The other shoe has dropped and, Anonymous, a hacker group not identical to the WikiLeaks people, have released a collection of emails pertaining to the Bank of America:
A hacker organization known as Anonymous released a series of e-mails on Monday provided by a former Bank of America employee who claims they show how a division of the bank sought to hide information on foreclosures.
The bank unit, Balboa Insurance, was acquired by Bank of America when it bought the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial in 2008. Balboa deals in so-called force-placed insurance coverage on mortgages. The e-mail messages concern the removal of information linking loans to other documentation.
A Bank of America spokesman told Reuters on Sunday that the documents had been stolen by a former Balboa employee, and were not tied to foreclosures. “We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue,†the spokesman said.
The e-mails dating from November 2010 concern correspondence among Balboa employees in which they discuss taking steps to alter the record about certain documents “that went out in error.†The documents were related to loans by GMAC, a Bank of America client, according to the e-mails.
“The following GMAC DTN’s need to have the images removed from Tracksource/Rembrandt,†an operations team manager at Balboa wrote. DTN refers to document tracking number, and Tracksource/Rembrandt is an insurance tracking system.
The response he receives: “I have spoken to my developer and she stated that we cannot remove the DTNs from Rembrandt, but she can remove the loan numbers, so the documents will not show as matched to those loans.â€
There’s more analysis here and the linked emails themselves are here.
This drop doesn’t appear to be quite as devastating as the the one hinted at by WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange but it may well be damaging.
When viewed in combination with the Wells notice received by former Fannie Mae CEO Donald Mudd it certainly sounds like very uncertain times for the financial sector. The miscreants in the industry may be getting their comeuppance yet.
Waiting for Drew to come along and explain how none of this is the banker’s fault, that it’s all on Fannie and Freddie and Democrats.
I wonder if leaked docs like this can provide legal basis for a prosecutor subpoenaing same?
That’s embarrassingly stupid, MR, – even for you – and proof positive that you haven’t taken the time – perhaps you don’t have the capacity – to read and actually critically interpret and digest anything I’ve written here in 2 years.
I want to se earlier emails. I still think this was too big to not have some fraud.
On the GSE’s. William Black has made, IMHO, a pretty convincing argument that they engaged in accounting fraud to make more money for management. The CRA, lending to poor people stuff is bunk, but the GSEs were still a part of the problem. He also noted, I did not know this before, that the GSE regulator was a school buddy of W’s.
Steve
steve –
Fraud was rampant; its well documented. And that pertains to so many institutional players. That’s really not at issue.
What seems impossible for many people to come to grips with is that it was both private and governmental entities. It was a timing issue. I guess its because of a simple minded intellectual dichotomy.
MR just took a pot shot at me because he simply is too ignorant, blinded and narrow minded to really understand what I have said. Yes, Wall Street packaged and sold bum loans. Yes, originators such as Countrywide made bum loans. That is not even at issue. But we have to understand root causes – what happened before? Subprime has its roots in CRA and Freddie and Fannie. Its late at night, and I’m too lazy right now, but the stat is something like 50% of all subprime went through GSE’s at one point, and by policy design!!! Hello!?
Once again. Wall Street has always been greedy; always will be. (Did you ever see the movie “The Crying Game,” and the story the British prisoner tells about the scorpion??) That observation and explanation for the housing crisis simply comes from weak or politically motivated minds. You have to dig deeper.
The subprime ball started rolling with do-gooder social policy – it gained momentum with the Clinton Administration – it was then fueled with EZ money and regulatory pressure – seeing EZ pickins unscrupulous originators swooped in and off we go – and it later blew up.
I was at a bank. I saw CRA and other considerations being made with my own eyes. I saw the private equity arm of my bank make a CRA driven subprime investment. Made a fortune……..cause they got out early. Professors, authors, politicians, internet commentators (all apolitical and even handed…snicker) and other dopes on this subject just don’t impress me. I’m a prisoner: I live in the real world.
That was classic.
1) I predict Drew will come along and try to pin the blame on Fannie, Freddie and the Dems.
2) Drew calls me a moron for saying that about him.
3) Then comes back to pin the blame on Fannie, Freddie and the Dems.
I could not have scripted it better.
@Drew
“Yes, Wall Street packaged and sold bum loans. ”
Well, that’s one way of putting it. Here’s a scenario: Guy goes to major Wall Street firm and says, “Hey, I’d like you to create a financial instrument that will help us both cash in on the real estate boom. Moreover, I’d like to help in the creation. After all, I’m an expert in this stuff.” Major Wall Street firm: “That sounds cool. Let’s go for it.” Guy helps create the instrument, during the course of which he sticks in a shitload of dogpoor loans he knows are toxic. While everybody in the room is having orgasms over the expected profits, he excuses himself, goes out on the balcony, gets on his cellphone and tells his broker to short the instrument he just helped create.
That’s creative.
Drew- The GSEs ended up with the bad loans. That is different than creating the crisis. Wallison, I hope you are familiar with him, testified the early 2000s that the GSEs were not doing their part in making loans to poor folks. Private banks were making the loans and the money. In my area there were almost no CRA loans, butlots alt-A loans.
Steve