A bomb squad was called to a Miami neighborhood Tuesday evening after a man found squatters with drugs, a handgun, grenades, and a pig inside his home.

Miami police said an out-of-state homeowner arrived to his Miami home at 2021 SW 37th Ave. and discovered two people, who police said were squatting, inside.

When police arrived, they found cocaine, marijuana, a handgun, ten grenades, and a pig inside the house.

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Three big banks were hit on Friday with yet another lawsuit related to wrongful foreclosures. Democratic New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed suit against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo for deceptive and fraudulent use of a private database used to register mortgages, according to a Friday press release from his office.

Schneiderman has been outspoken in urging the Obama administration to hold the nation’s largest financial institutions accountable for their role in the foreclosure crisis, notably hesitating to join a larger nationwide case against the country’s five largest banks for mortgage fraud. States now have until Monday, according to the Iowa attorney general’s office, to decide to join that deal.

The New York attorney general has yet to announce whether New York will participate in the deal because of concerns that joining the settlement would make it impossible for him to file his own, state-based lawsuits against the banks, said sources close to the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The decision to bring this lawsuit on Friday indicates that the larger nationwide settlement is now more to Schneiderman’s pleasing, said a source familiar with the discussions.

“If the deal terms had been decided six months ago, a state couldn’t have pursued this kind of lawsuit,” said the source. “The fact that Schneiderman has filed this case suggests that the terms of the deal have changed since then.”

Last week Schneiderman was named one of five co-chairs of a new task force announced by President Barack Obama to investigate fraud related to bonds backed by mortgage loans.

The Friday suit positions Schneiderman to go after another piece of the mortgage securitization system that’s been blamed for foreclosure fraud: the system that banks use to facilitate the creation of mortgage backed securities. Banks use the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, to register mortgage loan ownership. Before the creation of the system in 1995, registration took place at local courthouses, slowing down the process of bundling individual mortgages into securities. More than 70 million mortgages have been registered with MERS, according to a press release from Schneiderman’s office.

The Friday lawsuit claims that the system led to fraudulent foreclosures, undermined the state’s process for reviewing foreclosure cases and made it difficult for homeowners to access mortgage-related documents, said Schneiderman in the press statement.

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Ilya Marritz, NPR

Some of the biggest banks in the country are reportedly close to a settlement with authorities over the so-called robo-signing scandal in which mortgage company officials signed and notarized foreclosure documents without properly reviewing them.

Many lenders and mortgage servicers acknowledged making serious mistakes in foreclosure paperwork.

But the much-delayed settlement still faces challenges. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is raising objections, and may reject the settlement because he believes authorities have done too little to investigate the role of big banks in the financial crisis.

On a ride with the attorney general in his state-issued SUV, we pass the site of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Schneiderman didn’t take part in the protests, but he agrees with some of the message.

“People aren’t sure what happened, but they know that … this was a man-made catastrophe, [and] that there are people who caused the bubble and the crash,” he says.

So Schneiderman is out for justice — his idea of justice.

Starting His Own Investigation

When he became attorney general a little over a year ago, Schneiderman joined with other state attorneys general who were suing five large mortgage servicers, including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The idea was to get a settlement with these banks that could bring in aid for hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners who had been served faulty foreclosure documents.

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John Bresnahan, Politico

Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a top member of the House GOP leadership, received a VIP mortgage from defunct lender Countrywide Financial Corp., making him the fourth current member of the House who has acknowledged getting a sweetheart deal.

Sessions’ office would not comment on the amount of the loan or when it was issued, although press reports state that it was a 2007 transaction worth as much as $1 million. The loan does not appear on any of Sessions’ annual financial disclosure reports on file with the House Clerk’s office. Lawmakers and senior aides must file such reports each year, but they are allowed to leave off information regarding personal homes or property that do not generate any income.

“Out of an abundance of caution in managing his personal finances, Congressman Sessions specifically requested that he not be extended any special benefits or treatment from Countrywide,” said Torrie Miller, Sessions’ spokeswoman. “Everything about his experience suggests that his simple request was honored and that he was treated like every other customer. Congressman Sessions welcomes providing any details requested by any House Committee about this loan, which no longer exists.”

House ethics rules require that lawmakers and staff may only accept “loans from banks and other financial institutions on terms generally available to the public.”

Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, joins Reps. Ed Towns (D-N.Y.), Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) in acknowledging being notified that they received below-market loans from Countrywide’s VIP program. The program was put in place by Angelo Mozilo, former Countrywide CEO, and it was designed to boost the company’s standing with celebrities, athletes, and well-connected business and government officials.

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Robert Snell, Detroit News

Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh

City Council President Charles Pugh is facing foreclosure and says he likely will abandon his $385,000 Brush Park condominium.

His personal financial struggles come as he and council colleagues fight to bail Detroit out of its own fiscal crisis.

On Friday, Pugh said he can’t afford to pay his mortgage after taking a pay cut and leaving a high-paying TV career to run for the City Council.

“Making my mortgage payments has been a struggle for me,” Pugh wrote in an email. “I fought hard to stay in my condo because I had an attachment to it, but I can no longer afford to do so.”

The mortgage issue is the latest financial problem facing Pugh, 40, a former Fox 2 television anchor and radio show host who was the top vote-getter in the 2009 election. He is paid $76,500 as council president.

“I am devoted to this city and helping us to move forward despite wage cuts and personal sacrifices such as foreclosing on my own home,” Pugh said. “These are the tough choices Detroiters make every day, and I am no different.”

Pugh is still living in the condo and would like to keep it, but he needs a “substantial decrease” in the mortgage, spokeswoman Kirsten Ussery said.

“Absent that, yes, he is going to walk away,” she said.

Pugh’s mortgage situation raises questions about how he can lead the council during the financial crisis, local political consultant Adolph Mongo said.

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The Florida AG’s office had reprimanded Cullaro in 2010 for notarizing documents on behalf of foreclosure mill, Florida Default Law Group, which has been accused of  robo-signing.

Shannon Behnken, Tampa Tribune

Erin Cullaro, a former assistant Florida attorney general who was fired last year after moonlighting for a “foreclosure mill,” continues to serve on a state committee that investigates other lawyers for ethical violations.

Some lawyers and consumer advocates question whether such a position of authority with the Florida Bar is appropriate.

“The bar’s self monitoring leaves much to be desired,” said Lisa Epstein, of Foreclosure Hamlet.org, which tracks cases of foreclosure fraud.

Cullaro, who worked for the attorney general’s economic crimes division in Tampa, was fired in April following a formal reprimand by Gov. Rick Scott’s office, which questioned variations of her signature on legal documents.

The attorney general’s office had reprimanded Cullaro in 2010 for notarizing documents on behalf of a “foreclosure mill” that the office was investigating. The firm, Florida Default Law Group, was suspected of “fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases.”

Cullaro worked full time with the firm before joining the attorney general’s staff. She continued to do notary work for the office after she was hired by the state – with the permission of her new employer.

In April 2008, the attorney general’s office signed off on Cullaro’s dual employment, allowing her to notarize Florida Default Law Group documents for 15 minutes a day, three days a week.

But according to the written reprimand, Cullaro failed to renew the application for the new fiscal year, “which would have alerted the (attorney general’s office) to your continued outside employment and accurately reflected the time commitment involved.”

Scott’s office also questioned the signature used to notarize Florida Default Law Group affidavits of “reasonable attorney fees.” The signature varied widely in some cases from the one she was commissioned to use, according to a letter from Scott’s office.

In addition, the reprimand states, “your continued dual employment created an appearance of impropriety” because the attorney general’s office was looking into the practices of foreclosure law firms.

Ricardo A. Roig, a Tampa lawyer who represents Cullaro, said he doesn’t see what the allegations against her have to do with her role on the Florida Bar committee.

“It was never found that she did anything unethical,” Roig said.

The bar agrees with Roig.

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Foreclosures in Massachusetts rose more than 70 percent in November from the same time last year, a real estate tracker reported today.

A total of 714 foreclosure deeds were recorded last month, up from 418 deeds in November 2010. However, year-to-date foreclosure deeds are down, said The Warren Group of Boston.

A total of 7,685 foreclosure deeds have been completed this year, down nearly 35 percent from 11,752 deeds recorded during the same period last year.

“An increase in foreclosure deeds tells us that the backlog of foreclosures is moving through the process,” Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “The modest decline in petitions could indicate that an improving employment picture is leading to fewer mortgage delinquencies.”

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Iowa AG Tom Miller

The never-ending negotiations between the 50 state attorneys general (minus a few big ones) and five major banks over penalties and standards for past, present and future mortgage servicing are finally ending, and some details are beginning to emerge from sources familiar with the deal. The big number is the $25 billion that the banks will commit to three categories of the settlement: $5 billion in cash payments, mostly to the states, $3 billion in refinancing for underwater mortgages, and $17 billion in principal reduction. Here’s the breakdown:

Of the $5 billion, $1.5 billion will go to people who have been foreclosed on and were abused in some way during the process. The claims are nearly instantaneous–”we don’t read anything, it’s check the box,” says one state AG negotiator. But the payments are also small: $1,500 to $2,000. Now, the vast majority of people who lost their homes over the last several years probably would not have been able to make their payments even if the banks had been behaving well. For them a no-questions-asked $2,000 check from the bank for the poor treatment they received in the process may be fair. On the other hand, those who were unfairly evicted may be insulted by the small amount. But no one taking the payment would be giving up any rights to bring cases against the banks for wrongful eviction or other claims they may have. The federal regulator with oversight of the issue, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has sent out 4.5 million forms to potentially wrongfully evicted families; processing those claims will be paid for by the banks.

Around $2.75 billion of the $5 billion in cash the banks are coughing up will go to state programs for foreclosure mitigation efforts like legal aid hotlines, mediation between homeowners and banks and counseling. Some $750 million to the federal government for its foreclosure mitigation programs.

The $3 billion for refinancing underwater loans targets a limited population: only those who are current on their payments and who have been current for several months. The Obama administration has launched its own less-than-ambitious program in this regard. Mortgage refis tend to help those who need it least–particularly if they’re limited to people who are current on their payments. Refis also only reduce interest payments, not the actual value of the underlying loan.

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