Goldman Sachs May Be "Home Free" Again!

When the Rule of Law is ignored and when forgery and other frauds become a reason to impose a fine on a company as though it had merely parked in the wrong zone, then we have very unhappy and frustrated citizens.  And so it is that Goldman Sachs may just have to pay a fine rather than answer for fraud and forgery it committed if the administration and the states' Attorneys General have their way.

What does Goldman Sachs learn from being fined for forgery and other abuses performed during foreclosures?  It learns to keep just enough money on hand to pay for a few millions of dollars in fines for breaking the rules and for forging documents.

This recommendation cannot make the foreclosed homeowners feel safe.  Goldman would hardly seem "pushed" to agree to such a mortgage settlement as it is a "get out of jail free" card for forgery that is euphemistically called "robo-signing."

Since when does fraud get called "unsafe and unsound practice?"  The pass for Goldman Sachs and seven other firms comes from deep within the Federal Reserve--from the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs which recommends this way of treating fraud.

In return for its fine, all Goldman will have to do is promise not to be bad again, and again, and again, and again--ad infinitum.  That will teach Goldman to behave!

And who represents the lonely foreclosed upon homeowner when the AGs and the government make deals with banks that commit fraud?

Fed may fine firms not part of foreclosure deal
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg - The New York Times

Federal regulators are poised to crack down on eight financial firms that are not part of the recent government settlement over home foreclosure practices involving sloppy, inaccurate or forged documents. 

Last week, a senior Federal Reserve official recommended fines for these additional financial institutions, raising questions about how deep foreclosure problems run through the banking industry.

In addition, judges, lawyers and advocates for homeowners say that people are still losing their homes despite improper documentation and other flaws in the foreclosure process often involving these firms.

The eight firms cited by the Federal Reserve — HSBC’s United States bank division, SunTrust Bank, MetLife, U.S. Bancorp, PNC Financial Services, EverBank, OneWest and Goldman Sachs — should be fined for “unsafe and unsound practices in their loan servicing and foreclosure processing,” Suzanne G. Killian, a senior associate director of the Federal Reserve’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, told lawmakers last month in a House Oversight Committee hearing in Brooklyn.

The recommendation is the culmination of an investigation begun nearly two years ago over accusations that bank representatives had been churning through hundreds of documents a day in foreclosure proceedings without reviewing them for accuracy, a practice known as robo-signing.

Some see the Fed’s recommendation as an attempt to push these firms to agree to the terms of the broader mortgage settlement involving the state attorneys general and federal officials. During those settlement talks, federal regulators contacted other institutions in hopes that they would also agree to the terms, according to people briefed on the negotiations. 

Read the whole article here