The Countrywide Financial Corp. fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner, court records show, raising new questions about the business practices of the giant mortgage lender at the center of the subprime mess.
The documents -- three letters from Countrywide addressed to the homeowner -- claimed that the borrower owed the company $4,700 because of discrepancies in escrow deductions. Countrywide's local counsel described the letters to the court as "re-created," raising concern from the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the case, Thomas Agresti.
"These letters are a smoking gun that something is not right in Denmark," Agresti said in a hearing Dec. 20 in Pittsburgh.
The emergence of the fabricated documents comes as Countrywide confronts a rising tide of complaints from borrowers who claim that the company pushed them into risky loans. The matter in Pittsburgh is one of 300 bankruptcy cases in which Countrywide's practices have come under scrutiny in western Pennsylvania.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/346474_countrywide08.html
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