Former Wells Fargo senior vice president, Cheronda Guyton’s personal use of a Miami home, unwittingly exposed an example of deceits associated with foreclosure. (Albeit, failure to pay a mortgage usually means valid loss of one’s home, like the Miami homeowner victims of Ponzi Scheme operator Bernie Madoff.) Evidence shows that a major agenda of lenders like Wells Fargo is to have distressed properties transferred out of borrowers’ names, after which those mortgage companies can flip, sometimes fraudulently, real estates. Also, easily verifiable facts prove that often various nonessential people (sometimes straw purchasers) get slices of a foreclosure ‘pie’ (pie used here to typify ‘case’); and in many situations when there’s this pie available, fraud, criminal extortion, and other illegal, outrageous activities becomes utilized to ensure homeowner becomes ousted. Further, Wells Fargo appears to have no qualms about blighted neighborhoods, especially if with each form 1099-A acquisition it files into the IRS, it receives tax credits and benefits –but there’s more!

Madoff said he would not have succeeded in committing his multibillion dollar scheme had people paid attention and took actions appropriate to Madoff’s right-in-front-your-face activities. For too long, the same has been true of WF. It’s like a fox guarding the hen house.

A somber look at certain deceptive mortgage lender practices will reveal that a critical objective of foreclosure is NOT necessarily so that the lender can regain its security interests by reselling properties, but rather for flipping, or for illegally receiving IRS tax advantages, or various frauds, or for deceiving Wall Street, or personal purposes such as Guyton’s (or perhaps Collin Equities), or any other participant connected with distressed property. When red flags flare such as the Guyton embarrassment, WF conducts its own investigation –and cover up.

Wells Fargo announced firing Guyton, and it stated that no one else (implausible!) was involved with Guyton. However, no explanation was provided as to how or why –since the property had not been put on the market for public sale– Collin Equities, according to Guyton, wound up owning that Miami property after the Elins signed the property over to Wells Fargo. Could it be that –in like manner as Wells Fargo does things down here in Louisiana– Collin Equities was the straw buyer for the Elins property, or did some sort of “simulated sale” occur whereby the property deed became conveyed to Collin? And, considering Guyton’s brass to use that home, and her reference to Collin Equities, could there have been kickbacks / quid pro quo activity between them or any other firm of which Guyton oversaw property ownership transfers? And by the way, since Ms. Guyton was “responsible for commercial foreclosed properties,” doesn’t that indicate the person who is responsible for Residential foreclosed properties permitted Guyton to have access to the Elin property? (I have no such proof about Guyton, but I do have proof how fraudulent foreclosure conveyances are done. There’s a lot more to be known about how foreclosure conveyances, and how it serves to prevent property from being available (like the unavailable Elins property) for public bid.

For too long, authorities have been satiated with Wells Fargo’s own internal inquiries –hopefully not because of enormous lobbying monies. Unlike Madoff, Wells Fargo has neither been caught, nor appropriate actions taken, despite in-your-face improprieties; and consumer complaints seem futile. Not until City Mayors (such as Baltimore) began suing WF, has there been such scrutiny serious enough to possibly unmask deliberate lending fraud.

In some foreclosure cases, through disguise of a mortgage company’s name, a “collection attorney” can be (and some illegally are) the actual foreclosing plaintiff. Thus, intended goals of getting property transferred out of a borrower’s name, and attorney acquisition of property (via straw purchasing) in lieu of, or in addition to billable fees become achieved. This white collar fraud is pervasive! Also, not only can there be money in illegal confiscations of property, there are also lots of billable hours to be racked up from litigating against parties who oppose wrongful taking of their commercial or residential properties. A detailed description about enormous money made from foreclosure litigation is contained in the Dallas, Texas third amended complaint of the lawsuit entitled: Super Future Equities versus Wells Fargo.

The reality that scores of lenders’ foreclosure cases including some of Wells Fargo’s are now being thrown out of court when lenders (via collection lawyers) file foreclosure or Bankruptcy court proceedings without proof of owning the note is another W F flag, especially since there is irrefutable evidence (see link below) that Wells Fargo intentionally engages in foreclosure frauds. Wherefore, it begs questions such as the following: How many people are unlawfully homeless, unlawfully evicted due to null foreclosure filings, or due to Bankruptcy Court “Lift Stay” motions that have been filed in the name of a lender which does not own the note, or a defunct lender? If courtroom judges simply give collection attorneys carte blanche approval to seize and sell [defaulted] property without judges bothering to determine whether the named mortgage company has lawful right to the property, how probable is it for an unscrupulous lawyer to use any company’s name to seize someone’s home? And how many lawyers (via straw buyers) wind up with those distressed properties until they flip them!? When mortgage companies receive form 1099-A tax advantages from the Internal Revenue; and when mortgage companies continually flip property while at the same time gain negotiable security for the same property, what incentive is there for such lenders to bother about blighted neighborhoods? Lastly, aside from the gust of foreclosures that were dismissed from courts, what untold numbers of people who lack legal knowledge or lack means to pay for legal representation have lost or will loose their homes unlawfully? For reasons such as the foregoing, a sweeping investigation of Wells Fargo is long overdue! Proof about Wells Fargo can be found via this web link:

http://www.lawgrace.org/2008/08/08/my-august-8-…

Barbara Ann Jackson
Law & Grace, Inc