This is one of a number of class actions filed over recent years that allege that companies have played fast and loose when securitizing mortgages, and then again when executing foreclosures on the residential property covered by those mortgages. The complaint claims that foreclosures were undertaken with fraudulent mortgage assignments and note endorsements, improperly putting people out of their homes and selling those homes to others, without having proper standing or proof of assignment of mortgages.
The defendants include JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, Chase Home Finance, the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), Alridge Pite, LLP, and others.
The plaintiffs in this case, David Lukela Kawelo, Sr. and Rochelle Nohea Kawelo, bring this case pro se (acting as their own attorneys), “individually, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” although the class for the action is not defined. They are protesting the foreclosure on and sale of their home by JPMorgan Chase.
The complaint cites a number of problems with mortgage documents used by the defendants in foreclosures, including documents that were backdated, had false dates of transfer, had fraudulent notarizations, had forged signatures, were signed by employees who claimed to be officers of organizations, or were robo-signed.
The complaint alleges that these were not isolated incidents: “Such fraudulent assignments and note endorsements formed the basis for the submission of at least tens of thousands of false claims to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (‘HUD’) for payments pursuant to the mortgage insurance program administered by the Federal Housing Administration (‘FHA’).”
The origin of the problems seems to lie in the use of the mortgages to form mortgage-backed securities (MBS) trusts. MBS trusts consist of mortgages bought from banks and mortgage companies and assembled into pools. The party that assembled the pool would then issue securities that were claims on the payments made on the mortgages.
The proper documents should have been delivered, when the MBS trust was formed. However, the complaint alleges that they were not—or they were defective, or were lost or destroyed over time, or the like. When homeowners defaulted on a mortgage, then, the trust did not have the documents required to foreclose, the complaint says, so they produced false documentation.
The defendants in this case are trustees of the MBS trust that contained the Kawelos’ mortgage or the custodians that act as the trustees’ agents.
The complaint reviews a number of similar cases where documents were missing, forged, or otherwise invalid.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Real Estate
Most Recent Case Event
JPMorgan Chase Foreclosures Without Proper Documentation Complaint
November 1, 2019
This is one of a number of class actions filed over recent years that allege that companies have played fast and loose when securitizing mortgages, and then again when executing foreclosures on the residential property covered by those mortgages. The complaint claims that foreclosures were undertaken with fraudulent mortgage assignments and note endorsements, improperly putting people out of their homes and selling those homes to others, without having proper standing or proof of assignment of mortgages.
fraudulent_mortgage_assignments_compl.pdfCase Event History
JPMorgan Chase Foreclosures Without Proper Documentation Complaint
November 1, 2019
This is one of a number of class actions filed over recent years that allege that companies have played fast and loose when securitizing mortgages, and then again when executing foreclosures on the residential property covered by those mortgages. The complaint claims that foreclosures were undertaken with fraudulent mortgage assignments and note endorsements, improperly putting people out of their homes and selling those homes to others, without having proper standing or proof of assignment of mortgages.
fraudulent_mortgage_assignments_compl.pdf