11-01-28 Whatever Happened to the Rule of Law? - Ron Kay L.A. // Ninguna ley de los Ángeles // 没有在美国洛杉矶法

Whatever Happened to the Rule of Law?

By 

Ron Kaye

 on January 28, 2011 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

Jill Stewart at the LA Weekly asks the right question about disclosure that the LAUSD cop faked the shooting that closed down El Camino Real High and much of Woodland Hills last week as 350 LAPD officers searched for a phantom suspect:

"When is an outside investigation going to do a full and long overdue look at the nasty stuff unfolding inside this non-transparent police department overseen by the Los Angeles Unified School Board -- which can't oversee third-grade recess with consistent success?"

Disclosure that Officer Jeff Stenross actually shot himself comes as another LAUSD police incident has prompted a protest at noon today at District Attorney Steve Cooley's office.

The case involves Verdugo Hills High student Jeremy Marks, an 18-year-old African-American who was arrested last May and jailed for eight months on felony "lynching" charges on high bail involving what at worst seems a minor incident involving LAUSD Officer Erin Robles.

Cooley's office led raids Wednesday by up to 30 LAPD cops on Marks' Lakeview Terrace home and on the home of a student who recorded the skirmish last May and posted it on YouTube -- a video that seems to show Robles was at fault, and Marks was innocent.

With the possibility of Marks being exonerated and LAUSD and Cooley facing huge legal liability, the raids in which computers, cell phones, cameras and papers were seized and the homes left in upheaval clearly was a desperate attempt to try to find  anything that will bolster the case against Marks.

The case has inflamed racial tensions that have been exacerbated by the heavy-handed raids in which officers closed off neighborhoods and refused to show search warrants for up to 45 minutes.

Organizers of the protest today at 210 West Temple St. are accusing the DA of "Gestapo tactics" and demanding a full, independent investigation.

"These raids bring to mind what it must be like to live in a police state," said Celes King, director of the Congress on Racial Equality, said in a statement announcing the protest. "DA Cooley is on a fishing expedition. Nine months after the incident, it is hard to understand why he would need to order a vicious raid on an African-American family's home to gather evidence that has been available since May."

In a personal letter Thursday to Cooley, King appealed to the DA to take charge of the situation before it leads to demands for a federal civil rights investigation that would go far beyond the Marks' case.

"The reality is your office has created a fiasco out of a case that should have been summarily dismissed through a series of inept actions designed to umbrella a fishing expedition to justify unwarranted actions at a tremendous cost to the taxpayers of this county. It is time to stop this charade of justice that has in fact violated several areas of constitutional protections."

Whatever happened to the rule of law?

We are living in extraordinary time of a long-term economic crisis with enduring high unemployment yet crime by ordinary citizens is at a generational low point and abuses of the law by officials is at an all-time high.

A cop who fakes a shooting, police and prosecutor abuses of basic civil rights, a mayor who goes unpunished for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts, a Councilman indicted for voter fraud, a Community Redevelopment Agency that scoffs at the law, defies the governor and gives away the city's wealth to the rich -- the list goes on and on.

It's all pretty bizarre when the besieged public is law-abiding and the privileged government is making a mockery of the laws they write and enforce.

11-01-27 US financial crisis was 'avoidable' // investigación del colapso bancario de los EE.UU. // 美国银行倒闭调查

Notice: The language from the panel, quoted in the report below is considered an indication of further cover up. The evidence is overwhelming of criminality as the cause of the financial crisis, and any attempt to present it as administrative incompetency or otherwise, should not be taken as honest.

_________

Congressionally appointed panel investigating financial meltdown in 2008 says crisis could have been avoided.

A congressionally appointed panel investigating the roots of the US financial crisis in 2008 has said that the meltdown occurred because regulators, politicians and bankers ignored warning signs and failed to manage risks.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) said in its final report released on Thursday that the crisis could have been avoided.

Instead, the US fell into the deepest recession since the 1930s, with millions of Americans losing their jobs.

The former Bush and Clinton administrations, the current and previous Federal Reserve chairmen, and  Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, all bear some responsibility for allowing the crisis to happen, the panel said.

"This financial crisis could have been avoided. Let us be clear. This calamity was the result of human action, inaction and misjudgment, not of mother nature or computer models gone haywire," Phil Angelides, the FCIC chairman, said.

"The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and importantly failed to question and understand and to manage the evolving risks in a financial system that is so essential to the well being of our country.

"Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble."

The report comes six months after congress implemented regulatory legislation to respond to the crisis before the commission was able to conclude its investigation.

'Systematic' failure

The report concluded that the crisis was caused by a number of factors, including a dramatic breakdown in corporate governance and risk management, and a government ill-prepared to handle the crisis.

It also cited the adoption of risky trading and borrowing practices by corporations, and a breach of accountability and ethics.

The report was highly critical of the amount of financial deregulation overseen by Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

John Thompson, a FCIC member, said: "Unquestionably in our minds, there were actions that could have been taken by regulators that would have forestalled or mitigated the impact of this crisis.

"The Federal Reserve was clearly the steward of lending standards in this country. They chose not to act.

"The Federal Reserve Bank of NY certainly could have reigned in what was being done in some of the large money centre banks in NY.

"I mean on and on and on. Regulator after regulator, they either chose not to act or turned a blind eye to what was actually going on.

"So, it's less about a particular individual than a systematic sense of deregulation and inaction by those who were in power to take action."

11-01-29 Windsor v Maid of the Mist (10-A690) in the US Supreme Court – Opined as “Shell Game Fraud” by the Court // Fraude en los EE.UU. Corte Suprema de Justicia // 欺诈在美国最高法院

"Maybe Justice Thomas indeed denied your application, may not... maybe there is a valid record of the denial, certified by Justice Thomas, may there is none... what form the records of the US Supreme Court are in, the People are not permitted to know...."
  
Justice Clarence Thomas and Clerk William Suter
US Supreme Court

Los Angeles, January 29, 2011 - earlier this week Joseph Zernik, PhD, of Human Rights Alert (NGO) has  filed request with the US Congress for impeachment of US Supreme Court Clerk William Suter. [[i]] The request was based on allegations of violations of the Oath of Office and deprivation of rights by Clerk Suter:

• Denial of the rights to access Supreme Court record (both paper and electronic) to inspect and to copy;
• Denial of the right for valid notice and service of orders and decisions of the Court.

The request for impeachment was based on analysis of:

• Letters, received by applicants and petitioners in a series of cases, where individuals alleged abuse by government or by large corporations, and
• Denial of access to the Supreme Court files in the same cases.  

 Of particular concern were cases, which originated from Habeas Corpus petitions, or allegations of corruption of the lower courts.

On Friday, January 28, Mr Windsor, the applicant in one of the cases, provided Dr Zernik with a series of new records, which he had received by mail from the office of Clerk Suter over the previous two weeks. [[ii]] 

Upon review of the new records, Dr Zernik, suggested that a January 13, 2011 letter, signed by Staff Attorney Danny Bickell, purporting to notice the denial of Mr Windsor's application on the same date by Justice Thomas, was likely to be a case of fraud by the Court.  Dr Zernik is not an attorney, but he has accumulated extensive experience in analyzing fraud in the state and US courts, and his opinions were often supported by leading national and international experts in the related fields. [[iii]]

The reasons for the suspicion of fraud by the Court in the January 13, 2011 letter were the following:

• Bickell is not Deputy Clerk. 
• Bickell did not sign the January 13, 2011, as "Deputy Clerk", either. 
• Therefore, the January 13, 2011, letter should not be deemed as a valid notice by the office of Clerk Suter. 
• No valid record, certified by Justice Thomas was attached to the January 13, 2011 letter by Bickell.
• Similar letters, which were issued by Bickell in other cases, had no foundation in valid records in US Supreme Court paper files.
• Unauthorized conduct by Mr Bickell in other cases, which was the basis for a July 2010 complaint of public corruption and deprivation of rights. [[iv]]   

In order to disambiguate the nature of the conduct of the office of Clerk Suter in Mr Windsor's application (10-A690), Dr Zernik suggested that Mr Windsor file a request with Justice Thomas.  The suggested request is for Due Process notice and service of whatever Justice Thomas and Clerk Suter consider the valid record, certified by Justice Thomas, of the January 13, 2011 denial of Mr Windsor's application.

Dr Zernik noted that inherent to the suspected fraud by the court in the case, are the vague and ambiguous conditions, which were created in the US Supreme Court, following the transitions to electronic management: 

• The office of Clerk Suter has recently denied access to the paper files in a series of cases, including an application by Mr Windsor (10-A404).  
• Previous inspections of US Supreme Court files demonstrated that no valid records are maintained in the paper court files any longer.  
• The office of Clerk Suter entirely denies access to electronic court file records.
• The US Supreme Court has failed to publish any rules pertaining to the nature of its electronic records and valid certifications by the justices in them.

Dr Zernik opined that such vague and ambiguous conditions of the US Supreme Court records, in themselves, amount to "Shell Game Fraud", or a "Confidence Trick".

Dr Zernik concluded his January 29 letter to Mr Windsor:

Maybe Justice Thomas indeed denied your application, may not... maybe there is a valid record of the denial, certified by Justice Thomas, may there is none... what form the records of the US Supreme Court are in, the People are not permitted to know.... 

LINKS
[i] 11-01-25 Request for Impeachment of US Supreme Court Clerk William Suter
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47539382/
[ii] 11-01-29 William M. Windsor v. Maid of the Mist Corporation, at al. (10-A690) in the Supreme Court of the United States: a) Suggested request for a valid record of denial, certified by Justice Thomas, and b) Records provided on January 28, 2011 by Mr Windsor
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47773731/
[iii] 11-01-06 Joseph Zernik, PhD, Biographical Sketch
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46421113/
[iv] 10-07-01 Complaint against US Supreme Court Counsel Danny Bickell Alleged Public Corruption and Deprivation of Rights
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33772313/ 

11-01-27 Further Cover-Up of Criminality by Financial Institutions? //Además Cover Up de criminalidad por las Instituciones Financieras // 进一步覆盖的犯罪由金融机构

JANUARY 27, 2011

Financial Crisis Archive Stirs Fear of Class Actions

The commission set up by Congress to dig into the U.S. financial crisis is releasing more than its final report today, as it begins putting online a trove of investigative documents.

Lawyers for companies at the center of the crisis have wondered what might become of the documents, given that, as The National Law Journal reported in August, they had been internal to the companies and could be of interest to the plaintiffs’ bar. Many of those companies have already been battling proposed securities class actions.

The archive appears on the Web site of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and hundreds of documents are already up, including testimony and court filings. At a news conference this morning, Phil Angelides, the commission’s chairman and a former California state treasurer, said the commission would be posting more, including “research and investigative documents, audio and transcripts.”

Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, criticized that plan. “The commission’s final report and its pledge to post raw materials — apparently including information obtained from companies as well as other government agencies — is an astounding abuse of process that would effectively create a government-sanctioned Wikileaks,” Rickard said in a formal statement today.

Angelides did not address those concerns during the news conference, and a spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment this afternoon.

Last year, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) took aim at one of the commission’s members, Byron Georgiou, and a staff member, Christopher Seefer, because they are on leave from plaintiffs firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd. The firm handles some securities litigation. Georgiou is of counsel there, while Seefer, who was the commission’s director of investigations, is a partner.

At the time, Angelides responded that there was no conflict of interest because commission policies prohibit staff members from disclosing information the commission hasn’t itself released.

Posted by David Ingram on January 27, 2011 at 02:40 PM in Legal Business, Politics and Government | Permalink

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11-01-28 Maryland, Massachusetts Courts Attempt to Control Foreclosure Fraud // Ejecución de una hipoteca Fraude // 赎诈骗

This Maryland class action ruling requires Lenders to file new foreclosure suits under new statutes that require mediation, modification and other remediation attempts.

The class action in Massachusetts resumes with the SJC Ibanez ruling.

QUESTION:

Do you have any robo-signer named C. FETNER, CATHY FETNER or CATHERINE FETNER in your database or in documents you've seen? Fetner signed as a principal at Hanover Capital Partners for WAMU (where later she was Risk Manager), and Edison Decisioning (sharing same address as Hanover Capital) in Edison, NJ. She may have been involved in creating or spinning off ALLON HILL (a "due diligence" firm which sprang up when gaps in assignment chains needed filling). Her specialty seems to have been "due diligence" which we take to now mean fabricating documents to fill in the gaps in these assignment chains. She is currently at JPM Chase. In one document we first examined four years ago, Cathy Fetner's signature (in NJ) appears on an assignment from Bank United to WAMU dated the day of the Miami closing. The law mill that proffered this fake additional document did so AFTER WAMU became part of JPMChase. US Bank National Association became trustee of of SASCO 5 RF 5, the fund that supposedly contained the loan in question when it was still at Lehman Brothers. There was no mention of Lehman Brothers on any assignment. The judge in Miami asked "so what?" when this and other frauds and forgeries were brought to her attention. PLEASE PASS THIS QUESTION ON.

RSVP

Allan O'Brien Denchfield

 

Archive for January, 2011

Maryland Class Action stops 10,000 GMAC foreclosures

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

by David Dayen posted on DinsFla site

In a major ruling Friday, a coalition of nonprofit defense lawyers and consumer protection advocates in Maryland successfully got over 10,000 foreclosure cases managed by GMAC Mortgage tossed out, because affidavits in the cases were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, the infamous GMAC “robo-signer” who attested to the authenticity of foreclosure documents without any knowledge about them, as well as signing other false statements.

The University of Maryland Consumer Protection Clinic and Civil Justice, Inc., a nonprofit, filed the class action lawsuit, arguing that any case using Jeffrey Stephan as a signer was illegitimate and must be dismissed. In court Friday, GMAC agreed to dismiss every case in Maryland relying on a Stephan affidavit. They can refile foreclosure actions on the close to 10,000 homes, but only at their own expense, and subject to new Maryland regulations which require mandatory mediation between borrower and lender before moving to foreclosure. Civil Justice and the Consumer Protection Clinic also want any cases with affidavits from Xee Moua of Wells Fargo, who has also admitted to robo-signing, thrown out, but that case has not yet been settled.

This was not the plan of GMAC and other banks caught using robo-signers last year. They hoped to undergo a pause in proceedings, run a quick “double-check” and then issue substitute documents in the same cases. That would have been a much more rapid solution for the banks and would have resulted in many more foreclosures. Now GMAC has to go back and basically file the entire case all over again, meaning they have to give notice of foreclosure to the borrower, engage the borrower in modification options, and basically run through the whole process from the beginning. They cannot use the shortcut solution, thanks to the class action suit filed. GMAC’s dismissal of every foreclosure in Maryland shows their doubts they would have won the class action.

My questions are pretty simple, if one robo signer in one state caused 10,000 foreclosures to stop dead in their tracks what happens when exposing all robo signers (we know of at least 430) are used in all states to stop illegal foreclosures?  Or used to have the foreclosures unwound?   What happens to those who have already been foreclosed upon using an illegal robo signed substitution of trustees or assignments to foreclosure.   What title insurance companies are about to eat a huge pile of predatory lender seasoned crapola?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ibanez Massachusetts Decision Fallout Starting

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Great Article from Bloomberg..

Massachusetts Foreclosure Class Action to Resume Manson v GMAC

By Thom Weidlich – Jan 10, 2011 4:56 PM ET

A statewide class action in which Massachusetts homeowners accuse U.S. Bancorp and Ally Financial Inc. of faulty foreclosures will resume now that the state’s high court ruled in a similar case last week.

The litigation was on hold while the Supreme Judicial Court decided whether state law required foreclosures to be conducted by the mortgage owner. The high court ruled Jan. 7 in U.S. Bank v. Ibanez that an industry practice allowing post-foreclosure assignments violated state law.

“This is a statewide class action and it’s going to bring relief to all of the people who are dispossessed homeowners in many instances,” Kevin Costello, a lawyer for the borrowers, said in a telephone interview today. Costello today filed a motion to restart evidence gathering in the case.

Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed.

Unwinding of foreclosures may lead to loan workouts with homeowners or force originators to buy back loans that ended up in mortgage-backed securities.

Teri Charest, a U.S. Bancorp spokeswoman, didn’t have an immediate comment. The Minneapolis-based company was sued as overseer of a mortgage-backed trust.

Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for Detroit-based Ally Financial, didn’t have an immediate comment.

Halt RequestIn July, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston granted the defendants’ request to halt the class action until the high court ruled in Ibanez.  Banks and law firms had been conducting foreclosures in the state before mortgages were transferred to them under a 1995 “title standard” by the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts, a group of closing attorneys, that condoned the practice.

“It was basically created by the real-estate bar without adequate foundation,” said Costello of Roddy Klein & Ryan in Boston. “It became an enabler for people who wanted to do business the way they wanted to do business.”

The homeowners in the class-action, or group, lawsuit said their foreclosures were also brought by the wrong party, often because of the process of securitization — bundling mortgages into trusts that issue bonds.

‘Clearly Establishes’  The Ibanez ruling “pretty clearly establishes that our theory of the case is correct,” Costello said. “The securitization machinery didn’t allow for individualized treatment of these kinds of loans and so the sort of standard industry practice was foreclose first and assign later.”

The case has two classes of borrowers, he said: those whose foreclosures were started though not completed and those with completed foreclosures.

The homeowners sued Ally unit GMAC Mortgage and U.S. Bancorp unit U.S. Bank. Other defendants include EMC Mortgage, now owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and two foreclosure law firms, Harmon Law Offices PC in Newton and Ablitt Scofield PC in Woburn.  Lawrence Scofield of Ablitt Scofield said his firm worked on only one of the foreclosure cases involved and it didn’t concern a late mortgage assignment, as in Ibanez.“These are all naked allegations and as far as I know we followed standard, normal foreclosure practice,” he said.Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan, declined to comment.   Andrew Harmon of the Harmon firm didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

The case is Manson v. GMAC Mortgage LLC, 08-cv-12166, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).  To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in Brooklyn, New York, federal court at tweidlich@bloomberg.net.