Says Bank Are Getting Off Easy
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.
