Flawed Mortgage Fraud Prosecutions Result in Innocent Citizens Remaining in Jail
After the financial crisis in 2008, the Department of Justice funded so-called Mortgage Fraud task forces throughout the country. These joint federal-state task forces prosecuted real estate agents, sellers, buyers and loan officers for so-called mortgage fraud. All so-called mortgage fraud prosecutions were based on the same theory: that banks were duped into making mortgage loans that did not meet their lending guidelines. Fraud is defined as the concealment of a material fact from someone. So, for example, if I sell you my house and I know the basement leaks but I don’t tell you, and you purchase the property, you were defrauded because you paid more than you would have if you know about the basement’s true condition. There’s nothing illegal about selling a house with a leaky basement — as long as that’s disclosed and all parties have truthful information. In my case, I was tried two times on identical charges — that I duped banks like JP Morgan into making no money down loans that the bank did not permit. JP Morgan dispatched executives to inform jurors the bank only made loans that met its lending guidelines, that ‘no money down’ loans were not permitted and that they were an innocent victim of a mortgage fraud scheme.
But, wait! On November 19, 2013, JP Morgan paid $13 billion and admitted KNOWINGLY making loans that did not meet its lending guidelines then lying about that practice — just like they lied at both of my trials. JP Morgan also admitted KNOWINGLY made the very ‘no money down’ mortgage loans I supposedly tricked them into making. In America, we have a two-tiered justice system — one for rich people and big banks, and another for the rest of us. Banks buy their way out of criminal liability and offer false testimony in court to blame innocent citizens for their criminal activities.
Your thoughts or suggestions about how to convince the Justice Department to correct an obvious injustice are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for reading our blog!