Danny Schechter - ColdType

General Andrew Cuomo labels as a scam “in its entirety.” (His
emphasis!)
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They have also been closing down and suing violators of
“deceptive tactics to market their mortgage modification and
home foreclosure relief services,” including firms that marketed
their services by giving what the FTC calls, “the false impression
they were affiliated with the federal government.”
In July 2009, even as the growing number of foreclosures
were called the “single biggest threat to economic recovery,”
25 of the country’s top mortgage servicers were dragging their
feet or refusing to modify loans despite the fact that many
were made in a fraudulent way or that the government had
provided them with incentives through a program called Making
Homes Affordable that would give them $1000 per mortgage
to keep people in their homes.
These companies, which benefited financially because of the
pervasive fraud in the industry – even when they didn’t commit
it directly – were claiming it was not profitable enough for
them to bring relief to most at-risk homeowners.
The remedies have been inadequate, as has the monitoring
of all this fraud nationwide. The FDIC told Congress in March
2009:
Vice Chairman Martin Gruenberg called for those responsible
for the current housing crisis to be held accountable.
Gruenberg noted that there are currently 4,375 mortgage
fraud claims (at the FDIC alone) under investigation and an
additional 900 civil mortgage fraud lawsuits are expected to
be filed over the next three years.
The FDIC representative informed the committee that defendants
in civil lawsuit cases have primarily been mortgage brokers,
appraisers, closing attorneys and other closing agents,
as well as title companies, title insurance companies, and
other third parties that participated in mortgage fraud against
FDIC-insured banks and thrifts.