Revolving door: US Attorney Anne Tompkins heading to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Top Wall Street firm specializes in financial, securities and corporate law

Departing U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins is joining a legal firm linked to one of her biggest cases – the lawsuit against Bank of America over soured mortgage bonds.

Tompkins, the top federal prosecutor in western North Carolina since 2010, will be joining the Charlotte office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, a Wall Street firm that specializes in financial, securities and corporate law, sources tell the Observer.

Cadwalader’s 40-plus local attorneys operate out of the Carillon building on West Trade Street, which also houses Tompkins and her staff.

Such moves are both common and potentially controversial for prosecutors at Tompkins’ level. A formal announcement of her new duties is expected after Tompkins leaves the Justice Department on March 9.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article11159708.html#storylink=cpy

Redefaults Continue to Plague HAMP

It’s all about securitization, folks…HAMP was never set up for securitized loans sold by Wall Street! And add to that, homeowners’ income is fickle due to the uncertainty of  job salaries.

The Home Affordable Modification Program continues to disappoint.

As of Dec. 31, one in three struggling homeowners who received a loan modification through HAMP ultimately redefaulted on those loans, a new report has found.

Meanwhile, the program that was supposed to help some 4 million families avoid foreclosure has helped only a fraction of that amount, according to a report the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Christy Romero, presented to Congress last month.

Funded through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, HAMP was created in 2009 as a way to help millions of homeowners who had fallen behind on their mortgages stay in their homes.

Read on.

Foreclosure: The Movie… (finally!) coming to a screen near you

In new film, neighborhood of foreclosed homes drives man insane

You can say a lot of things about the foreclosure crisis, but you can’t say that moving into a neighborhood destroyed by foreclosures could drive a man insane after he falls victim to ancient curses while living a haunted house.

Until now!

Those very events are the plot of a long-delayed movie now available on DVD and various on demand platforms. “Foreclosure,” which first hit HousingWire’s radar in 2010, (yes, 2010! How’s that for a scoop!?!?) tells the story of Bill Landopolous, played by Michael Imperioli, who moves into a house in Queens, New York with his son and father-in-law.

But, as it so often is in the movies, this house is more than just a house.

From the official plot synopsis:

In Foreclosure, Michael Imperioli plays a man whose lucrative business during a long bull market selling his expertise on financial markets in a small town crumbles when the foreclosure crisis hits and he loses his own home. He goes on the road with his father-in-law Raymond and son Steven until they move into a house bequeathed to Raymond by his late brother-in-law Calvin.

The three hope to put their cares behind them and start afresh but ominous premonitions start when a local police officer points out all the numerous foreclosures, bank-owned properties and short sales that have depopulated the once-attractive neighborhood he patrols.

Read on.