Chain of Title (47 page)

16. Downfall

206
62 percent within a year:
Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, “Florida's High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess,”
New York Times
, September 4, 2010.

206
Orange and Osceola Counties completed 1,319 cases:
Ibid.

206
“clear the foreclosure cases”:
Kimberly Miller, “Extra Help Hired to Pare Caseload,”
Palm Beach Post
, July 8, 2010.

206
“What is this HAMP”:
Foreclosure Hamlet
, “Extra Extra Read All About It! Calling All Retired Judges for Easy Weekly Extra Money to Sit and Deny Deny Deny!!!” posted by user “Jen” on July 23, 2010.

206
“I know all about sickness, I know all about divorce”:
Rhonda Swan, “Legislature Did Not Approve $9.6 million for Judges to Listen Only to Lenders,”
Palm Beach Post
, September 23, 2010.

207
Attorney Greg Stopa saw a judge:
Mark Stopa, “When Do Judges Decide Who Wins a Foreclosure Case?” August 20, 2010,
www.stayinmyhome.com/blog/when-do-judges-decide-who-wins-a-foreclosure-case
.

207
Other summary judgments were entered without informing:
Jeff Barnes, “Florida Courts Out of Control: Summary Judgment Entered in Miami-Dade County Without a Hearing; ‘Hallway Hearings' in Broward County; and ‘Magistrate References' Without Consent in Lee County; Due Process Being Thrown Out the Window,” Foreclosure Defense Nationwide, September 15, 2010,
http://foreclosuredefensenationwide.com/?p=282
.

207
In Broward County they did it in the hallway:
Ibid.

207
her job was to “dispose of cases”:
Morgenson and Fabrikant, “Florida's High-Speed Answer.”

207
April got an email an hour later from Judge Soud:
Matt Taibbi, “Invasion of the Home Snatchers,”
Rolling Stone
, November 10, 2010.

208
Lisa contacted Laurence Tribe:
Charlie Savage, “For an Obama Mentor, A Nebulous Legal Niche,”
New York Times
, April 8, 2010.

208
4closureFraud
routinely posted depositions:
Michael Redman, “Bryan Bly, Is It a Lie? Robo-Signer for Nationwide Title,”
4closurefraud.org
, June 20, 2010; Michael Redman, “Cheryl Samons Notary Fraud? Full Deposition of David J. Stern's Notary Shannon Smith,”
4closurefraud.org
, July 16, 2010.

209
GMAC promised it would:
Order Granting Defendant's Motion for Sanctions,
TCIF REO2, LLC v. Martin L. Leibowitz
, Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, in and for Duval County, Florida, Case No. 16-2004-CA-4835-XXXX-MA, May 15, 2006, available at
https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/litigation/archibald-exhibits1-4.pdf
.

209
“It's too many entities for me to actually quote”:
Deposition of Jeffrey Stephan,
GMAC Mortgage v. Ann Michelle Perez et al
, Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, Case No. 50-2008-CA-040805XXXX-MB, December 10, 2009, available at
http://api.ning.com/files/s4SMwlZXvPu4A7kq7XQUsGW9xEcYtqNMPCm0a2hISJu88PoY6ZNqanX7XK41Fyf9gV8JIHDme7KcFO2cvHqSEMcplJ8vwnDT/091210gmacmortgagevsannmneu1.pdf
.

210
“The statements appearing herein are based”:
Sample of Affidavit in Support of Mortgage Indebtedness, available at
www.mortgage-investments.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/Sample%20Forms%20Downloads/2_affidavit-in-proof-of-claim.pdf
.

210
“These depositions would be comical if it weren't for the fact”:
Michael Redman, “Full Deposition of Jeffrey Stephan—GMAC's Assignment/Affidavit Slave—10,000 Documents a Month,”
4closurefraud.org
, March 22, 2010.

211
She lived in a tiny wood-framed house across from a construction site:
David Streitfeld, “From a Maine House, a National Foreclosure Freeze,”
New York Times
, October 14, 2010.

212
Ice Legal got Stephan to admit that Kwiatanowski was his boss:
Deposition of Jeffrey Stephan,
GMAC Mortgage v. Ann Michelle Perez et al
.

212
“I compare the principal balance. I review the interests”:
Oral deposition of Jeffrey Stephan,
Federal National Mortgage Association v. Nicolle M. Bradbury
, Maine District Court, District Nine, Division of North Cumberland, Docket No. BRI-RE-09-65,
June 7, 2010, available at
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/15mainestephandeposition.pdf
.

213
He posted the Stephan deposition on his site on June 15:
Matthew Weidner, “New Robo Signer Deposition Jeffrey Stephan,” June 15, 2010,
http://mattweidnerlaw.com/new-robo-signer-deposition-jeffrey-stephan
.

213
Michael Redman saw it and cross-posted it:
Redman, “2nd Deposition of Jeffrey Stephan.”

213
“When Stephan says in an affidavit”:
Martha Neil, “Humble Maine Home, Ex-Lawyer at Epicenter of Storm over Defective Docs in Foreclosure Cases,”
American Bar Association Journal
, October 15, 2010

213
“The Court is particularly troubled”:
Order on Four Pending Motions,
Federal National Mortgage Association v. Nicolle M. Bradbury
, Maine District Court, District Nine, Division of North Cumberland, Docket No. BRI-RE-09-65, September 24, 2010, available at
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/FourMotionsOrder.pdf
.

213
FDLG “has recently been notified”:
Notice in the case of
Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company v. Roberto J. Sanchez et al
., Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, Case No. 50-2008-CA-027182, September 7, 2010, available at
www.scribd.com/doc/37455360/FDLG-Admits-to-Violation-of-Professional-Conduct-Code-Jeffrey-Stephan-Affidavits-GM
AC. Also Michael Redman, “What, What!!! Re: Jeffrey Stephan of GMAC—Florida Default Law Group Admits to Violation of Professional Conduct Code,”
4closurefraud.org
, September 14, 2010.

214
Lisa put out an APB to her network:
Lisa Epstein, “Anthology of the Works of a Prolific Robosigner: Jeffrey Stephan of GMAC (Compilation in Progress),”
Foreclosure Hamlet
, September 14, 2010.

214
As Lynn was searching, she found a mortgage assignment:
Assignment of Mortgage, Clerk and Comptroller of Palm Beach County Public Records, book 23845, page 381, Recorded May 13, 2010.

214
Ramsey Harris:
George Andreassi, “Neighbors Aid Disabled Veteran Ripped Off During Eviction from Rocky Point House,”
Treasure Coast Palm
, September 17, 2010.

214
Liquenda Allotey, a known robo-signer, affirmed:
Michael Redman, “Now I Am Pissed—Disabled Vet Evicted, Home Trashed Out, Property Stolen by Jack Booted Thugs,”
4closurefraud.org
, September 19, 2010.

214
GMAC announced a suspension:
David Streitfeld, “GMAC Halts Foreclosures in 23 States for Review,”
New York Times
, September 20, 2010.

214
So did a reporter for the
Washington Post
:
Brady Dennis, “‘Robo-Signer' Played Quiet Role in Huge Number of Foreclosures,”
Washington Post
, September 22, 2010.

215
Paola Iuspa-Abbott of the
Daily Business Review
:
Paola Iuspa-Abbott, “Grassroots Effort Leads to Attorney General Probe,”
Daily Business Review
, September
7, 2010, available at
https://web.archive.org/web/20100911083631/http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=65012
.

215
Jeffrey Stephan's Ice Legal deposition:
Michael Redman, “Full Video Deposition of Jeffrey Stephan??? Assignment/Affidavit Slave,”
4closurefraud.org
, September 28, 2010.

215
“an advanced-age Beavis or Butt-head”:
Taibbi, “Invasion of the Home Snatchers.”

215
“That can't be real”:
Yves Smith, “Meet GMAC's Robo Signer Jeffrey Stephan,”
Naked Capitalism
(blog), September 30, 2010.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/09/meet-gmacs-robo-signer-jeffrey-stephan.html

215
“This deposition is even better than Jeffrey Stephan's depo”:
Michael Redman, “GMAC, You Ain't the Only One—Full Deposition of Beth Cottrell Chase Home Finance—Robo-Signer Extraordinaire,”
4closurefraud.org
, September 21, 2010.

216
“I have personal knowledge that my staff has personal knowledge”:
Michael Redman, “Full Deposition of Beth Cottrell Chase Home Finance—Robo-Signer Extraordinaire,”
4closurefraud.org
, May 27, 2010.

217
But most homeowners never mounted a defense:
Jennifer Brunner,
Cupcakes and Courage
(Columbus, OH: Little Blue Valiant, 2012), 527.

217
When Brunner got wind of this, she asked Dettelbach:
Jennifer Brunner referral letter to U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach re: Foreclosure Fraud, accessed at
www.scribd.com/doc/38478473/Jennifer-Brunner-Ohio-Secretary-of-State-Referral-Letter-to-U-S-District-Attorney-Steven-Dettelbach-RE-Foreclosure-Fraud
. Also Jennifer Brunner, “Notarize This: The Brewing Foreclosure Storm,”
Huffington Post
, October 1, 2010.

217
Chase Home Finance announced it would suspend:
David Streitfeld, “JP-Morgan Suspending Mortgage Foreclosures,”
New York Times
, September 29, 2010.

217
the Amazing Mystico:
Monty Python's Flying Circus
, episode 35, transcript available at
www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode35.htm
.

218
The next day Cha wrote an article:
Ariana Eunjung Cha, “Ally's Mortgage Documentation Problems Could Extend Beyond 23 States,”
Washington Post
, September 23, 2010.

218
Kim Miller at the
Palm Beach Post
published a tip:
Kimberly Miller, “More Foreclosure Affidavits Withdrawn as Another Document Signer Identified,”
Palm Beach Post
, September 27, 2010.

218
documents signed by Linda Green, the infamous DocX robo-signer:
Lisa Epstein, “Shaprio [
sic
] Fishman, ‘Linda Green of DocX Had No Signing Authority on Behalf of MERS,'”
Foreclosure Hamlet
, August 26, 2010.

218
Michael Olenick found Beth Cottrell's name attached:
Michael Redman, “Promiscuous Girl Beth Cottrell—Looks Like She Had Multiple Partners (Banks),”
4closurefraud.org
, October 1, 2010.

218
“The GMAC announcement was the mushroom cloud”:
Streitfeld, “JPMorgan Suspending Mortgage Foreclosures.”

218
Curing a defective mortgage would cost you $12.95:
Michael Redman, “Psst. Hey You, Yea, You. I Got Just What You Need. Lender Processing Services' DOCX Document Fabrication Price Sheet,”
4closurefraud.org
, October 2, 2010.

218
As finance blogger Yves Smith of
Naked Capitalism
explained:
Yves Smith, “4closurefraud Posts DocX Mortgage Document Fabrication Price Sheet,”
Naked Capitalism
(blog), October 3, 2010.

218
“If you're right, we're fucked”:
Yves Smith, “FUBAR Mortgage Behavior: Florida Banks Destroyed Notes; Others Never Transferred Them,”
Naked Capitalism
(blog), September 27, 2010.

219
both Jason Grodensky and Fannie Mae owned the home:
Harriet Johnson Brackey, “Lauderdale Man's Home Sold Out from Under Him in Foreclosure Mistake,” Fort Lauderdale
Sun-Sentinel
, September 23, 2010.

219
Bank of America foreclosing on another house with no mortgage:
Lee Weisbecker, “Cooper: BofA Foreclosed on Homeowner Who Paid Cash,”
Triangle Business Journal
, October 7, 2010.