Source: https://alliedprogress.org/research/lies-damn-lies-and-mnuchin-how-trumps-treasury-nominee-is-robo-misleading-the-senate/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:04:55+00:00

Document:
On February 1, the Senate Finance Committee suspended its rules “regarding quorum requirements for nomination votes” to advance President Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The move allowed Republicans to avoid involving Democrats in the confirmation markup process since at least one member of that party would need to be present to reach a quorum and proceed.
The Republican power play followed a boycott of the confirmation markup the day before by committee Democrats who were rightfully angry at Mnuchin for his lack of honesty with the committee following reports from both The Columbus Dispatch and The Intercept that revealed Mnuchin willfully misled senators about the foreclosure practices of his former bank: contrary to his repeated denials, OneWest did, in fact, “robo-sign” foreclosure documents.
In additional to Ohio and Texas cases reported by The Columbus Dispatch and The Intercept, OneWest also has been accused of “robo-signing” documents in numerous court cases, including cases in California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
OneWest’s “‘outsourcing vendor,’” Lender Processing Services (LPS), was entangled in a “‘massive’ robo-signing scheme” in Nevada. OneWest was named in a class action lawsuit in which LPS was accused of robo-signing foreclosure documents.
Despite claiming his bank never “robo-signed” mortgages, Mnuchin signed a document in 2011 in which the United States Office of Thrift Supervision found that OneWest had “filed or caused to be filed” potentially false affidavits “not based . . . on personal knowledge or review of relevant books and records.” Mnuchin hired an “independent” consulting firm that wrote a report to support his claim that OneWest had never robo-signed documents, but just 2 percent of OneWest’s relevant mortgages were reviewed for that portion of the report. Furthermore, one of the co-owners of OneWest had a financial stake in the company that did the “independent” analysis.
OneWest was accused of robo-signing after the bank foreclosed on Rhonda Mills’ Massachusetts home in 2011. Mills filed suit against OneWest, alleging that a “known robo-signer” employed by the bank had signed her documents in 2009.
Kevin Hughes sued OneWest Bank, alleging the bank had used “an admitted and known robo-signer to fabricate documents” in order to foreclose upon his California home in 2009.
In 2010, Clara Akalarian sued OneWest Bank, alleging that the person who executed foreclosure-related documents was a “robo-signer,” and that OneWest had wrongly started to foreclose upon her Rhode Island home.
During the 2012 bankruptcy proceedings of Morris Maxwell, the court ruled that Erica Johnson-Seck, an admitted robo-signer, had executed the mortgage on Morris Maxwell, whose home had been foreclosed upon.
In 2012, Eliazer Robles and her husband unsuccessfully sued OneWest for “fraud” and “unfair business practices.” They accused OneWest of employing a “robo-signer” for the foreclosure documents on their home.
OneWest Financial Services Inc., was subject to a “foreclosure ban” in New Jersey after a “robo-signing scandal” in 2010.
Johnson-Seck says she conducted quality control on LPS and was “close friends” with an LPS employee who worked on-site at OneWest in Pasadena, CA.
As previously noted, OneWest Financial Services Inc., was subject to a “foreclosure ban” in New Jersey after a “robo-signing scandal” in 2010.
OneWest neither admitted nor denied the findings, however Steven Mnuchin did sign the Order on behalf of OneWest.
OneWest’s “independent” consultant was Navigant Consulting, Inc.
On September 8, 2011, Navigant Consulting, Inc., submitted a Statement of Work to OneWest concerning “an independent review of residential foreclosure proceedings for loans serviced by One West Bank, FSB (“OneWest”) and residential foreclosure sales that have been pending or occurred during the period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010.” The statement “comments and guidance received from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency” and outlined the steps the company would take to review foreclosures.
Soros Fund Management, LLC, in the quarter that ended on September 30, 2011, disclosed ownership of 12,300 shares of Navigant Consulting, Inc. valued at $114,000. At the time, Soros was a co-owner of OneWest Bank.
It appears that Mnuchin’s comments above are based on the “independent” study by Navigant. However, Navigant reviewed just 3,836 of the 192,199 cases that fell within the scope of the review to determine if the “Servicer did not have standing to foreclose.” This constitutes just under 2 percent of the total number of mortgages within the scope of review.
 MJ Lee, “Republicans Suspend Committee Rules, Advance Mnuchin, Price Nominations,” CNN, February 1, 2017.
 Zachary Warmbrodt, “Senate Finance Democrats Boycott Mnuchin, Price Votes,” Politico, January 31, 2017; Alan Johnson and Jill Riepenhoff, “Trump Treasury Pick Mnuchin Misled Senate on Foreclosures, Ohio Cases Show,” Columbus Dispatch, January 29, 2017; and David Dayen, “Mnuchin Again Denies Robo-Signing, despite yet More Evidence He Is Lying,” The Intercept, January 30, 2017.
 Phil Mattingly, “Treasury Secretary Nominee’s Foreign Money Links Bring New Scrutiny,” CNN, January 31, 2017.
 Mills v. U.S. Bank, et al., No. 13-1907; Hughes v. OneWest Bank, No. A130897; OneWest Bank, FSB v. Stoner, 2011-Ohio-4672; Henning v. OneWest Bank FSB, DC-10-16465-L; Akalarian v. Nation One Mortgage, et al., No. PC 2010-4744; Maxwell v. OneWest Bank, No. 12-31917DM; Chapter 13, Eliazer Robles, et al. v. One West Bank, FSB, October 22, 2012; Johnson-Seck Deposition, July 9, 2009.
 Kate Barry, “Court Lifts N.J.’s Foreclosure Ban on Ally,” National Mortgage News, September 19, 2011; and Appraisal Institute, “New Jersey Lifts Ban on Foreclosures by Robo-Signing Banks,” September 21, 2011.
 Ariana Eunjung Cha, “OneWest Bank Employee: ‘Not More Than 30 Seconds’ to Sign Each Foreclosure Document,” Washington Post, September 30, 2010; Jeff Horwitz, “Nevada Files First Criminal Charges in Robo-Signing Case,” American Banker, November 16, 2011; Johnson-Seck Deposition, July 9, 2009; Steve Green, “Lender Processing: Faces Class Action Over Robosigning Problems,” Class Action Reporter, January 30, 2012; and James O’Toole, “Two Indicted in ‘Massive’ Nevada Robo-Signing Case,” CNN, November 17, 2011.
 In the Matter of One West Bank, FSB, Consent Order, Order No. WN-11-011, OTS Docket No. 18129, April 13, 2011; “Holdings Report for the Calendar Year or Quarter Ended September 30, 2011,” Soros Fund Management LLC, Securities and Exchange Commission Form 13-F, File Number 028-06420, November 14, 2011; Nathan Vardi, “John Paulson and George Soros Score Big Selling OneWest Bank For $3.4 Billion,” Forbes, July 22, 2014; Dan Froomkin, “Mnuchin Questions for Response,” from Senate Finance Committee, Hearing on the Nomination of Steve Mnuchin to be Secretary of the Treasury, The Intercept, January 22, 2017; and “Foreclosure-Related Consent Orders Status Report: Observations, Payments, and Foreclosure Prevention Assistance,” United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, April 2014.
 Eliazer Robles, et al. v. One West Bank, FSB, October 22, 2012.
 Kate Barry, “Court Lifts N.J.’s Foreclosure Ban on Ally,” National Mortgage News, September 19, 2011.
 Steve Green, “Lender Processing: Faces Class Action Over Robosigning Problems,” Class Action Reporter, January 30, 2012.
 In the Matter of One West Bank, FSB, Consent Order, Order No. WN-11-011.
 Testimony of Morris Morgan, Deputy Comptroller for Large Bank Supervision, Before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United States House of Representatives, March 19, 2012.
 “Statement of Work: April 13, 2011, Consent Order, Foreclosure Review,” Navigant Consulting, Inc. (Presented to OneWest Bank, FSB), September 8, 2011.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.