Danny Schechter - ColdType

CHAPTER 10
wiTNEssEs FOr
THE prOsEcuTiON
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I
interviewed many homeowners who told me how they were
suckered. Each has his/her own story, but together, they testify
to a larger pattern based on false promises and deceptive
deals. Many victims like this can be found for public hearings
when and if there are any.
From my interviews:
Homeowner #1: “Most of the world is sleeping. They are
not aware of all the ins and outs of buying a house. They’re not
attorneys. They don’t know. We don’t know. It’s really up to
the guys that do know – the guys that are in those positions of
leadership. They should be helping us – the people that don’t
know. But the sad thing is, they’re just doing the opposite.
They are taking advantage of our lack of understanding.”
Homeowner #2: “If I’m paying $2800 a month for my home
I want to live next to J-Lo and Marc Anthony, not where I
live.”
Homeowner #3: “It started at 7%, now it’s 9.8. It keeps
going up and up. And we have no one to help us. This is the
reason I’m here today. I feel that we should not have to leave
our dream and our shelter. We don’t even understand why it’s
going up. It’s going in somebody’s pocket, but not ours.”
Homeowner #4: “I’m a person that’s trying to save my
house. I’m in foreclosure right now. I feel like someone’s hand
is in my pocket, and I just want a fair break, a fair shake at the
American dream.”
Moe Badnor specializes in forensic investigations of the
mortgage documents themselves. Eighty percent of the ones
he examined were fraudulent. I watched and filmed one ses-