Tweet
(image: blogpocket, flickr)
Reuters has a bit of a bombshell.
It seems Covington & Burling, the powerhouse law firm that used to employ, and could be expected to re-employ, Attorney general Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer is also the same firm that issued the opinion letter that said that MERS was a valid way to transfer mortgages.
If DOJ were to bring criminal charges against the big banks for all the mortgage fraud, it would be really tough to do so without attacking MERS and the status of the alleged transfers made within MERS. A conclusive finding that MERS is and always was the dumbest idea on earth and that any L1 law student should have been able to see that, will destroy the law firm.
Even if Holder and Breuer are not planning to return to Covington after their stint in public service, their pensions are presumable tied to the viability of the firm. This isn’t a “did you work on this particular matter” kind of conflict of interest, this is more existential.
They should have recused themselves outright and appointed a special prosecutor to handle the foreclosure fraud issue.
87 Comments
That is huge, Cynthia; thank you. Oh my.
This is also incredibly stupid.
Did they honestly think that this was not going to come out? Did they really think that the folks at Bain Captial didn’t have the resources to suss this out?
Or is this the big banks making good on some threat to the WH?
Remember, MERS is made up of its member banks. Each bank should have a copy of the opinion letter. If the opinion letter turns out to sound like something John Yoo wrote justifying torture, and since the premise underlng MERS is so obviously, collosally and horrible stupid, I’m guessing the opinion letter must be transparently bad.
That means SOMEBODY just threw Holder, Breuer and by extension the White House UNDER THE BUS.
This election just went from being a pro hockey game into a pro wrestling grudge match.
At least now homeowners and taxpayers will know why they are not getting and will not get justice in the future from these guys since they seem to be totally compromised.
From a certain perspective we knew there was a massive issue somewhere, we just didn’t know it would end up having such a direct connection between MERS and DOJ.
It would seem at first glance to offer a fast track to some sort of resolution in that the dots are not nearly as far apart as they might be.
WTF were they thinking when they issued that opinion?
“That means SOMEBODY just through Holder, Breuer and by extension the White House UNDER THE BUS.”
Some witnesses say they were laying in the street already when the bus came around the corner.
“From a certain perspective we knew there was a massive issue somewhere”
Yes, the great mystery is fianlly solved. NOW WE KNOW why DOJ didn’t even try to go after the low hanging fruit.
NOW WE KNOW why DOJ has been pressuring the state AGs into that ridiculous settlement.
What I still don’t “get”, is how they thought this would not come out?
Well,it’s almost everything in & around Washington is compromised.
And both,Dems & GOP are the ones that led us down this path.
I caught a little bit of Pelosi on Olberman…..well lets just say that it’s similar to Boehner being on Hannity.Almost all Americans are furiuos with the corruption in Washington & Olberman & Pelosi are discussing Gengrich & his philandering.
Is there any wonder why we are in deeep shit.
Not to worry despite the hard corner we have been put in by Dems & GOP,the sheeps will go out like always & return these creeps to office in Nov.
“They should have recused themselves outright and appointed a special prosecutor to handle the foreclosure fraud issue.”
Exactly. “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up…”
Explains a lot.
I still don’t understand how anyone (as you say, any 1L) could possibly have thought MERS would work, let alone followed centuries of property law.
To put all of this in context for those who haven’t been following the foreclosure fraud threads on FDL and to refresh other memories which could have fogged over as mine frequently does, this from the Reuters article:
“Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and several other large banks. It was meant to speed up registration and transfers of mortgages. By 2010, MERS claimed to own about half of all mortgages in the U.S. — roughly 60 million loans.
But evidence in numerous state and federal court cases around the country has shown that MERS authorized thousands of bank employees to sign their names as MERS officials. The banks allegedly drew up fake mortgage assignments, making it appear falsely that they had standing to file foreclosures, and then had their own employees sign the documents as MERS ‘vice presidents’ or ‘assistant secretaries.’”
For Obama to have chosen such representation to act on the government’s behalf was as bad as, if not worse than, any of his other appointments. The buck stops there.
This has a great deal of potential. Folks, whatever their political persuasion, have to have been wondering about just these two questions. “Now we know.”
Unfortunately, I predict this will be another of those “if the Republicans did it, Dems would be screaming, but since it’s Obama & company, not so much.”
Are we really expecting to see this covered by Salon, Center for American Progress, TPM, Kos — the usual, Obama-defending suspects? Time will tell.
Cindi, thanks for this great work!!
It’s also great that this comes from Reuters, and not one of those dirty, smelly hippy blogs.
But only, as I noted below, if the story gets any traction. [At least Reuters didn't wait for a Friday evening news dump.]
I don’t expect to see any frantic arm-waving on Rachel Maddow or Tweety, or on any of the “Obama-friendly” blogs.
Time for a bright, shiny object. “Oh, look over there. Nothing to see here.”
This is really validating…but I promise you there is more to come!
So who recommended Holder to Obama, and did his firms involvement in the MERS opinion have anything to do with that recommendation?
I’m ready to believe that Obama wasn’t aware of the connection, but
I’m not so sure that no one knew that Holder was poison.
Thanks for this, Cynthia.
Why am I only surprised that this info has taken so very long to surface? Actually…I take that back. It’s not that surprising, either.
I hope this gets front-paged ASAP.
FunnyDiva
Well, you’re right, Salon seems to be _mostly_ Obama-defending,
With the ongoing and extremely consistent exception of Glenn “Glennzilla” Greenwald.
FunnyDiva
Who hates Tribalism, even among her own damn Tribe!
Is it possible a Dem AG “called to resolve the issues standing in the way of Jamie’s more healthy mortgage market” isn’t one of the hurlers? Anticipating the WH is going to get Rahm to get the AG’s to “stop doing this shit and it’s over” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-396118/Bush-Yo-Blair-theyve-got-stop-doing-s-.html one of them whacks Rahm (Obama-Holder) behind the knees. We are ruled by idiot fools.
Everybody knew that Holder had issues for helping Chiquita dodge a bullet for payoffs it made in South America. At the time his name was floating for nomination, I kinda thought the Chiquita thingy would knock him off the short list.
I was, ahem, wrong.
I really think that GOP has been holding this little nugget for use in the election cycle. It’s all the more glorious for them b/c right now OWS has done a marvelous job of educating the public abuot the criminality of the banksters, so this is more powerful than it would have otherwise been.
How is this supported by “Good Law?” Which I understand is law tested to a least the appellate level in court, and supported constitutional or precedent reasoning?
Or was the opinion letter one of the “Tell me how to do this for a fee” letters?
They all work & play in Washington…I am sure Obama knew.
Obama just seems to think he can carry on the corruption
more efficiently,in the background.
His(Obama) campaign slogan of change was a convenient cover.
We even learned this week that the WH traded away the Public Option
in the Health-Care debate,quicker that many of us could imagine, to the HC industry at the beginning of the hearings.
Juicy.
Have the election year spectacles always been so over the top or does it just seem so since I don’t believe either party or eventual candidate as an acceptable option?
Let me get this straight. Deeds to property that have been clear connect-the-dots, owner-to-owner since, well, since the white men took the land from the Native North Americans, are now not indisputable?
We are all native north Americans now.
Fabulous game, guys. You win. Or we gotta fight.
I haven’t seen the opinion letter, so I don’t know. However, like the Yoo torture memo (before it surfaced) I just cannot imagine what could be in it that will pass the blush test.
I was right about the Yoo memo, which turned out to be even worse than my fevered imagination could conjure.
No, I think this cycle has been crazier than most. I share your impression.
Honest? I have popcorn!
Evidently Michigan Supreme Court got the memo. On Nov.16th 2011, They overturned the appellate court ruling allowing MERS to preform non judicial foreclosures. In a 4 to 3 ruling (4 repubs 3 dems) common law on land transfers just went in the crapper.
It is being appealed to the US Supreme Court and we all know how that will turn out.
If the banks can’t change the law on the national level to suite them they will just do it one state at a time.
Sorry forgot the Link.
The Internets ATTACK! Scot Paltrow at HuffPo adds a bit to the story so far. About 1000 comments, too many to read.
But Alert Holder and DOJ. There is some illegal activity besides Fast and Furious. And he is probably a lesser person, but a “Register of Deeds” found 31,000 fraudulent documents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/eric-holder-banks-lanny-breuer_n_1218452.html
Jesus, LOL! Thanks for that!
Don’t you remember O’s a genius, he can play 11 dimensional chess !
Did Holder himself have anything to do with the opinion from the law firm? Or was it just the law firm?
Ha! Good, maybe we can force Obama to dump Holdner and Geithner and FINALLY prosecute!
If Obama throws banksters in jail and busts up TBTF banks, he will get my vote. Otherwise, fuck’m.
I agree. I think we should begin an all out push for the resignation of Holder et al. This could be the catalyst we need to force progress on prosecutions. We must not relent. Embaressment to the administration or not, this must not be allowed to stand
Al Capone was an amateur compared to these clowns
“If DOJ were to bring criminal charges against the big banks for all the mortgage fraud . . .”
This is why the incestuous collusion of government and business that is the Corporatist state is so bad for the citizenry. There is almost always a conflict of interest for the decision-makers between how their bread is buttered and the interest of the citizens they pretend to represent. And the pretention occurs because if they side with the citizenry, they are confronted with the existential crisis Kouril mentions.
“They should have recused themselves outright and appointed a special prosecutor to handle the foreclosure fraud issue.”
Unfortunately, this assumes that Holder’s and Breuer’s primary responsibility and loyalty is to the public. Where is the evidence for this assumption?
Thank you, Frank33. I will be quoting this stuff to my very Republican congresscritter, and then to my senators.
More importantly, I will be quoting it to my dirt-poor, lost- everything MI neighbors until either I die or they do.
Well at least the State AGs may get relief from AG Holder as he goes into CYA mode or hopefully tell he and his to go forth, be fruitful and multiply.
Apparently, this was supposed to be Bust MegaUpload Day for Holder and DOJ. Those Dee Cee Opinion Leaders were going to tell us about the uncontrolled anarchists who threaten the children with all sorts of internet linkies, not approved by the One Percent.
Four arrested, none were hedge fund managers as far as can be determined. But the guvmint also “seized” that is stole, cars, and millions of dollars, from the perps. No more “Due Process” even for wealthy internet entrepeneurs. Do they steal the gold in your teeth yet?
But the Department of InJustice and Holder have had a rough week. Those very diabolical, internet outlaws Anonymous, reportedly led a DOS, “denial of service” attack. Simply, just a large number of web visitors overwhelms the servers. But those evil hackers used TWEETER links instead of Bots. Very technologically sweet.
Shout out to “A”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/kim-dotcom-megaupload-founder_n_1218693.html
Thank Cynthia and D-Day also. This story is still being “caged” and “framed” by the Dee Cee Gatekeepers.
Recuse myself? What a quaint idea. I yam where I yam in order to make sure no one gets prosecuted & Covington come out smelling like a rose. /Holder
Friday data dump.
Nothing to see here. Primary tomorrow in SC. Move along.
Oh that’s the shiny object. I thought it was tomorrow’s SC primary. Silly me.
“Obama just seems to think he can carry on the corruption
more efficiently,in the background.”
Indeed. His function was to provide a new shinny, happy, good cop face to the same old crime, war and corporatism. It has succeeded famously for almost four years, and it looks like he will get another four as well.
Now, what can possibly be wrong or go wrong with Obama appointing fascist Republicans to help him make sure the people get a fair shake?
IDK, I haven’t seen the opinion letter.
I – via two large companies I once worked for – used Covington & Burling. They are superb / excellent in all things other than international tax.
It will be interesting to see that opinion on MERS because I, like most of FDL, always thought it was illegal and would require an act of Congress to authorize it and its practices.
Thanks for the info – do you have a link to the opinion letter?
Love the bit about how we’re all Amerindians now. Hadn’t thought about the corp looting in quite that way.
Next step in Indianizing us is to arm the drones that are now flying all over domestic airspace. Anyone who instates a lawsuit against banksters, or investigates titles in county clerks’ offices is a terriss and will be assassinated on sight. Unless, of course, pols need to provide indefinite detentioners for private prison owner contributors.
No, don’t shout out to “A” for a DNS attack on a US government website.
Sorry, that’s just wrong.
“Recuse myself? . . .”
This Holder-MERS business is only today’s clear indication that government is the shadow cast by business.
“That means SOMEBODY just threw Holder, Breuer and by extension the White House UNDER THE BUS.”
After the unending parade of groups Obama has tossed under the bus, I have to admit to feeling a little glee when I read that.
It depends on what your definition of ‘wrong’ is.
In less than a day the site is back up via 4 “secret” numbers for the URL. Still is rat hole that attacks your computer ports openings- an attack needed to better set up a botnet I assume – but it is back up.
So many examples. So few servers.
~
here you go, papau – from the MERS website :
Full text of the legal opinion of Covington & Burling on the legal validity of the MERS eRegistry
http://www.mersinc.org/MersProducts/publications.aspx?mpid=5
still want “the left” to accept the “AG settlement” now?
any FDLers going to be in Chicago next Monday?? here is a real opportunity to give a personal message to some Democratic AGs regarding your belief that you think AGs should…
not cooperate with banking criminals
but rather ..
investigate banking criminals!!!
How in the HELL does a law firm issue an opinion that is taken seriously on a matter such as THIS?????
NAH, they’re all just as corrupt as corrupt can be.
You are correct. Kids, do not hack government websites, just because it is easy. It is wrong and dangerous.
But A does get a shout out for all their maverickiness and hacking against the one percent. And we should hack privatized “security companies” that spy on us for the one percent.
This is only allegedly, some hacker identified with “anonymous” used something called “Low Orbit Ion Cannon”. This does hijack you computer so morally it is questionable. But “cookies” and other garbage tracks and hacks our internet usage anyway.
http://gizmodo.com/5709630/what-is-loic
So does this mean that ANY of you are willing to grow up and step off the plantation yet?
Seriously, I understand that the thought is painful but being a coward will prove more painful over time.
Get real?
Check the comment thread on this link in particular.
It’s not to late and being wrong is being human. Staying wrong is just lazy and ultimately evil.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-you-cant-fool-mother-nature-long-mainstream-media
Peace.
Thanks, Cynthia.
Well now we all know – for good & certain – exactly WHY Holder was appointed AG, don’t we? We all knew that Holder was there to STOP any investigations by any means necessary. Nothing’s been done. The Crooks are getting away with the piggy banks, and the Crooks in this case also work at Covington… quellle surprise… NOT.
Only small surprise that Reuters is willing to “report” on this kind of old boys networking on steroids.
What will happen? My Magic 8 ball sez: a sternly worded letter is being drafted, but it’ll probably be sent to some scapegoat further down the totem pole.
I really don’t forsee any wrongs being “righted” even with the info more or less out in the open. Do ya really think there’ll be any public outcry that’ll result in consequences to the 1%???
If so, keep clapping louder for Tinkerbell (no offense intended).
Plus duly noted that this is being “reported” on news-dump Friday, where all juicy stories go to be buried by the weekend “events.”
Aren’t there big-time championship football games going on this weekend?? Think most of the 99% can be bothered to care about this when they’re ready for the *serious business* of drinking beer & cheering on their team???
Not to be rude, but…
Recently I heard an ad on our crappy local radio station — the one that fills its air time with those freebies from “the Ad Council” — narrated by Eric Holder, cautioning folks not to buy knock-off Channel bags and illegal music downloads, since the proceeds “go to gangs” and thence to guns, drugs, terrorism, perhaps.
My immediate reaction was, “So, Mr. AG, you think it’s more important to devote resources to chasing down illegal handbags, but not the foreclosure fraudsters?”
I mean, really!!
This is too important not to be front paged
Rec’d
[Ed. Note - this article was published on the front page at 1:25 Pacific]
Great catch, Cynthia.
So now we need to find out just exactly how the vetting process during the transition period worked. Who was on the transition team that vetted these folks? Might provide some more interesting insights into how Wall Street controls the US government.
Editor,
Sorry, I thought “front paged” was where the comments were numbered so we don’t have to reread 60 comments to find the new one that was posted.
Thanks for the clarification…
I read about this earlier today, but AS USUAL, it is Cynthia who gets to the real meat of the issue.
THANK YOU! I have posted this and sent to my AG who I talked to last week, AGAIN. I hope he does not settle.
jim messina max baucus chief of staff was the trasnition guy – before rahm was boss of wh staff. big phrma ties too.
Seems to me, a better question would be, what was Obama thinking when he appointed Holder? Pretty sure this would have to have come out during vetting. Did Obama think nobody would care that the AG has such a cozy relationship with the bankers that crashed the economy with their greed? Did he think nobody would hold him to blame for the fact that the banks are still exhibiting the same behavior as they did before Obama took office in both the huge bonuses and the fraudulent foreclosures? Does he think this won’t be a campaign issue? What the hell am I supposed to do when given a choice between Obama (who now seems even more corrupt than before), Paul and either arrogant Richie Rich Mittens with the horrible tax plan and 1% attitudes, or the disgusting liar with an equally disgusting attitude, Newt Gingrich. Shameful choices! The only ones I’d like to see President is Bernie Sanders or Howard Dean or Elizabeth Warren. Probably none of those could win even if they tried to run.
From Wikipedia,
“Holder previously served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and a United States Attorney. In that office he prosecuted Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (Democrat, Illinois) for corruption charges related to his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal. Later, he was Deputy Attorney General of the United States and worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He was senior legal advisor to then-Senator Barack Obama during Obama’s presidential campaign and one of three members of Obama’s vice-presidential selection committee.”
The Holder catastrophe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eric-holder-obamas-albatross/2011/10/10/gIQA5u8IaL_story.html
http://www.mersinc.org/newsroom/trade.aspx
MERS legal opinion letter
I looked it up at Change.gov. Here is the list of the transition advisory committee for Justice and Civil Rights:
Tom Perez
Dawn Johnsen
Alejandro Mayorkas
David William Ogden
Tom Perelli
Theodore M. Shaw
Aderson Bellegarde Francois
Judge Cruz Reynoso
Spencer Overton
Robert Lenhard
Alan W. Houseman
LaVeeda Battle
Kareem Dale
Marilyn Golden
Helen Norton
Judith Lichtman
The key transition staff were:
John Podesta
Valerie Jarrett
Pete Rouse
So these would be the ones who had a lot of face-to-face time with Obama.
And these were the Advisory Board Members:
Advisory Board Members
Carol Browner
Principal, The Albright Group
Former Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency
William Daley
Vice Chairman, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Former Secretary of Commerce
Christopher Edley, Jr.
Dean, Boalt Hall School of Law
Former Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget
Michael Froman
Managing Director, Citigroup
Former Chief of Staff, Department of the Treasury
Julius Genachowski
Co-founder, LaunchBox Digital; Special Advisor, General Atlantic
Former Federal Communications Commission Official
Donald Gips
Group Vice President, Level 3 Communications
Former Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Gore
Mark Gitenstein
Partner, Mayer Brown
Former Chief Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee
Edward Kaufman
President, Public Strategies
Former Chief of Staff, Senator Joseph Biden
Janet Napolitano
Governor, State of Arizona
Federico Peña
Managing Director, Vestar Capital Partners
Former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy
Susan Rice
Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Obama for America
Former Assistant Secretary of State
Sonal Shah
Head of Global Development Initiatives, Google.org
Former Treasury Department and National Security Council Official
See anything in these names that would necessarily put in two guys who worked with the law firm that opined that MERS was legal?
emptywheel has more
http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/01/20/wells-fargo-freddie-bank-of-america-and-ubs-at-doj/
Cynthia,
Sorry to be so late to the discussion, but you are absolutely correct that the Settlement that is not really a settlement should not go through. I don’t know how to stop it, but I’ve done my part. This will still never get chain of title or Deeds of Trusts straight. Also, that little secret they have of allowing the banksters delayed step up to the criminal podium is a bunch of crap!
Also, the DOJ is still filled with Bush/Rove placements and until those positions are transformed there will be no justice.
Um:
Pure speculation here: What if #OpMegaupload has a back story that may tell us something very interesting about Germany, Goldman Sux and those who want to nail Julian Assange? It is interesting that it was mentioned that there were nine countries that participated in the operation but only eight were named. Would that last participating “country” of the supposed nine be the Vatican?
megauploads thing was just a dumb ddos attack. they didn’t hack/get any info just denied the website visibility to legit requests so theres no backstory. sheesh on these conspiracy crap.
DOJ is not the only agency. I remember reports in 2008 of DOD, Interior, and DHS also having burrowed-in Bush-Cheney appointees. It’s how the permagov perms.
I put a qualification on my speculation but there lots of data already out there as to why the German government, Goldman Sachs, the Vatican, our Fed government and the interrelationships of such are in need of the disinfectant of sunlight. You might want to look at “Clergy Victims File International Criminal Court Complaint: Case Charges Vatican Officials with ‘Crimes Against Humanity’” and how that might play into cycles of lying countries into wars, torture, murder/genocide, human trafficking and massive environmental destruction.
Here is some info from back in 2004 advising MERSCORP:
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2011/12/27/eric-holder-covington-burling-and-merscorp/
The one thing that the Obama administration has refrained from is accountability for the big crimes of the bush administration. Without stopping the crime the banks continue to loot the American homes. I am willing to bet that in the end, Obama will get the money from the big banks. He has done their bidding perfectly. Seriously. Who else could have pulled this off better than the first African American President touting change. Is the mojo for all this protection just about campaign financing…or is there something more…I think there is something more. This illegal behavior continues.
I should not have said the “One thing”…but for me it is the most striking of his behavior in office and it is also the most consistent.
Rachel Maddow, what a maroon! Such a waste of talent and ability to act as an Obamabot.
Couple this with Obama’s decisions to populate his Administration with Geithner and all the other banking bad boys, and you have a very damning picture indeed. Very worthy of guillotines and tumbrels, in my carefully considered opinion.
Cynthia!!!!!
Please follow up with this:
http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/01/21/what-do-you-call-a-cornhusker-kickback-for-california/
More excellent reporting on the subject.
I also think that all that forced Mortgage Insurance homebuyers have to buy to secure the banks from default on the mortgage needs indepth investigations. Why are the banks not cashing in, or are they?
Mortgage INsurance for those that don’t know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_insurance
@ mzchief January 20th, 2012 at 8:21 pm:
As a follow up to this comment and in view of the excellent Sunday Jan. 22, 2012 book salon regarding “Vultures’ Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates, and High-Finance Carnivores” with author Greg Palast investigative journalist, author, (GregPalast.com), and Host Diane Wilson, author, environmentalist and activist (Code Pink):
“<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://ilgraffionews.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/oil-crimes-bp-goldman-sachs-and-vaticanOil Crimes: BP, Goldman Sachs and Vatican” ([serviceable English translation from Italian] Il Graffio News, July 18, 2010)
Once you finish reading the translated post go back and see the embedded video as it doesn’t show up in the browser correctly in the foregoing link: “Sand dumped over degraded oil on Louisiana beaches” (Uploaded by SaveOurShoresFlorida on Jun 30, 2010. UPDATED INFO HERE: http://exm.nr/bwcJQf)
Next, read up on Peter Sutherland, “Consultor of the Extraordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (a financial adviser to the Vatican)” (Wikipedia.Org*, accessed Jan. 23, 2012)
* IMO, worthy of financial support even if it’s just $5.
Then get a peek into the “executive kickback schemes”/”cash-outs” in which the Vatican engages:
“Catholic bishop voicemail transcript: I have a chica and two kids, Your Eminence – I resign” (Pocho.Com, by The Son of Los Angeles, January 11, 2012)