Lawyers controlled from the Inns of court in London via UGLE write the legal contracts they have a complete monopoly over . When they decide to steal your home, sometimes with the banks insistence, they use glorified lawyers renamed judges who without juries steal vast swathes of land, property and business disguised as the law. Laws that are irrelevant to the protection of the victims of the legal mafia who have been getting away with murder unhindered while the police mafia aid and abet their theiving scams.
While the U. S. Department of Justice is actively prosecuting mortgage and foreclosure fraud, a national organization that helps homeowners avoid foreclosure has evidence that certain state judges appear to be protecting lawbreakers. Billions of dollars have been received by corporations in the foreclosure industry since the Great Recession began.
Are these vast sums of money finding their way to elected state judges and politicians? CHOESTOE, GA – June 11, 2011 (Examiner.com) – Amid the splendor of pristine mountains, waterfalls and springtime flowers in one of America’s favorite vacationlands, a passionate lady-with-a-cause, presented evidence yesterday that could shake the judicial system to its foundation. While helping families facing foreclosure, her non-profit organization has recently stumbled upon very questionable judicial actions in several states. The evidence is overwhelming that the powerful foreclosure industry not only has inappropriate influence over state court systems, but is using threats and economic pressure to stymie investigative efforts and legislative regulation.
On first appearance one would expect to see Anne Batte as the hostess of a chic cocktail party in Chevy Chase, MD, welcoming a National Geographic explorer back home, or perhaps chatting away at the grand opening of an art museum’s new wing in Denver. The college coed figure, youthful looks and sophisticated vocabulary of the blonde Southern Belle disguise her total dedication to an effort to help the victims of America’s Great Recession. She is an Evangelical Christian and the founder of Operation Restoration, Inc.. Anne Batte grew up in Richmond, VA. She is the daughter of the late, John Batte, a prominent Virginia attorney and real estate developer. Her inherited position in Richmond society would have never predicted her current lifestyle. Among many experiences in her past, she also has been the successful developer of large real estate projects and has lived in several regions, including Costa Rica. After returning to live in Atlanta in March 2008, she became aware of the mass suffering in the United States caused by the Great Recession and the apparent indifference of those in power to this suffering. She stated yesterday that she has taken Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, literally and trusts in God to provide her earthly needs as she carries out her mission.
Operation Restoration describes itself as “a free, non-profit mission of healing and restoration that is dedicated to foreclosure prevention.” It currently is helping homeowners in 39 states, but as more donations become available, it plans to provide services nationwide. The organization has published educational information and self-help tools online. It provides trained case managers to guide borrowers and realtors. It also assists law enforcement agencies when team members become aware of possible crimes being committed. The staff and volunteers of Operation Restoration come from a broad range of professions in the finance, real estate and construction communities. Bankers and attorneys have been extremely helpful in developing the programs of the organization. Ms. Batte stated that she hoped the national media would help the public understand that the entire financial and legal community should not be condemned for the illegal or greedy actions of some members of their professions.
Evidence of judicial corruption
Under the shade of a giant weeping willow tree in the North Georgia Mountains, Batte presented a cardboard box full of photocopied legal documents. These copies were obtained from court cases and foreclosure actions from around the nation. However, the questionable legal actions seem concentrated in the Lower Southeast, where the Great Recession began. Within the mounds of paperwork, the most obvious violations of federal and state laws involved forged signatures of attorneys, corporate officers and notary publics. The names on these documents can not be released to the public at this time because such information would interfere with active criminal investigations or are evidence for civil cases in progress. There were 12 different signatures on legal documents supposedly reviewed and signed by one attorney. All of them contrasted starkly with the signature within his own mortgage! In some of the court cases he was involved with, sloppy and apparently illegal work allowed official court documents to be forged for both parties representing sellers and buyers, or plaintiffs and defendants. Ms. Batte stated that this particular case was thoroughly exposed in November 2010 by one of the nation’s oldest broadcast news teams, WSB-TV. However, since then, the ABC local affiliate has ceased investigating cases of foreclosure fraud. No action has been taken by law enforcement agencies against the attorney.
Other forged documents claimed that corporations held deeds to real estate properties that they didn’t own. A major national bank foreclosed on a property which the occupants owned free and clear, and didn’t even have a mortgage. More common cases involved attorneys signing documents claiming that mortgages were in default that actually were current in payments. Certain women signed official court documents as registered notary publics when in fact they were NOT notary publics at that time.
The next level of fraud presented by Ms. Batte involved how state courts had dealt with obvious cases of fraud, forgery and perjury. In a typical case, attorneys for the plaintiff challenged the legality of court documents witnessed and signed by a person pretending to be a notary public. Several months after the illegal act, she had become a notary public. She was employed by a large law firm, which persuaded several attorneys and notary publics to sign sworn affidavits that she was a notary public at the time when they originally submitted documents to the court. All of these affidavits were acts of perjury, which should have resulted in disbarment, criminal fines and potentially, prison sentences. So far the judge has done nothing. In case after case, official court documents identified certain judges in state courts, who were consistently blocking cases involving forgery of deeds, legal documents and foreclosure actions from being brought to trial. In some cases, district attorneys refused to present evidence of illegality to the courts. In other cases, district attorneys or civil attorneys tried to present evidence of illegality, but were quickly censured by certain judges. In one case, in Fulton County, GA, a judge threatened a crime victim with contempt of court if she ever was in his courtroom again. Her complaint was that forged signatures were utilized by a mortgage service company to foreclose on her home, when in Georgia mortgage service companies can not legally foreclose on residential real estate.
State banking committee stalls mortgage fraud legislation.
Ms. Batte stated that while legislators in many states have publicly announced their opposition to shady mortgage procedures and fraudulent foreclosures, there has been little state level legislation that addresses the problems. She explained that most states have public records of large sums of money being spent by lobbyists to persuade legislators to maintain the status quo. A good example of the contrast between public statements made by politicians and their actual behind-the-scenes activities can be found in Georgia. Georgia State Senator Jack S. Murphy was named chairman of the GA. Senate Banking Committee in January 2011. GA Senate Bill 123, amending the laws on mortgage fraud, was sent to his committee for review. There it has sat since then. In the meantime, Murphy along with seven other former officers of the failed Integrity National Bank of Alpharetta, GA have been charged by FDIC regulators with gross negligence and various breaches of fiduciary duty associated with its issuance of mortgage loans. The FDIC is seeking damages of over $70 million. Murphy refuses to resign from the Banking Committee. The Georgia House of Representatives passed its version of the mortgage fraud bill in April 2011. However, since the Senate version never came out of committee, the House version was introduced into the Senate shortly before midnight on the General Assembly’s last day of this session. It was tabled to the 2012 session.
What are state criminal justice agencies doing?
Ms. Batte was asked why state agencies were not taking a more active role in the investigation of forgeries, mortgage fraud and illegal foreclosures. She responded that the involvement of state attorney generals varies from state to state. Some have shown great concern when shown evidence that judges in their state were not enforcing the law. Others claimed that they had no jurisdiction or that it was improper for them to question the findings of standing judges. Ms. Batte stated that Samuel Olens, a highly respected attorney and former Cobb County, GA Commission Chairman, made prosecution of mortgage and foreclosure fraud a major platform of his campaign last fall. However, after becoming Georgia’s new Attorney General, he has not prosecuted any cases of these types of fraud, nor investigated charges of judges showing inappropriate favoritism to the foreclosure industry. She added that apparently “someone got to him” around February of 2011. He suddenly stopped mentioning foreclosure and mortgage fraud in public speechs. When questioned by reporters about these subjects, he dodges the issue and claims that he has no power to investigate violation of the state laws relating to perjury, forgery, fraud and judicial misconduct.
At the end of her interview, Ms. Batte was asked if she felt any concern for her personal safety since providing incriminating evidence to criminal justice agencies about judiciary impropriety. She said that members of their organization have received some threats. At times their office phones have appeared to be illegally tapped. The dynamic civic leader ended her response with this statement of her faith, “I have placed my life in God’s hands and in him, I will always trust.”
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