Subject: Fwd: MS response to WSJ
From: "Beau" <[email-masked]>
To: "Kaufman Ted" <[email-masked]>, "Snyder-Mackler Alex" <[email-masked]>, "Biden Hunter" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 22:37:40 -0500

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Lefkon Owen (DOJ)" <[email-masked]>
> Date: January 8, 2012 8:49:15 PM EST
> To: "McConnel Ian R (DOJ)" <[email-masked]>, 'BB' <[email-masked]>
> Subject: MS response to WSJ
> 
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513604577142613899357438.html?KEYWORDS=coakley
> 
> Massachusetts Is Right to Act on Fraudulent Mortgages
> 
> Your editorial "Coakley for the Housing Crisis" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204770404577080394006327420.html?mod=article-outset-box (Jan. 3) 
> does a great disservice to homeowners across this country by dismissing countless unlawful foreclosures by the banks as mere "sloppy paperwork" and "processing errors."
> 
> The fact is that after being bailed out by taxpayers during the economic collapse, the banks compounded the damage by failing to follow the basic rules of law before foreclosing on homeowners. The large banks fraudulently signed foreclosure documents, made deceptive and false promises to provide loan modifications and unlawfully foreclosed on homeowners without even holding the mortgages.
> 
> If the banks wanted to resolve this crisis in a timely manner, they had 14 months to do so. Instead, they dragged out negotiations and attempted to obtain broad liability releases for seemingly every imaginable illegal conduct. Last month we declared "enough was enough" and filed a lawsuit seeking the one thing the banks have resisted at every stage—real accountability for their actions and real relief for homeowners.
> 
> Resolving this foreclosure crisis is essential to restoring a healthy economy. That only will occur after the banks acknowledge the devastation they have caused and listen to those seeking accountability. Through our lawsuit, that voice for accountability is even louder.
> 
> Martha Coakley
> Massachusetts
> Attorney General
> Boston
> 
> Sloppy paperwork? No, fraudulent paperwork, and let's not blame Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley for prolonging the pain for homeowners. Let's blame the real culprits who have filed to date 31,897 fraudulent documents in my Registry of Deeds alone. I challenge anyone who comes to see these stacks of documents to honestly say that this crime scene is merely "sloppy" paperwork. The real pain for homeowners is the havoc that these lenders have wreaked on the chains of title and property rights.
> 
> The solution is not to allow the lenders that created a "cyber" registry for their own self-profit to be slapped on the wrist for using fraudulent documents and for failing to record assignments of mortgages. I have been fighting for the "little guy" and I am very happy that the Massachusetts's AG has chosen to do the same.
> 
> John L. O'Brien
> Southern Essex District Register of Deeds
> Salem, Mass