FOX News ran a story this morning entitled “Countrywide Ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo Charged With Fraud” by reporters Peter Barnes and Joanna Ossinger. My first thought was “Well, it’s about time!” My second reaction was to wonder “Where were the regulators?”
In the years leading up to the mortgage meltdown, foreclosure epidemic, and global economic crisis, rampant fraud was being perpetrated across the United States and probably around the world, too. We have regulators in place to monitor banking and investment activities, so where were they? Where were they when Countrywide and other mortgage lenders, driven by greed, were systematically transforming the American Dream into a nightmare? Were were they when Bernie Madoff was fleecing investors? How could a handful of individuals and companies hijack and wreck the largest economy in the world?
Aren’t regulators supposed to prevent these sorts of things from happening?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Mr. Kraynak:
I found your website by accident while doing research on the role played by real estate fraud in the origin of the housing and mortgage debacle. I fully agree with your remarks on the absence of effecttive and honest regulators, especially in regard to the real estate industry, which considers itself beyond all legal and ethical restraint. I speak from personal experience, since I was victimized in 2005 by a “presumed buyers agent” in Maryland, working for Weichert Realty, who abruptly switched roles at the very last minute to become a sellers agent without my informed consent. I brought a lawsuit against that company for consumer fraud; you can find numerous references to my case by going to Google and typing in “Joel Stern”, then “Weichert”; there are some 200 blogs and websites that touch on this matter, which affects every home buye and seller. Please contact me if you want more information about my case and its relevance to consumer rights in the housing market.
Best regards,
Joel Stern
202-261-8812 (9-5 EST); 301-588-7426 (home)
Hi, Joel–
Wow, that’s certainly hitting below the belt. One of my clients is a Realtor, and he’s careful to recommend that sellers hire a seller’s agent and buyers hire a buyer’s agent to protect their respective interests. It’s sort of like having a prosecutor and a defense attorney battle it out in a courtroom to achieve justice. The seller’s agent tries to get the best deal for the seller, while the buyer’s agent tries to negotiate a lower price and better terms for the buyer.
When the seller’s agent and buyer’s agent are working in cahoots, it’s sort of like having a defense attorney handing his notes over to the prosecutor. Attorneys get disbarred for that sort of thing!
I wish you the best on your law suit. Hopefully, your case will put these folks out of business and serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the industry.
My Kraynak:
I fully agree with your remarks about the “absence of honest and effective regulators in the real estate industry ” and with Joel Stern’s comment, that “the real estate industry considers itself beyond all legal and ethical restraint,” especially the big, bad Weichert Realtors — which in cahoots with an attorney who has a grudge against me, is forcing me to fight for my well-being, homelessness and survival right now! In fact, while I — a fifty-seven (57) year-old woman, have committed no crime, and I am the sole caretaker of the property — paying and doing everything — alone unaided, the attorney is placing the funds from the sale of the property in his personal trust account! His intention is to prevent me from controlling the funds (which I have a right to do as co-administrator) to keep me from being properly compensated for all my hard work! This attorney is representing my sister, the other co-administrator, who cannot perform her duties because she is a physician who lives six (6) hours away in another city and state — Buffalo, New York. Even though I have cited cases permitting me to be the sole administrator, my sister’s attorney, a municipal court judge who is also representing Weichert Realtors, is being allowed to run rampant, to do whatever he pleases!
The sale involves the Estate of Annie L. Cole, my late mother. Since the sale is court-ordered, the attorney and Weichert Realtors feel they have a license to do whatever they want! I planned to buy the property from my siblings but was prevented from doing so by corruption. Like Mr. Stern, I am being victimized by a Weichert agent who acquired my signature to act as a dual agent illegally “without informed consent,” under fraud, duress and coercion. To keep me from rescinding the contract in the normal three-day period for breaking a contract, the agent withheld all the contracts for over a month. When my attorney finally received them, the bottoms were cut off. I had him write a letter to the agent rescinding the “undisclosed” dual agency, and I faxed it to the agent. Immediately, agents unified as a team, especially Weichert ones, against my best interests to manufacture a fraudulent case to have me removed as co-administrator and/or evicted — even though I am on the deed! They began calling me, demanding to show the house instantly, hoping I would say “no.” When I did not, one agent called, claiming that he was bringing a client but showed up alone. Without producing identification, he entered the house, peeked in a room or two, then began listening to my telephone conversation. You can imagine how I felt with a strange man standing close to me in my own home! Another agent came and brought two female clients, who clearly knew that the house was being sold as part of an estate. Among other things, they started asking me questions about whether my personal belongings — my art, car and furniture were being sold with house. It was clear that they were there to entrap me in some way. Frankly, I believe that they were not real buyers, but friends and relatives of the agents and laywer. That they were, in fact, setting me up was confirmed when the agents filed certifications for the attorney to introduce in court. One agent even fabricated a tale that I put a screen over the lock box! (I have a picture that proves the truth!) The lawyer and Weichert Realtors are forcing me in-and-out of court — frivilously and maliciously to harass me to force me to give up and move. They are also trying to drain all the equity out of the property so it will go into foreclosure. Their behavior is adversely affecting my health. I have sprained my ankle and I am breaking out in hives that leave scars. It is absolutely outrageous that these people can get away with breaking any and every law that applies to them. The worse part is, no one will stand up for me. No one will help me! The news media looks the other way!
“Please contact me too if you are interested in acquiring any more information about my case, its relevance to consumer rights in the housing market” or whatever. I hope you get this email, because I am being blocked in every way immaginable.
Francine Cole
(973) 539-9286
(973) 539-9286