Yet Another Big Lie: Mortgage Fraud Investigation Not Staffed

[HomerRamone]

The Administration has managed the impressive task of operating in a more cynical fashion than even its worst critics predicted.

Remember the widely ballyhooed mortgage fraud investigation, announced at the State of the Union address? This was the shiny toy that succeeded in getting New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman to abandon his opposition to the mortgage settlement. Schneiderman had been the de facto leader of the dissenters by virtue both of being the first to stand against the effort and by having the Martin Act. Suborning Schneiderman put the objecting state attorneys general in disarray and enabled the Administration to push this toxic deal over the finish line.

(...)

We had assumed that the Administration would engage in a Potemkin version of an investigation, bringing a few cases close to the election to generate deceptive and useful "tough on crime" headlines. But having succeeded in protecting the banks, it looks like they can't even be bothered to go through the motions. This update comes from the New York Daily News (hat tip Matt Stoller):

"On March 9 — 45 days after the speech and 30 days after the announcement — we met with Schneiderman in New York City and asked him for an update...As of that date, he had no office, no phones, no staff and no executive director. None of the 55 staff members promised by Holder had materialized. On April 2, we bumped into Schneiderman on a train leaving Washington for New York and learned that the situation was the same."

MORE: http://truth-out.org/news/item/8658-yet-another-big-lie-mortgage-fraud-investigation-not-staffed

[Autumn]

1. Not exactly a lie, more like it's not really

a priority with this administration like getting Schneiderman to abandon his opposition to the mortgage settlement was. Smoke and mirrors. Rec

[TheWraith]

2. TruthOut accusing someone else of fraud? Hilarious!

After repeatedly over many years publishing many articles which were made up out of whole cloth, the most famous being the claim that Karl Rove had been indicted, the subsequent "24 business hours" horseshit cover story, and the claim that if proven wrong they would publicly release the sources. Which they never did, because they couldn't, because they had no sources.

[Luminous Animal]

3. It was reprinted by TruthOut. It originated at Yves Smith's "Naked Capitalism."

The story was first reported by NY Daily News...

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/obama-mortgage-unit-awol-article-1.1063094#ixzz1sPMZYUVO

[ProSense]

4. The Financial Fraud Task Force Is Active, Has Staffers

The Financial Fraud Task Force Is Active, Has Staffers

George Zornick

It’s been almost three months since President Obama announced the formation of the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities working group, a federal investigation into Wall Street malfeasance leading up to the financial crisis. After an early flurry of subpoenas, the group has been quiet—and progressives have begun to question whether it’s doing anything at all. But top officials from the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a co-chair of the group, and the Department of Justice are now pushing back against claims that the task force lacks staffing and resources.

Yesterday, the New York Daily News ran an op-ed from the co-directors of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a coalition of citizens groups pushing for fair housing policies. The authors called on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a co-chair of the group, to submit a noble resignation because they believe the task force is essentially inactive.

Citing two recent informal conversations with Schneiderman in which they say he told them there was no staff for the investigation and also an inability to locate an actual office for the RMBS working group, the authors write the task force is “a public relations coup for the White House and the banks” that has shown “little or no concrete action.” This echoes a recent alert from CREDO Action, which said the task force never received promised staffing from the Department of Justice.

I reached out to Schneiderman’s office in New York for a response, and it strongly disputed the notion the task force wasn’t active. “Given most investigatory matters are privileged and confidential, it is simply premature to draw conclusions about the Working Group’s scope and scale of inquiry,” said Danny Kanner, Schneiderman’s spokesman. “Op-eds and e-mail appeals from activists, while important contributions to the dialogue, do not constitute fact.”

- more -

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167474/financial-fraud-task-force-active-has-staffers

It's going to be an interesting campaign season as the administration has to bat down bogus distortion from everywhere.

[EC]

5. Well, part of what the repubs are doing to stop

any progress in growth or in any of Obama's "Can't Wait" initiatives is to stop funding or appointments...this is likely the funding, just like they tried with Elizabeth Warren.