By MICHAEL POWELL Published: October 11, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Back East, at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets, the view is swell. The Dow is soaring, and bankers look pleased.
Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general, has spearheaded several major settlements related to the recent financial meltdown.
At least 90,000 residential and commercial foreclosure notices will be filed in Ohio this year. Pension funds for teachers, secretaries and janitors have suffered grave losses. And multitudes of the unemployed in Ohio now speak of turning to prayer.
Ohio’s attorney general, Richard Cordray, was the pinstriped avenger for these people. .
“There’s a belief here that Wall Street is a fixed casino and it’s back in business, and we’re left holding the bag,” said Mr. Cordray, “It’s important for us to show we’ll go after a company that does wrong.”
Mr. Cordray in two years in office has demonstrated a willingness to sue early and often, filing lawsuits against global financial houses, rating agencies, subprime lenders and foreclosure scammers. He has wrested about $2 billion so far: a $475 million Merrill Lynch settlement, $400 million from Marsh & McLennan and $725 million from the American International Group.
Last week, he filed suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing the loan servicer of filing fraudulent affidavits in hundreds of Ohio foreclosures.
Rightradia reported on the robo-mortgages that are notarized out-of-state which is illegal. Attorneys have been able to get foreclosures on such homes financed with robo-mortgages thrown out of the courts.
Cordray's office has returned money to investors, pension funds, schools and cities. And he has directed millions to agencies fighting foreclosure.
“We see what Washington doesn’t: the houses lying vacant, the eyesore stripped for copper piping with mattresses out back,” Mr. Cordray says. “We bailed out irresponsible banks, but we forgot about everyone else.”
Instead of the US justice department going after these misbehaving corporations, the state's attorney generals are doing it. In this case, a sandy-haired 51-year-old Democrat who sits about 400 miles from Washington, is the man on a mission.
If Eliot Spitzer, the former New York attorney general, was the prototype of this breed, a handful of current ones, like Mr. Cordray, Martha Coakley of Massachusetts, Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Tom Miller of Iowa and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, lay claim to his mantle. All of them have sued predatory credit card company or financial firms draining a pension fund.
Ms. Coakley secured millions of dollars in mortgage modifications from Countrywide Financial and reached a $102 million settlement with Morgan Stanley over its role in financing the subprime loans that fed the housing crash in Massachusetts.
“We were the first to go after predatory loans — we’re not waiting for federal agencies to act,” Ms. Coakley said.
Some express skepticism, suggesting that such lawsuits are emotionally pleasing but economically destructive. Former Senator and governor Michael DeWine, a Republican who is running against Mr. Cordray, a Democrat, in the November election, has implied that Mr. Cordray wields an antibusiness cudgel.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
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Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general, has spearheaded several major settlements related to the recent financial meltdown.
At least 90,000 residential and commercial foreclosure notices will be filed in Ohio this year. Pension funds for teachers, secretaries and janitors have suffered grave losses. And multitudes of the unemployed in Ohio now speak of turning to prayer.
Ohio’s attorney general, Richard Cordray, was the pinstriped avenger for these people. .
“There’s a belief here that Wall Street is a fixed casino and it’s back in business, and we’re left holding the bag,” said Mr. Cordray, “It’s important for us to show we’ll go after a company that does wrong.”
Mr. Cordray in two years in office has demonstrated a willingness to sue early and often, filing lawsuits against global financial houses, rating agencies, subprime lenders and foreclosure scammers. He has wrested about $2 billion so far: a $475 million Merrill Lynch settlement, $400 million from Marsh & McLennan and $725 million from the American International Group.
Last week, he filed suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing the loan servicer of filing fraudulent affidavits in hundreds of Ohio foreclosures.
Rightradia reported on the robo-mortgages that are notarized out-of-state which is illegal. Attorneys have been able to get foreclosures on such homes financed with robo-mortgages thrown out of the courts.
Cordray's office has returned money to investors, pension funds, schools and cities. And he has directed millions to agencies fighting foreclosure.
“We see what Washington doesn’t: the houses lying vacant, the eyesore stripped for copper piping with mattresses out back,” Mr. Cordray says. “We bailed out irresponsible banks, but we forgot about everyone else.”
Instead of the US justice department going after these misbehaving corporations, the state's attorney generals are doing it. In this case, a sandy-haired 51-year-old Democrat who sits about 400 miles from Washington, is the man on a mission.
If Eliot Spitzer, the former New York attorney general, was the prototype of this breed, a handful of current ones, like Mr. Cordray, Martha Coakley of Massachusetts, Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Tom Miller of Iowa and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, lay claim to his mantle. All of them have sued predatory credit card company or financial firms draining a pension fund.
Ms. Coakley secured millions of dollars in mortgage modifications from Countrywide Financial and reached a $102 million settlement with Morgan Stanley over its role in financing the subprime loans that fed the housing crash in Massachusetts.
“We were the first to go after predatory loans — we’re not waiting for federal agencies to act,” Ms. Coakley said.
Some express skepticism, suggesting that such lawsuits are emotionally pleasing but economically destructive. Former Senator and governor Michael DeWine, a Republican who is running against Mr. Cordray, a Democrat, in the November election, has implied that Mr. Cordray wields an antibusiness cudgel.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
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