National Mortgage Settlement: Overseer Praises Whistleblower for Reporting Ocwen Financial 'Deficiencies'
Mortgage fraud has cost federal and state governments billions of dollars in less than a decade, and has harmed millions of American home owners. Many of these fraudulent corporate practices at various points of the mortgage industry are indistinguishable from other areas of criminal fraud. Whistleblowers, including the first two Bank of America mortgage fraud whistleblowers represented by Hagens Berman, have been at the center of these investigations and enforcement actions. — Shayne Stevenson, Head of Whistleblower Practice
"The overseer of the National Mortgage Settlement said that Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the largest U.S. servicers of home loans, has failed to produce reliable information about its practices and he has hired an independent accounting firm to re-evaluate the servicer’s compliance. Joseph Smith is the appointed “Monitor” over the $25 billion settlement with the top mortgage servicers over loan modification deficiencies and outright abuses in the foreclosure process affecting millions of homeowners. Ocwen is the fourth-largest mortgage servicer in the country and the biggest that isn’t a bank. Smith gave credit to an unnamed whistleblower in his released assessment Tuesday. The whistleblower, an Ocwenemployee, contacted Smith after noting “serious deficiencies” in Ocwen’s internal review group, which is supposed to report servicing issues to Smith’s office and meet new standards to ensure borrowers are treated fairly."
