OCCUPY FIGHTS FORECLOSURES FORCES BANK OF AMERICA TO RESCIND FORECLOSURE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - BREAKING NEWS
MEDIA ADVISORY:

WHO: Occupy Fights Foreclosures
WHAT: BofA responds to pressure and rescinds sale and foreclosure of Dirma Rodriguez' home
WHEN: 5:00 PM Thursday May 24th, 2012
WHERE: Dirma Rodriguez' home at 2759 S Rimpau Blvd, Los Angeles, 90016

A Widowed Mother of a Severely Disabled Daughter gets her home back from BofA Thanks to Occupiers

LOS ANGELES — Occupy Fights Foreclosures (OFF), a subcommittee of Occupy Los Angeles, successfully won the home back of a Los Angeles homeowner whose home, they say, Bank of America fraudulently foreclosed on and sold, even after dutiful payments on a temporary loan modification for over a year.

Read more

BANK OF AMERICA LAWYER THREATENS OCCUPIER HELPING FRAUDULENTLY FORECLOSED FAMILY

Press Release

Occupy Fights Foreclosures helps Widowed Mother of Severely Disabled Daughter Fight BofA

Los Angeles – On Friday, David Redy— a partner at Redy & Smith— called Dirma Rodriguez, a widowed mother with a severely disabled daughter and 4 sons, who says she was fraudulently foreclosed upon by Bank of America. Allegedly during the conversation, Redy— who represents the bank— threatened Carlos Marroquin, a homeowners’ advocate and Occupy activist, who helped get the family back into their home after an eviction in late march.

Mrs. Rodriguez asserts that in addition to the threat against Marroquin, Redy used high-pressure tactics to get her sign away her Rights.  

 

Read more

Members of Occupy Appeals to Bank of America Shareholders the Night Before Stockholders’ Meeting

Press Release

Occupy Fights Foreclosures by Highlighting the Bank’s Fraud as a Business Model to Shareholders

Los Angeles – Occupy Fights Foreclosures, a subcommittee at Occupy Los Angeles, plans to fraudulently foreclose upon Bank of America in Pasadena the night before the bank’s annual Shareholders’ meeting. Activists say the shareholders need to know that Bank of America has been operating with fraud as their business model. 

“We have had enough bullying by big banks that overrun the law and trample people's lives,” states Suzanne O’Keeffe, an Occupy Activist and writer, “We call this to the attention of the shareholders -- we say we're onto the fraud.

Read more

BANK OF AMERICA HIRES DOZENS OF LEGAL EMPLOYEES TO MEET FORECLOSURE QUOTA OF 10K PER DAY

Press Release

Occupy Fights Foreclosures and Bank of America by Turning the Tables on them on the Eve of Shareholders’ Meeting

Los Angeles – In an Occupy exclusive, recently interviewed or hired sources say, Bank of America has begun a hiring frenzy in their in-home legal department.  The bank has recently hired dozens of paralegals and notaries with a reported quota of accumulated 10,000 foreclosures per day or 200 per employee.

Activists say the newly hired legal employees are a consequence of families fighting back against fraudulent foreclosures.

Read more

Public Comment at City Council: Newest Members of Occupy Family

The following was read at LA City Council during Public Comment 3/28/12

Read more

OCCUPY FIGHTS FORECLOSURES AND MOURNS DEPORTED MOTHER WITH VIGIL Occupy LA’s Foreclosure Defense Group Holds Candlelight Vigil for Deportee after Foreclosure Fiasco

March 05, 2012

Contact: Cheryl Aichele

310-912-3494

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact at OccupyFightsForeclosures at 310-912-3494 or OccupyFightsForeclosures@gmail.com

PRESS ADVISORY

WHO: Occupy Fights Foreclosures joins the Cardenas Family and Community Leaders
WHAT: Candlelight vigil for deportation of Blanca Cardenas— a mother with a nursing child.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 5, 2012 at 5:00pm
WHERE: 5557 Elmer Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601
WHY: ICE wrongfully deported Blanca Cardenas after LAPD made a wrongful arrest during unlawful eviction on a fraudulently foreclosed home.

PRESS RELEASE 

LOS ANGELES – Tuesday evening, Activists from Occupy Fights Foreclosures (OFF) will hold a candlelight vigil after canvassing the neighborhood for Blanca Cardenas,a recently deported North Hollywood nursing mother and homeowner, whose home activists believe Bank of America illegally foreclosed.

Last Wednesday members of Occupy Fights Foreclosure, a subcommittee from Occupy LA, went with other community leaders to petition Los Angeles City Council and the LAPD Police Commission to intervene in the case. 

Wednesday, a week after her arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Mrs. Cardenas— a non-priority undocumented homeowner with no criminal background— to Mexico. Despite the fact that Cardenas’ youngest child is only 17 months old and a 14-year old son who are both U.S. Citizens, her husband is a U.S. citizen, she has been in this country for more than 15 years, she has been married for 9 years, and has owned a home for 8 years.

“It’s been devastating since they took her,” said Gerardo Quinones, Blanca’s husband. “She was deported with nothing but the clothes on her, she didn’t have money or anything else. She had every right to fight for her home and believed the authorities would protect her.”

Two Wednesdays ago, LAPD arrested Mrs. Cardenas while she defended her family home. The family disputes the foreclosures and eviction due to fraudulent paperwork filed by the banks and a pending federal bankruptcy which is supposed to protect homeowners from eviction.

Although the exact circumstances leading up to Mrs. Cardenas’ detention and ICE deportation remains unclear, it appears the inciting event ties to an investor named Mehrdad Farahmand from A to Z Development, who recently was the highest bidder for the property at an auction.

Apparently Farahmand initiated a citizen’s arrest and LAPD took Mrs. Cardenas into custody, even though the Sheriff’s Department has jurisdiction over evictions and civil matters.

Allegedly, a cell phone video recording of the arrested prompted the investigation into Cardenas’ immigration status. An unnamed witness said authorities at the Van Nuys jail investigated Mrs. Cardenas’ immigration status and turned her information over to immigration authorities because of the cell phone recording.

Advocates had visited with staff from U.S. Representative Howard Berman’s, Senator Barbara Boxer’s, and City Councilman Tony Cardenas’ offices in an attempt to stop the deportation but to no avail despite repeated attempts to intervene.

“We stand with Mrs. Cardenas and her family to fight for Blanca’s return,” said Carlos Marroquin, a homeowner advocate and Occupy activist, “We believe the foreclosure has been done in a wrongful way.”

Occupy activists rally in support of the Cardenas family less than three weeks after the SF County Recorder released an audit of foreclosures which shows legal violations and questionable activities on nearly all of the files. The audit shows that an estimated 99% of the foreclosures involve questionable activity, 84% of foreclosures involve clear violation of the law, and over 66% involve four or more violations from all the files they reviewed.

“Many of these actions, if not all of these actions, render many of these foreclosures invalid.” Phil Ting, San Francisco County Recorder.

Occupy activists call for a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions until a full investigation is complete.

“Until a thorough investigation is conducted,” Marroquin said, “We call on the State of California to institute an indefinite moratorium on all foreclosures and foreclosure-related evictions.”

Occupy Fights Foreclosures will join other Occupy groups throughout the state on Monday March 12 outside County Recorders’ offices to ask for similar audit of foreclosure procedures in Los Angeles and other Counties.

Invalid foreclosures can cause legal issues for investors of fraudulently foreclosed properties, such as Farahmand.

“An investor who buys a home that banks fraudulently foreclosed upon, also risks being implicated in the housing crime,” states Marroquin, “Buying stolen property doesn’t mean the property belongs to the highest bidder”.

Occupy Fights Foreclosure— an official subcommittee of Occupy LA – joins Hermandad Mexicana Panorama City, Buen Hogar Foundation, Familia De Blanca Cardenas, Dec 12 Coalition, and other community leaders in calling upon federal officials to return Blanca Cardenas back to her family in America.

These groups plan a massive protest Sunday, March 11, 2012 starting at LA Placita Olvera, then marching to the Federal Detention Center where ICE held Blanca before deporting her, and finally the group will march to MacArthur Park for a InterOccupy Southern California meet up, where dozens of Occupy group plan to meet. 

# # #

 

The Official website: http://occupylosangeles.org/
The official Twitter: @OccupyLA
The official FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/occupyLA

OCCUPY FIGHTS FORECLOSURES JOINS STATEWIDE ACTION:
 “Occupy the Crime Scene: County Recorder’s Office, AKA a Warehouse of Stolen Property”

March 12, 2012

Contact: Cheryl Aichele

310-912-3494

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS ADVISORY

WHO: Occupy Fights Foreclosures at the County Recorder’s Office to Investigate the Crime Scene
WHAT: Rally with Crime Scene Tape, Evidence Bags and Boxes, and Chalk Outlines
WHEN: Monday, March 12, 2012 at 9-11am.
WHERE: LA County Recorder’s Office 12400 IMPERIAL Hwy Norwalk, CA 90650
WHY: San Francisco County Recorder audited foreclosures and found 99% had questionable activity, 84% had a clear violation of law, and over 66% had 4 or more violations of law

PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES - Occupy Fights Foreclosures, a sub-committee of OccupyLA, other Occupy groups, and anti-foreclosure groups will cordon off, with “crime scene tape”, the County Recorders’ offices throughout California – from Sacramento to Los Angeles – this Monday, March 12.

Dozens of anti-foreclosure groups will hold rallies and direct actions, declaring County Recorders’ offices “crime scenes” that authorities need to investigate.

Activists – fed up with the mass theft of people's homes and loss of billions of dollars to state and local government – will arrive with boxes marked "evidence: stolen property” that will contain mini-house inside with foreclosure and "bank-owned" signs on them. Some will display "Wanted" posters of big bank CEOs.

Occupiers are expected to release online on Monday a "White Paper" outlining the "theft" of people's homes. Foreclosed homeowners are expected to participate in the demonstrations, at the County Recorders, and then enter the County Recorders’ offices to inspect their home recorders for errors.

Member of Occupy Fights Foreclosures spoke via a phone conference with Los Angeles County Recorder, Dean Logan, on Wednesday. Logan assured advocates that there would be staff on hand to help homeowner print their documents. Logan will even allow for an exception to printing guidelines.

Protesters will ask county recorders to conduct independent audits offoreclosures for the past five years. A recent audit of 382 San Franciscoforeclosures found 99 percent involved questionable activity, 84 percent of them involved at least one clear violation of California's foreclosures laws. In addition, more than 66 percent contained 4 or more violations of law.

They will ask the Governor and Legislature and the Attorney General to declare an indefinite foreclosure moratorium until legal authorities complete a thorough investigation and prosecution of the fraud, and the legislature passes legislation that protects innocent homeowners from such fraud.

San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting has said: "When it became clear that property records were severely undermined, a red flag was raised. Those records are supposed to be filed with this office and many were simply missing or had serious inconsistencies. How can we expect homeowners to have fighting chance of saving their homes when they can't even find who currently owns their debt?"

“If there is one lesson to take away from this report it is that California’s foreclosure process is utterly broken," said Lou Pizante, .principal at Aequitas, the firm that audited the San Francisco foreclosure records.

# # #

OTHER CITIES/COUNTIES INVOLVED IN THE DAY OF ACTIION
Santa Rosa (Sonoma County)
San Francisco (San Francisco County)
Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)
Sacramento (Sacramento County)
Modesto (Stanislaus County)
Fort Bragg (Mendocino County)
Eureka (Humboldt County)
Ventura (Ventura County)
Oroville (Butte County)
Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara County)
Nevada City (Nevada County)

The Official website: http://occupylosangeles.org/
The official Twitter: @OccupyLA
The official FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/occupyLA

Moratorium on Fraudulent Foreclosures in California

If you are concerned about the number of fraudulent foreclosures in California, please sign the petition below and share it with others.  We will print and deliver these petitions to the appropriate parties when we have enough signatures. 

48 SIGNATURES

GOAL: 100 signatures

Save hardworking Californians' homes by declaring an immediate moratorium on all fraudulent foreclosures! 

Prosecute bankers for system-wide mortgage and foreclosure fraud! 

Banks foreclosed on 1.2 million homes in California since 2008, and up to 2 million homes are expected to be foreclosed upon by the end of 2012.  As many as 84% of foreclosures had one or more clear violations of law, and over 66% had a four or more clear violations of law, as determined in a recent audit by Phil Ting, the San Francisco County Assessor-Recorder.  In addition, states Mr. Ting, “Many of these actions, if not all of these actions, render many of these foreclosures invalid.”  Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County Recorder, asserts that the illegal foreclosure actions, “(N)eed law enforcement."

 

• We petition the State Attorney General Kamala Harris to enact a moratorium on foreclosures.
• We petition District Attorneys to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the illegal bank activity.
• We petition State Legislators to enact legislation for a moratorium on foreclosures because of the illegal bank activity.
• We petition County Recorders to stop recording fraudulent foreclosure documents.
• We petition Sheriffs to immediately halt enforcement of all foreclosures because of the illegal bank activity

Add signature

Petitions

Bring Blanca Cardenas back and save her home from foreclosure

Blanca Cardenas was deported under questionable circumstances. Bank of America wrongfully foreclosed on her home and while she was defending the home police arrested her. Authorities discovered that she was was an undocumented immigrant and quickly deported her to Mexico. Blanca has not only lost her home, she has lost her family.

Occupy Fight Foreclosure Fraud Alert: Golden Global Investments in Van Nuys

BREAKING NEWS:

Van Nuys ~  Thanks to the investigative work of Occupy Fights Foreclosures, a subcommittee of Occupy LA, and Occupy San Fernando Valley, one foreclosure-rescue scammer is being brought to justice and one family has been reimbursed their fees and given back their loan documents. The entity known as Golden Global Investments is now under investigation by police for misrepresenting themselves as attorneys, charging upfront fees for modifications (against state law) and promising to modify loans when they are not licensed attorneys.

Read more