Foreclosuregate Update: The Banksters of Wall Street to Evade Justice – Again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have said from the very beginning that the standard of justice needs to be "somebody's going to emergency, somebody's going to jail" when it comes to cleaning up the banksters of Wall Street. Unfortunately, the accumulation of great wealth in the hands of a very few on Wall Street means that they have an inordinate amount of influence over both political parties. They are above the law.

The New York Times reports Schneiderman is said to face pressure to back bank deal:

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices, according to people briefed on discussions about the deal.

In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement, said the people briefed on the talks.

Mr. Schneiderman and top prosecutors in some other states have objected to the proposed settlement with major banks, saying it would restrict their ability to investigate and prosecute wrongdoing in a variety of areas, including the bundling of loans in mortgage securities.

But Mr. Donovan and others in the administration have been contacting not only Mr. Schneiderman but his allies, including consumer groups and advocates for borrowers, seeking help to secure the attorney general’s participation in the deal, these people said. One recipient described the calls from Mr. Donovan, but asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.

It does not help that Obama's economic advisors are drawn from Goldman Sachs and Citibank, two of the most corrupt banksters of Wall Street. Who would have thought that it would ever come to this? A country at the mercy of the corrupt banksters of Wall Street.

The New York Times editorial board opines that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman shouldn't go along with the Obama administration's, and Iowa AG Tom Miller's, efforts to have a broad settlement of their ongoing foreclosure fraud investigation. NYT editorial says Schneiderman shouldn’t go along with foreclosure settlement:

The Times ed board then rebuffs HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who has been pressuring Schneiderman to stop rocking the boat. The Times doesn't get all their facts right – the settlement in discussion isn't for a narrow immunization around robosigning. But what's most impressive, beyond them calling out the Obama administration's efforts to help Wall Street avoid investigation and accountability, is how the Times accurately calls the settlement inadequate and one of the weakest options out there for helping homeowners.

The administration also says that the proposed settlement would require the banks to write down the principal balance on underwater loans. According to news reports, the banks are likely to pay around $20 billion in the deal. With 14.6 million homeowners owing $753 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, how far does the administration think $20 billion would go?

The administration should pursue principal reductions for stressed borrowers, and it could do so immediately by calling on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance the underwater loans of borrowers who are current in their payments. What it shouldn’t do is pretend that the proposed settlement is the only — or best — way to get quick relief to homeowners.

The numbers being tossed around with the foreclosure fraud settlement are tiny. Even at ten times what's being talked about, the settlement figure, which would be spread across five major banks, would be inadequate. And the administration already has tools at its disposal to directly benefit underwater homeowners. They're just refusing to use them.

Unless the Attorney General of New York stands firm and goes forward with prosecutions of the banksters of Wall Street (New York's securities laws are tougher than federal securities laws), the banksters of Wall Street will evade justice – again. Not one of them has been prosecuted for the giant Ponzi scheme of casino capitalism they created on Wall Street which nearly destroyed the financial system and the world's economy. Not one of them has been held accountable for their reckless fraudulent actions and brought to justice. The casino capitalism of Wall Street is still in place and it is only a question of time until these self-described 'smartest guys in the room" blow it all up again.