Family In Foreclosure After Title Company Claims Russian Mafia Stole Money

This is a follow up to two articles I posted about how a title company in suburban Denver claimed the Russian Mafia hacked a wire transfer for $277,000 when they were transferring funds from them to JPMorgan Chase to pay off a client’s mortgage.  The homeowners are now on the hook for the $277,000 and have lost their house because the title company wasn’t insured.    I find this story hard to believe because all mortgage transactions are wired through the federal reserve database as dictated in the Patriot Act.  -Steve

You can read the other articles here and here

Title Company Still Claims Russian Mafia Hijacked Wire Transfer

Dale Cedars, KMGH Denver

A simple refinance more than two years ago has a Parker family fighting for their home after the Russian mafia allegedly stole money during a wire transfer.

Now the family’s home faces foreclosure again, with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 25.

7NEWS reporter Dayle Cedars first uncovered this story in 2010, 11 months after the family learned their first mortgage had not been paid.

“I just want to wake up tomorrow and know this is my house,” said Kim Canning, of Parker.

Canning and her husband Tim said every waking hour is pretty much spent trying to figure out a way to save their home from foreclosure.

In September of 2009, the Cannings refinanced their home with Ryan Rodenbeck of Classic Title. At some point when the funds were being transferred online to Chase Bank, $900,000 disappeared. Rodenbeck said nine $100,000 transfers were stolen — $277,000 of that was part of the Cannings refinancing.

In 2010, Rodenbeck said he did nothing wrong and that the money was intercepted by the Russian mafia. Classic Title has since gone out of business.

Tuesday, a representative from Chase Bank said they determined Rodenbeck transferred the money without using a secure site with encryption.

“The FBI is aware of this, they know what has happened,” said Kim Canning.

The FBI would not confirm or deny any investigation.

Bank of America held the Cannings first mortgage. It was supposed to be paid off during the transfer. Since the money never made it to them, the Cannings basically have two mortgages on their home.

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AG foreclosure settlement may widen to smaller servicers

Jon Prior, Housing Wire

The settlement between the five largest mortgage servicers and a multistate coalition of attorneys general could expand to include smaller firms, but it’s unlikely to happen before a deal is announced in the coming weeks, a source familiar with the matter told HousingWire Wednesday.

All 50 state AGs opened a joint investigation into industry-wide foreclosure practices in October 2010. Evidence surfaced that year of mishandled documentation and robo-signing of foreclosure affidavits without a proper review of the loan files.

Their focus centered on the big five mortgage lenders:Bank of America (BAC: 6.87 +3.62%), Wells Fargo(WFC: 29.62 +0.71%), JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 36.66+1.69%), Citigroup (C: 31.27 +4.23%) and Ally Financial (GJM: 21.44 +0.66%). These firms currently service more than $6 trillion in mortgages for a combined market share near 58%.

The Department of Justice recently reached out to nationally chartered banks as part of an effort to bring in nine more servicers to the settlement, according to a Reuters report.

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Darrell Issa denies request to subpoena mortgage servicers

Jon Prior, Housing Wire

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) denied a request from Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to subpoena mortgage servicers in an investigation into possible mishandled foreclosures.

Cummings, a ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform opened his investigation in February. In May, he sent a letter to Issa, chairman of the committee, formerly requesting to subpoena servicers that refused his requests for information.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, SunTrust Bank and PHH Mortgage refused to comply. MetLife said it would send him more documentation – but only under subpoena.

These and other servicers signed consent orders with federal regulators over foreclosure issues, and continue to negotiate terms from another investigation from the 50 state attorneys general.

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Ally Financial expresses regret over foreclosure issues

Kerri Panchuk, Housing Wire

Mortgage servicers rushed to defend their platforms Thursday after federal regulators sent consent orders to 14 companies saying they would need to revamp their foreclosure processing procedures.

MetLife Inc. (MET: 44.21 +0.09%) said meeting all applicable decrees continues to be a focus of the company, but added that MetLife Bank services only one percent of the U.S. home mortgage market and “has not experienced the high volume of foreclosures that many servicers have experienced.”

The bank added that “MetLife Bank has never issued and does not own nontraditional mortgage products such as pay-option ARMs and subprime loans, which have the highest rate of default.”

Ally Financial Inc. (GJM: 23.80 +0.04%) said it “deeply regrets” an error uncovered in the firm’s processing of certain foreclosure affidavits, according to a statement from the lender.

The Detroit-based financial services firm made that statement after it signed a consent order from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.instructing mortgage servicers to review and revamp foreclosure processes.

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