Richmond, CA Threatens Eminent Domain To Address Foreclosure Crisis

Richmond, CA Threatens Eminent Domain To Address Foreclosure Crisis

RICHMOND (KCBS) – Richmond city leaders were moving ahead with a plan to head off the foreclosure crisis, a plan that is not without controversy.

The city has offered to buy more than 600 underwater mortgages at below the homes’ current value.

“If they are unwilling to negotiate a sale of the loans, which we want them to do, then we will consider using eminent domain as another option to purchase these loans at fair market value,” said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.

California officials say they ‘got every penny’ they demanded from JPMorgan for manipulative energy trades

California officials say they ‘got every penny’ they demanded from JPMorgan for manipulative energy trades

California energy officials said today they got “every penny” they demanded in a $410 million settlement paid by JPMorgan Chase & Co. over manipulative electricity trades.

JPMorgan, in a deal announced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will cough up $124 million in profits to California ratepayers. In addition, the big bank agreed not to fight California officials over $262 million in disputed profits that had already been recouped by the state or were never paid to JPMorgan in the first place.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/30/5608201/california-jpmorgan-electricity.html#storylink=cpy

 

Here We Go Again: Step Aside RMBS, Rent-Backed Securities Are Here, And With Them The Beginning Of The End

Here We Go Again: Step Aside RMBS, Rent-Backed Securities Are Here, And With Them The Beginning Of The End

The WSJ reports:

 

 

Two major Wall Street firms are in detailed discussions to create and sell the world’s first bond backed by home-rental payments, people familiar with the matter say.

 

Blackstone Group LP is in negotiations to bundle monthly rental payments on around 1,500 to 1,700 of its homes. The private-equity giant is among the firms that have spent billions buying homes out of foreclosure, an investment strategy that has helped to bolster demand and strengthen the U.S. housing market.

 

The bond comprised of the Blackstone homes would be structured and marketed to investors by Deutsche Bank AG, the people say.

State’s biggest foreclosure law firm fights subpoena for records Read more: State’s biggest foreclosure law firm fights subpoena for records

State’s biggest foreclosure law firm fights subpoena for records Read more: State’s biggest foreclosure law firm fights subpoena for records

Colorado’s most prolific foreclosure law firm — led by attorney Larry Castle — is the latest to file a lawsuit and formally ask a Denver judge to protect its records from a state investigation into its billing practices.

The Castle Law Group filed its case late Friday in Denver District Court against Attorney General John Suthers to prevent turning over more than 700 e-mails the firm says are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Read more: State’s biggest foreclosure law firm fights subpoena for records – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23761943/states-biggest-foreclosure-law-firm-fights-subpoena-records#ixzz2aajqQ7EE 

Nationstar faces $35M suit over cancelled home loan auction

Nationstar faces $35M suit over cancelled home loan auction

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings faces a $35 million lawsuit after backing away from plans to sell $150 million in home loans. 

Truman Capital Advisors and U.S. Bank filed the suit after the firms’ winning bid for Nationstar assets was superceded by the mortgage servicer’s decision to back away from the sale. The firms are asking for compensation to cover due diligence work, research expenses and other costs incurred when the plaintiffs prepared their bid for Nationstar ($46.430.31%)mortgage assets. 

It all started when Nationstar offered hundreds of residential mortgages for sale through an online auction hosted by its agent, Auction.com.

Goldman Sachs Actually Holds Close To 25% Of The US Aluminum Supply, Maybe More

Goldman Sachs Actually Holds Close To 25% Of The US Aluminum Supply, Maybe More

Goldman’s claim that it held only 3% of the world’s aluminum supply was utterly misleading. I now have determined that it holds in its own warehouses–the Metro subsidiary of Goldman Sachs some amount of aluminum that is less than 25% of the aluminum available for delivery in the U.S.

But, and hold your breath on this one, it could be that Goldman Sachs is holding extensive supplies of aluminum in non-Metro warehouses, warehouses it does not own itself, but belong to other owners. I have asked Goldman to give me the total amounts of aluminum it holds if you add the Metro warehouses to the non-Metro warehouses. To be blunt, I’ve got a feeling they aren’t going to tell me. They are trying to make up their minds right now. So, I am going to venture a guess that when you add the aluminum stores in wholly owned Goldman Sachs warehouses to other warehouses in Detroit that are not owned by Goldman Sachs, it’s possible that Goldman Sachs is storing well over 25% of the aluminum available for delivery in the U.S. That’s a hell of a lot more meaningful for aluminum prices than 3% of the world supply. Let the investigations intensify.

Okay. Mea culpa. I fell for the 3% of global supply instead of pressing to get the percentage of aluminum in the U.S., a far more meaningful number when you consider how holding that much of the American market might possibly, probably, effect the price of aluminum. This is to correct the impression I left on July 25 when I posted “Goldman Sachs Makes $255 Million Storing 3% of Global Aluminum Production.” In fact, now that I think of it, there is the possibility that if you add the daily fee of 48 cents a ton at Goldman’s wholly owned warehouses to those not owned by Goldman, the stream of annual revenues becomes a great deal more than $255 million.

St. Clair County, ILLINOIS v MERS | ASSIGNMENT OF MORTGAGES ARE REQUIRED TO BE RECORDED UNDER ILLINOIS LAW

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Judge Rules Landmark Lawsuit, First to Link Bundling of Mortgage-Backed Securities and Racial Discrimination, Can Proceed

Judge Rules Landmark Lawsuit, First to Link Bundling of Mortgage-Backed Securities and Racial Discrimination, Can Proceed

July 25, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – A federal court today ruled that a landmark discrimination lawsuit against Morgan Stanley can move forward. Judge Harold Baer denied in part the investment bank’s motion to dismiss the case, which alleges Morgan Stanley violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by encouraging lenders to push high-risk mortgage loans on African-American borrowers.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan, the National Consumer Law Center, and the firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of Michigan Legal Services and five African-American homeowners in Detroit who were victims of Morgan Stanley’s practice of purchasing and financing predatory mortgages, which were later bundled into mortgage-backed securities.

“Targeting communities of color with predatory loans is not acceptable. Morgan Stanley is not above the law,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “Today’s ruling affirms that Wall Street banks must comply with civil rights laws, and that they will be held accountable if they do not.”

The lawsuit is the first to connect racial discrimination to the securitization of mortgage-backed securities. It is also the first case where the plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and an entire class of victimized homeowners, are suing an investment bank directly rather than the subprime lender whose loans the bank bought. Morgan Stanley was the principal financier of the now-defunct New Century Mortgage Corp., and orchestrated New Century’s focus on dangerous loans that placed many homeowners on a path to foreclosure.

Fannie, Freddie Investors Sue Over Stock Losses

Fannie, Freddie Investors Sue Over Stock Losses

Law360, New York (July 29, 2013, 7:04 PM ET) — A proposed class of investors targeted Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the companies’ government conservator in Washington federal court Monday, alleging they broke shareholder contracts by funneling profits to the government that should have been distributed to investors.

German Bank Hits Top Banks Over CDS Price-Fixing

German Bank Hits Top Banks Over CDS Price-Fixing

Law360, Los Angeles (July 29, 2013, 8:43 PM ET) — A German bank hit Citibank NA, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Bank PLC and other top banks with a putative class action in Illinois federal court Monday, accusing the banks of entering into a conspiracy to fix and control the credit default swaps market.