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Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists View the Trojan Horse June 15-17, 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)33. Another Schneiderman Con: Proposes Likely-to-go-Nowhere Foreclosure Fraud Legislation
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/another-schneiderman-con-proposes-likely-to-go-nowhere-foreclosure-fraud-legislation.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29
Having sold out the possibility of getting a decent settlement for homeowners for a seat in Michelle Obamas box at the State of the Union address and a star turn on a Potemkin mortgage fraud task force, Schneiderman appears to be an adept student of the Obama strategy of preferring empty gestures to substance, since they generate good PR and take a lot less effort.
The latest headfake is that Schneiderman has presented a bill to the New York State legislate opposing foreclosure fraud. Whats not to like? Well, for a former state Senator who got some heavily contested legislation through, Schneiderman appears not to even be doing the basics. From the Politics on the Hudson blog:
No Senate sponsor for a late-in-session bill? And its even later than that. Nevadas attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto pushed for legislation to criminalize foreclosure abuses and it became law last October. Schneiderman and Masto were almost certainly communicating last year; he was probably aware of the legislation before it was passed. Why did he take so long to launch (feebly) a similar measure here?
By contrast, the New York courts were swift to act when the robosigning scandal broke. A mere month later, it imposed a certification requirement which had the effect of lowering the bar for sanctioning attorneys for failing to take reasonable steps to verify the accuracy of documents submitted to the court. This has a chilling effect. Foreclosure filings plummeted. This was a de facto admission that the banks were not able, by legal means, to establish in court that they had the right to foreclose.
Now one might argue that this bill (were it ever to pass) still has merit because it, like the Nevada bill, criminalizes foreclosure abuses and preparing other types of false mortgage documents (like HUD or FHA documentation), and not just for attorneys, but for other document preparers and their managers. Even so, Schneidermans bill is less bloody minded than Mastos. Hers had up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine per violation. By contrast, it takes five or more incidents of bad conduct in one year to get a class E felony conviction, which would lead to up to four years in prison...
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Having sold out the possibility of getting a decent settlement for homeowners for a seat in Michelle Obamas box at the State of the Union address and a star turn on a Potemkin mortgage fraud task force, Schneiderman appears to be an adept student of the Obama strategy of preferring empty gestures to substance, since they generate good PR and take a lot less effort.
The latest headfake is that Schneiderman has presented a bill to the New York State legislate opposing foreclosure fraud. Whats not to like? Well, for a former state Senator who got some heavily contested legislation through, Schneiderman appears not to even be doing the basics. From the Politics on the Hudson blog:
Schneiderman said the bill has an Assembly sponsor in Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein D-Brooklyn, but he didnt mention a sponsor in the Senatewhere Schneiderman was a member.
No Senate sponsor for a late-in-session bill? And its even later than that. Nevadas attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto pushed for legislation to criminalize foreclosure abuses and it became law last October. Schneiderman and Masto were almost certainly communicating last year; he was probably aware of the legislation before it was passed. Why did he take so long to launch (feebly) a similar measure here?
By contrast, the New York courts were swift to act when the robosigning scandal broke. A mere month later, it imposed a certification requirement which had the effect of lowering the bar for sanctioning attorneys for failing to take reasonable steps to verify the accuracy of documents submitted to the court. This has a chilling effect. Foreclosure filings plummeted. This was a de facto admission that the banks were not able, by legal means, to establish in court that they had the right to foreclose.
Now one might argue that this bill (were it ever to pass) still has merit because it, like the Nevada bill, criminalizes foreclosure abuses and preparing other types of false mortgage documents (like HUD or FHA documentation), and not just for attorneys, but for other document preparers and their managers. Even so, Schneidermans bill is less bloody minded than Mastos. Hers had up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine per violation. By contrast, it takes five or more incidents of bad conduct in one year to get a class E felony conviction, which would lead to up to four years in prison...
MORE
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