Critics: Bondi lax in pursuing big mortgage lenders amid continuing foreclosure crisis

As attorneys general in other foreclosure-battered states step up their investigations into fraudulent mortgage practices by large U.S. banks, some Florida groups are accusing state Attorney General Pam Bondi of being soft on the giant lenders.

Original Source Article By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel

Florida's Democratic state senators recently released a video that targets Bondi, a Republican elected to a nonpartisan office. Titled "Ignoring the Florida Foreclosure Crisis," the video contrasts new fraud investigations launched by California Attorney General Kamala Harris with controversial forced resignations of two key mortgage-fraud investigators in Bondi's Fort Lauderdale office.

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A coalition of religious leaders, homeowners and others has scheduled events Wednesday in Orlando and Miami that will include calls for an investigation into ongoing mortgage-fraud settlement talks between major U.S. lenders and state attorneys general from across the country — talks in which Bondi is a key player. The coalition, known as PICO United Florida, describes the current negotiations as "deeply flawed."

Meanwhile, Orlando-area members of a faith-based nonprofit group called Focus complain that they have come away from meetings on foreclosure-settlement issues with Bondi representatives in recent months disappointed with what they describe as a seeming lack of interest in foreclosure fraud.

Florida's Democratic legislators complain that the attorney general has failed to represent the state's struggling homeowners in the nationwide settlement talks.

"It seems like she's balancing the interest of businesses with the interest of Floridians when it comes to principal reduction," said state Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando. "When you're the AG, you have one interest: Floridians. You're supposed to be the consumer advocate, first and foremost."

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TOM’S COMMENTARY:

This scandal started in  Florida, and much of the illegal activity which has come to be known as robo-signing, aka foreclosure fraud, actually occurred in Florida.

Bondi's predecessor supported the work of those two assistant attorneys general (Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson), who were making solid progress, out ahead of every other state in the nation.

Then Bondi took office.  The tough assistants were fired, and one of her leiutenants (her "special counsel" Joe Jacquot) left to become Senior Vice President of Lender Processing Services.

Meanwhile, California, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Delaware, and Massachusetts are all conducting serious, apparently productive investigations, lawsuits or PROSECUTIONS of these huge, powerful financial institutions that caused the great real estate bubble, the bursting of the bubble, and the resulting crippling recession.

Now, all investigations here in Florida appear to be at a stand-still.  Not one significant headline has come out in a year's time regarding robo-signing or foreclosure fraud in Florida.

This is NOT consumer protection.

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