Attorney General Pam Bondi wisely intends to continue the work started by her predecessor to investigate foreclosure malpractice in Florida. Banks, loan servicers and their law firms like to complain that the reason for all the faulty paperwork in foreclosure cases is due to the high volume of cases. In fact, corners often were purposely cut to speed foreclosures through the courts as cheaply and quickly as possible. The result has been widespread deception visited upon Florida courts. Documents were signed with fraudulent signatures; obviously false notarizations were made; and documents were fabricated, including questionable mortgage assignments. And the more the Attorney General’s Office digs, the more dirt it finds.
In a recent presentation titled "Unfair, Deceptive and Unconscionable Acts in Foreclosure Cases," the Attorney General’s Office detailed how foreclosure paperwork was churned out using robo-signers who vouched for the accuracy of mortgage documents without a clue about what they were signing. In one case, the name Linda Green appears on hundreds of thousands of mortgage assignments, and she is listed as an officer of dozens of banks and mortgage companies. But Green’s signature is so different on various documents that it’s clear