schuette has made it the cornerstone of his 38 years as a career politician. Schuette thought he had the perfect October surprise to exploit in order to resurrect his dying gubernatorial campaign.  Blowhard Bill Schuette decided it would be a great idea to attack his Democratic opponent Gretchen Whitmer’s running mate Garlin Gilchrist for a blighted duplex he owns in Detroit. He posted a video on social media calling on Gilchrist to step down as a candidate. Except, it backfired. Consequently, people called Schuette out for his hypocrisy and for his handling of the Flint Water Crisis. However, his critics left out how his major campaign contributors David Trott and Lind

Rising Interest Rates And Stiff Competition Are Causing Wells Fargo Mortgage Originations To Plummet Wells Fargo mortgage originations continue to plummet as interest rates  have risen  over the last several months. Wells Fargo says that it originated $46 billion in mortgages in the third quarter. This is down 22% from last year’s total of $59 billion during the same time period. The overall total isn’t the lowest in recent memory for Wells Fargo though. Wells Fargo mortgage originations were $43 billion in mortgages in the first quarter of this year. This is not good news for Wells Fargo. This is the third quarter Wells Fargo mortgage originations have continued to heading south. There doesn’t appear to be much of a light on the horizon with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to a  seven-year high. The bank says that first mortgage applications also fell by 22% in the third quarter, compared to last year. Read more at MFI-Miami

HSBC Agrees To Pay $765 Million In Connection With Its Sale Of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities The United States Attorney’s Office in Denver announced today that HSBC will pay $765 million to settle claims related to its packaging, securitization, issuance, marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2007. Federally insured financial institutions and others suffered major losses from mortgage-backed securities abuses by HSBC.  HSBC will pay the $765 million as a civil penalty pursuant to the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA). United States Attorney Bob Troyer said: HSBC made choices that hurt people and abused their trust. HSBC chose to use a due diligence process it knew from the start didn’t work.  It chose to put lots of defective mortgages into its deals.  When HSBC saw problems, it chose to rush those deals out the door.  When deals went south, investors who trusted HSBC suffered.  And wh

The Florida Supreme Court’s Bartram Decision Was Nothing More Than A Bailout For Florida Foreclosure Mills Homeowners began beating Florida foreclosure mills about five years ago. Thus, they were able to keep their home mortgage-free. However, they were winning because of some dramatic court showdown reminiscent of  Roe v.  Wade or  Brown v. Board of Education. The argument was a pretty simple one and it started an avalanche of homeowner victories across Florida. Florida foreclosure mills and Florida courts had a backlog of foreclosure cases because of the financial crisis. It also didn’t help that David Stern’s office went belly up. The mismanagement of foreclosures cases handled by foreclosure mills was common throughout Florida. Then one day a foreclosure defense attorney had an idea. He argued that lenders were only allowed to file a foreclosure case against a homeowner within five years of sending them a letter of acceleration letter. The lawyer cited Florida’s statute

Use NYS Foreclosure Laws To Stop Bronx Foreclosures You can use New York law to stop Bronx foreclosures. Furthermore, state law ensures that the foreclosing party has the correct documents in place. New York law requires that the foreclosing party “produce the note” to prove that it owns the loan. The law also states they must produce it at the beginning of the foreclosure. In addition, the law also takes steps to reduce the extremely long amount of time that it takes to foreclose in New York. New laws have also been passed to speed up foreclosure cases. Foreclosure cases no longer take 36-48 months to complete. New York courts have foreclosures passing through the system in  less than 6 months . Read more at MFI-Miami

Foreclosure Laws In New York Make Fighting Queens Foreclosures Easy For the Right Team! New York law makes fighting Queens foreclosures easier than most states. Furthermore, state law ensures that the foreclosing party has the correct documents in place. New York law requires that the foreclosing party “produce the note” to prove that it owns the loan. The law also states they must produce it at the beginning of the foreclosure. In addition, the law also takes steps to reduce the extremely long amount of time that it takes to foreclose in New York. New laws have also been passed to speed up foreclosure cases. Foreclosure cases no longer take 36-48 months to complete. New York courts have foreclosures passing through the system in  less than 6 months . Read more at MFI-Miami

Google Is Shutting Down Google+ For Consumers Following Security Lapse And Failure To Compete With Facebook Google announced yesterday it is  going to shut down  the consumer version of Google+. The shutdown will happen over the next 10 months. The decision follows the revelation of a previously undisclosed security flaw that exposed users’ profile data. The security flaw was remedied in March 2018. However, the company did not disclose it. The company said a bug in its software meant user’s private information had been accessible by third parties. Google+ was introduced as an alternative to Facebook in 2011. However, it never caught on. This was also a contributing factor in the company’s decision. The company essentially conceded this in their shutdown announcement. The company stated that the platform currently has “low usage and engagement.” The consumer version of platform currently has low usage and engagement. The company said 90% of user sessions are less than five s

Video About Nutso WTBQ Station Manager Spreads Faster Than A Herpes Outbreak On Social Media Taylor Sterling once hurled the contents of Uncle Buck’s food and toy donation bins to the road with the determination of an old Soviet Olympic Shot Putter. Nutso WTBQ Station Manager Joy Doe aka Taylor Sterling strikes again! This time it was with fellow broadcaster   Jonathan Rios. Rios has a 2-hour oldies radio show he markets to community and internet radio stations across the country. He had reached out to WTBQ about airing his show.  Unfortunately for Rios, it didn’t go as well as he had hoped. Rios was unaware that the nutso WTBQ Station Manager and her    Joan Crawford   style management techniques. Sterling’s management style has turned WTBQ into Cuckoo TBQ.  It’s not just potential advertisers. It’s also members of the community activists like elderly Frank “Uncle Buck” Pileggi.   She hurled Uncle Buck’s collection bin filled with toys and food into the street with the dete