158-13 Ex M Proposed Fourth Amended Complaint Dated 3 6 2017
158-13 Ex M Proposed Fourth Amended Complaint Dated 3 6 2017
Exhibit M
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Defendants.
Plaintiffs S&A Capital Partners, Inc. ("S&A"), Mortgage Resolution Servicing, LLC
("MRS"), and 1st Fidelity Loan Servicing, LLC ("1st Fidelity")(together, the "Plaintiffs"), for their
fourth amended complaint against JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., JPMorgan Chase & Company,
and Chase Home Finance LLC (together "Chase" or the "Defendants"), allege as follows:
This action arises out of the Defendants failure to service loans in a manner consistent with
its legal obligations under: i) the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA – particularly
Title X); ii) the Truth in Lending Act (TILA); iii) the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC); iv)
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA); v) The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank); vi) the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECO); vii) the Fair
Housing Act (FHA); and viii) all other applicable state and federal usury, consumer credit
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protection and privacy, predatory and abusive lending laws (collectively “the Acts”). Rather than
comply with the costly and time consuming legal obligations Defendants faced under the Acts,
Defendants warehoused said loans in a database of charged-off loans known as RCV1 and
intentionally and recklessly sold these liabilities to unaware buyers such as the Plaintiffs. To
(i) Intentionally prevented Plaintiffs from conducting normal and customary due diligence
by failing to provide the required information and by constantly changing the terms of
the required data was available; and by promising to provide such data as they had in
the past and according to an existing Master Mortgage Loan Sale Agreement
(iii) Negligently misrepresented to the Plaintiffs the quality and character of the loans.
(iv) Knowingly breached every representation they made in the MLPA, including failing to
legally transfer 3,529 closed-end 1st lien mortgages worth $156,324,399.24 to the
Plaintiffs, and to provide Plaintiffs with the information required by both RESPA and
(v) Took numerous actions post-facto that tortiously interfered with Plaintiffs’
letters and releasing liens. These actions not only resulted in specific damage to said
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lien’s value, it caused Plaintiffs reputational harm with borrowers, loan sellers,
(vi) Created a “racketeering enterprise” whose purpose was to evade legal duties owed to
THE PARTIES
Plaintiffs:
1. S&A is a Florida corporation located at 6810 N. State Rd. 7, Coconut Creek, Florida
33073, whose President is Laurence Schneider. S&A has been acquiring mortgage loans and pools
of loans from numerous lenders, servicers and mortgage insurance companies since 2005. From
2005-2010, S&A purchased approximately 650 first lien and second lien residential mortgage
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073, whose managing member is Real Estate and Finance, Inc., a Florida
corporation whose President is Laurence Schneider. On February 25, 2009, MRS entered into a
purchase agreement to purchase a pool of 3,529 first lien residential mortgage loans from the
3. 1st Fidelity is a Florida limited liability company located at 6810 N. State Rd. 7,
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073, whose managing member is Real Estate and Finance, Inc., a Florida
corporation whose President is Laurence Schneider. 1st Fidelity has been acquiring mortgage loans
and pools of loans from numerous lenders, servicers and mortgage insurance companies since
2008. From 2008 to 2010, 1st Fidelity purchased approximately 350 first lien and second lien
Defendants:
4. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the "Bank") is a national banking association and a
wholly-owned subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Company. The Bank's principal place of business
is at 270 Park Avenue, New York, New York. On September 25, 2008, the Bank purchased
substantially all of the assets and assumed substantially all of the liabilities of Washington Mutual
Bank, F.S.B. pursuant to a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with the Federal Deposit
principal place of business at 270 Park Avenue, New York, New York. In July 2004, Chase
merged with Bank One. One or more of the Plaintiffs acquired from Chase residential mortgage
loans that Chase had acquired from Bank One loans. As owner of the loans sold to the Plaintiffs,
6. Chase Home Finance, LLC was a Delaware limited liability company that offered
mortgage and loan services, with its principal place of business at 343 Thornall Street, Edison,
New Jersey 08837. Prior to May 1, 2011, Chase was qualified to do business in New Jersey.
Effective May 1, 2011, Chase merged into the Bank which now owns and services the residential
mortgage loans previously owned by Chase. The Bank stands in the shoes of Chase and is liable
7. This Court has federal question jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 with
respect to the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c);
diversity jurisdiction with respect to all of the claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332; and
8. This Court has personal jurisdiction over the Defendants pursuant to New York
C.P.L.R. §§ 301 and 302 because the Defendants are registered to do business in the State of New
York and regularly conduct business in the State of New York, including in this District, and
because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the Plaintiffs' claims occurred
in this District.
9. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b) and (c) because two of the Defendants
maintain their principal place of business in the Southern District of New York.
10. The MLPA has a New York forum selection clause, which the Court noted in its
Order on Defendant’s Motion to Transfer (DE 75, 87), “is a significant factor disfavoring transfer
of this action. See Atlantic Marine Const. Co., Inc. v. U.S. District Court for the Western Dist. of
Tx., 134 S.Ct. 568, 582 (2013) (‘[F]orum selection clauses should control except in unusual
11. According to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”), also known
as Regulation X, 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq, a “federally related mortgage loan” means any loan that
is secured by a first or subordinate lien on residential real property, including a refinancing of any
secured loan on residential real property, upon which there is either: occupancy of from one to
four families, is made in whole or in part by any lender that is either regulated by or whose deposits
or accounts are insured by any agency of the Federal Government 1; is made in whole or in part, or
is insured, guaranteed, supplemented, or assisted in any way by the Secretary or any other officer
1
available at https://www5.fdic.gov/idasp/advSearchLanding.asp, and https://www.chase.com/personal-
banking/fdic-coverage
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by any other such officer or agency, or is intended to be sold to Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae, FHA, or
12. This includes the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) or any other officer or agency of the Federal Government or in connection
with a housing or urban development program administered by the Secretary of HUD or a housing
or related program administered by any other officer or agency of the Federal Government. 2
13. Also according to RESPA, "servicing" means receiving any scheduled periodic
payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of any federally related mortgage loan, including
amounts for escrow accounts under section 10 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. § 2609), and making the
payments to the owner of the loan or other third parties of principal and interest and such other
payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to
14. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act 12 U.S.C. §§2601-2617 (RESPA) as servicers of federally related mortgage loans.
15. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Truth in Lending Act
15 U.S.C. 1601, (TILA) as servicers of federally related mortgage loans obligated upon a
borrower's request to provide the name, address, and telephone number of the owner of the
obligation.
2
available at https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-2800.html
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16. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Federal Trade
Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq (FTC) as federally regulated and insured institutions
17. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act 15 U.S.C. 1692 (FDCPA), prohibiting the collection of debt not owned, using names
other than its own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect
such debts, using false, deceptive, or misleading representations of the character, amount, legal
status of such debt in connection with the collection of such debt 15 U.S.C. §1692e, prohibiting
unfair or unconscionable means to collect under 15 U.S.C. §1692f, failing to validate debt and
failing to cease collection of such disputed debt until legal verification is made, unlawfully
18. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Dodd Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. §5301 et seq (Dodd-Frank), requiring for
example, mandatory servicer participation in HAMP, requiring escrow and settlement procedures
for people who are in trouble repaying their mortgages, imposing more stringent requirements for
risk management and stress testing, requiring banks, lenders, and others, whenever they securitize
an asset, to hang on to a portion of the credit risk, requiring further loss mitigation procedures
19. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Equal Credit
by a lender in any aspect of a credit transaction including failing to provide information or services
or providing different information or services regarding any aspect of the lending process, using
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20. At all times applicable, Defendants have been subject to the Fair Housing Act, 42
transactions”.
21. The damage caused to Plaintiffs arises from Defendants’ violations of law whereby
Defendants routinely and illicitly sought to avoid costly and time-consuming servicing of federally
related mortgage loans. Since 2000, Defendants maintained loans on various mortgage servicing
Systems of Records (“SOR”) which are required to meet servicing standards and regulatory
illicit practices outside the realm of regulation or auditing. Defendants’ scheme involves flagging
defaulted and problem federally related loans on the legitimate SOR and installing a subsequent
process to then identify and transfer the loan records from the legitimate SOR to RCV1. The
process could be disguised as a reporting process within the legitimate SOR and the data then
22. Defendants inactivated federally related mortgage loans from their various SORs
such as from the Mortgage Servicing Platform (“MSP”) and Vendor Lending System (“VLS”).
MSP is an SOR that “maintains up to date information… and is used by approximately 75% of the
mortgage servicing industry” 3 for first lien mortgages. VLS is used to service home equity lines
3
In the Matter of Residential Mortgage Pleading and Document Irregularities, Affidavit of Michael R. Zarro
Constituting JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.’s and Chase Home Finance LLC’s prima Facie Showing, available at
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/superior/f_59553_10_jp_morgan/jp_morgan_2_of_21.pdf;
Exhibits to the Affidavit of Michael R. Zarro, Volume One available at
https://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/superior/f_59553_10_jp_morgan/jp_morgan_1_of_21.pdf
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of credit in accordance with federal regulations. These systems of records allow Chase to ensure
servicing guidelines are met by allowing maintenance and data reporting mechanisms within
regulatory requirements. Chase houses its Recovery Unit as part of its Operations unit and it is
charged with the collection processes for various lines of Defendant-owned debts, including
Defendants' automobile financing and credit card debt, which do not have the same regulatory
obligations as mortgages.
23. RCV1’s design and functionality does not meet any servicing standards or
requirements under applicable federal, state, and local laws pertaining to mortgage servicing or
consumer protection. Instead, the practices implemented by Defendants on the RCV1 population
and then illicitly housing charged-off problematic residential mortgage loans in the vacuum of
RCV1, improperly converting these problematic residential mortgage loans into purely debt
collection cases that are akin to bad credit card debt, and recklessly disregarding virtually all
servicing obligations in the process. In order to maximize revenue, Defendants used unscrupulous
collection methods on homeowners utilizing third-party collection agencies and deceptive sales
tactics on unsuspecting note sale investors, all the while applying for governmental credits and
25. In short, the RCV1 is where mortgage loans and associated borrowers are
intentionally mishandled in such a manner that compliance with any regulatory requirements is
impossible. In derogation of the RESPA, which requires mortgage servicers to correct account
errors and disclose account information when a borrower sends a written request for information,
the information for loans in RCV1 remains uncorrected and is sent as an inventory list from one
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collection agency to another, progressively resulting in further degradation of the loan information.
In dereliction of various regulations related to loan servicing, loans once in RCV1 are not verified
individually and the identity of the true owner of the note per the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) is
often concealed. Regulatory controls regarding grace periods, crediting funds properly, charging
26. More specifically, a borrower sending a qualified written request under Section 6
of RESPA concerning the servicing of his/her loan or request for correction under 12 U.S.C.
§2605(e), 12 CFR §1024.35 could not obtain resolution because RCV1 is a repository for housing
debt rather than a platform for housing and servicing federally related loans. RCV1 contains no
Regulation X, 12 CFR §1024.34. Borrowers whose loans are housed in RCV1 fail to receive any
inactivation of these loans in the regulated systems of records has allowed Chase to then make the
technical argument that the loans are no longer federally related mortgage loans. In contravention
of 12 CFR §1024.39, Chase failed to inform Borrowers whose loans were flagged, inactivated,
and housed in RCV1, about the availability of loss mitigation options, and in contravention of 12
CFR §1024.40. Chase also failed to make available to each Borrower personnel assigned to
him/her to apprise the Borrower of the actions the Borrower must take, status of any loss mitigation
loss mitigation deadlines in careless disregard of any of the loss mitigation procedures under Reg
X 12 CFR § 1024.41.
27. Once a loan is placed in RCV1, there is no oversight, and the Recovery Department
itself has explicitly stated that Defendants do not provide any loan modification programs to loans
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housed in RCV1. Chase habitually “writes off” these problematic mortgage loans, avoiding costs
and related property costs associated with acquisition of title. However, RCV1 allows Defendants
28. Unbeknownst to Plaintiffs and regulatory agencies, Chase has systematically used
RCV1 to park flagged loans inactivated in the MSP, VLS, and other customary SORs to (1) eschew
Regulatory requirements while publicly assuring compliance, (2) request credits and insurance on
the charge-offs., (3) continue collection, and (4) sell-off these problematic loans to unsuspecting
investors to maximize profit/side-step liability, all with the end of maximizing profit.
29. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) found that between 2002 through
February 2014, Chase concealed from FHA that the loans did not meet underwriting requirements,
Chase stopped self-reporting on such FHA-insured loans to HUD. Chase then made insurance
claims on those defaulted loans. That sole misconduct has been settled. 4
30. Since at least 2000, Defendants evaded their legal obligations and liabilities with
respect to the proper servicing of federally related mortgages, causing Plaintiffs damage through
4
Kimberly Randall, Joint Civil Fraud Division, GAW Final Civil Action Memorandum No: 2014-CF-1807
See also, U.S. v JPMorgan, Dist. Court, SD New York 13 Civ. 0220, Stipulation and Order of Settlement and
Dismissal Feb 4, 2014 available at https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-
sdny/legacy/2015/03/25/U.S.%20%20v%2C%20%20JPMorgan%2013%20Civ%20%200220%20--
%20Executed%20Stipulation%20of%20Settlement%20and%20Judgment.pdf
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31. Defendants’ unsafe and unsound practices related to mortgage servicing have been
the focus of several consent orders issued by its “Prudential Regulators,” including:
32. After years of federal scrutiny and concomitant lawsuits condemning the unfair
mortgage practices of various national banks including Defendants, the United States Department
of Justice (“DOJ”) and state governments entered into certain consent orders, settlements and
agreements with Defendants, including but not limited to the National Mortgage Settlement
Agreement (“NMSA”) in 2012 and the Residential Mortgage Backed Security Settlement
33. As part of their continued misconduct to evade scrutiny of their illegal mortgage
practices beginning in at least 2000, Defendants sought to hide their defective mortgage loans from
state and federal agencies by charging them off and transferring them to a hidden set of records
(RCV1) and then offloading them on Plaintiffs and other unwitting investors beginning in 2003
34. After Plaintiffs acquired mortgage loans from Defendants, during the period 2011
through at least 2016, Defendants released thousands of liens related to RCV1 loans, including
RCV1 loans Defendants no longer owned, to avoid detection of non-compliance with the Lender
Settlements. These lien releases caused harm to the Plaintiffs and to numerous other note sale
investors.
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35. Though Defendants have regularly rid themselves of loans from RCV1 since 2000,
Defendants’ need to shed the loans in the RCV1 became more pronounced after Chase acquired
EMC Mortgage Corporation and Bear Stearns Companies LLC (collectively, “EMC”) and
WAMU- Henderson in 2008. In September 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a
complaint against EMC asserting improper residential lending and loan servicing practices. To
settle the charges, EMC ultimately agreed to pay $28 million, abide by servicing and foreclosure
standards, and establish and maintain a comprehensive data integrity program. Though the FTC’s
complaint stated that the alleged activities predated Chase’s acquisition of EMC, Chase realized
that it had been, and was still, engaging in similar large scale mishandling of its own mortgage
36. Similarly, in September 2008, Chase Bank entered into an agreement with the FDIC
as receiver for WAMU-Henderson. Chase Bank made a number of representations in its agreement
with the FDIC, including that Chase Bank and its subsidiaries were in compliance with all
applicable federal, state and local laws. However, at the time of execution and delivery of the
agreement, Chase owned thousands of loans with respect to which, through its improper servicing
and other misconduct relating to the RCV1, it was in violation of many federal and state laws.
These circumstances created a further motive for Chase Bank to participate in the scheme to
2008 and 2009 Legislation Compounds Chase’s Problems; HAMP and MHA
37. Moreover, Chase has sought to, and still seeks to, benefit from incentive payments
5
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2008/09/bear-stearns-and-emc-mortgage-pay-28-million-settle-
ftc-charges
6
https://www.fdic.gov/about/freedom/Washington_Mutual_P_and_A.pdf
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that were made available through the Making Home Affordable (“MHA”) Program and Home
Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”). However, MHA and HAMP contain strict
guidelines, which Chase could not and does not satisfy, in light of its servicing failures hidden in
RCV1. The passage of additional legislation and adoption of regulations by the federal
government between September 2008 and March 2009 further spurred the need for Defendants to
quickly “dump” their problem loans, which, in addition to creating liability, would also have
prevented Defendants from qualifying for incentive payments through the federal loan
modification programs.
Plaintiffs. To effectuate this plan, Chase coordinated the pattern of misconduct in its capacity as
the holding company of which Chase Bank and Chase Home Finance are a part. The first part of
Defendants’ plan involved the execution of the Mortgage Loan Purchase Agreement (“MLPA”),
through which Defendants sought to dump a large pool of Defendants’ most problematic loans on
Plaintiff MRS.
39. Using interstate mail and wires, JPMorgan and Chase Bank, through Chase Home
Finance, proceeded to make numerous fraudulent misrepresentations to induce MRS to sign the
MLPA. This included the fraudulent representation that all of the loans were in compliance with
all applicable federal, state and local laws—a misrepresentation that was knowingly false, as the
non-compliance of those loans was particularly what incentivized Chase to enter into the MLPA
40. Defendants also fraudulently represented that the loans being sold were first lien
mortgages and defined the loans as such, when, in fact, the loan pool included, inter alia,
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deficiency judgments.
41. Plaintiff MRS purchased loans from Chase pursuant to the MLPA that were
actually Chase’s most problematic loans and mostly housed in the RCV1 repository. In March,
2009, bare notes and deeds, without the promised required loan files documenting servicing and
borrower information, were simply shipped to Plaintiffs as the “loan files”. Plaintiffs also received
loans for which no notes, deeds or loan files were provided at all. Nevertheless, Defendants kept
promising that the complete loan files were forthcoming, with no intent of ever providing them.
Without the necessary documentation, it was difficult or impossible for Plaintiffs to service and
collect on the loans. And despite herculean efforts, most often Plaintiffs could not locate the
42. Defendants’ plan to entice an existing and approved, but unsuspecting note sale
buyer to purchase these toxic loans is in plain view in various recently produced email exchanges
43. In an email exchange of November 5, 2008 between Eddie Guerrero, Real Estate
Recovery Supervisor at Chase, and Laurence Schneider, the Principal investor in the Schneider
Entities, in connection with the offer to sell Schneider a portfolio of loans, Guerrero provided a
list of the first liens purportedly included in the sale. Guerrero promised that he could help out on
the borrower names and addresses where the accounts were missing the information and Plaintiffs
could take a look and go from there. This list of over 6,000 loans sought to entice Plaintiffs to
purchase the loans. What Guerrero and Chase knew but concealed from Plaintiffs at that time was
that Plaintiffs were not being offered first mortgage liens, but rather deficiency judgments or
second liens not kept in the usual and customary regulated SORs. In contravention of past usual
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and customary business practices, Plaintiffs were not permitted to choose individual loans from
amongst the lists provided, but rather received a “dump” of liabilities that Chase had already
44. At first, Defendants claimed that Plaintiffs were bidding with other investors for
purportedly desirable loans. However, Plaintiffs later learned that there were no other bidders, and
that in fact, Plaintiffs were a single investor targeted by Defendants as part of their scheme to off
load problematic loans and. avoid detection by federal regulators of the non-compliant, non-
serviced loans.
45. Defendants’ scheme reached another level of wrongful profit maximization after
the MLPA. Following the sale of loans to the Schneider Entities, Defendants took various actions
with respect to those loans that they had no right to take and that caused significant injury to the
Schneider Entities. For example, Defendants: (1) released liens and sent loan forgiveness letters to
Borrowers whose loans were previously sold to the Schneider entities; (2) approved short sales on
properties subject to loans that were previously sold to the Schneider Entities; (3) wrongfully
regarding Defendants’ violations of servicing and other obligations, to the Schneider Entities as
the responsible party; (4) sent written correspondence to borrowers of loans sold to the Schneider
Entities, in which Defendants falsely represented that Defendants owned the loan at issue and/or
Defendants’ collection agency was the authorized servicer for the loans at issue; (5) contacted
borrowers and falsely conveyed that Defendants had reacquired their loans, and that the borrowers
should make payments to Defendants; and (6) failed to maintain and provide proper records for
loans sold to the Schneider Entities, thereby impeding the Schneider Entities’ ability to respond to
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46. As early as 2008, Defendants’ knew the public was becoming more aware of its the
scope of its improper actions. Ultimately, in 2012, public pressure prompted the federal
government and many states to bring a complaint against JPMorgan and Chase Bank, as well as
other banks responsible for fraudulent and unfair mortgage practices that cost consumers, the
federal government, and the states tens of billions of dollars. The complaint alleged that JPMorgan
and Chase Bank, as well as other financial institutions, engaged in improper practices related to
mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, and foreclosures, including, but not limited to,
irresponsible and inadequate oversight of the banks’ quality control standards. Unfortunately, the
complaint failed to note, and the government appeared unaware of, the Defendants’ deeper
institutional directives designed to hide their improprieties (such as the establishment of the RCV1
47. The filing of this complaint led to the National Mortgage Settlement Agreement
(NMSA) being entered into between the United States and Defendants in 2012. 7 The operative
document of this agreement was the Consent Judgment (one of the “Lender Settlements”). The
Consent Judgment contains, among other things, Consumer Relief provisions that required
JPMorgan and Chase Bank to provide over $4 billion in relief to their borrowers, including through
loan forgiveness and refinancing. Under the Consent Judgment, Chase would receive “credits”
towards its Consumer Relief obligations by forgiving or modifying loans it owned in accordance
with the procedures and requirements contained in Exhibits D and D-1 of the Consent Judgment.
In addition, under the Consent Judgment, Defendants were required to adhere to servicing
standards for their mortgage loans through mandatory compliance with the Treasury Directives
7
The Chase NMSA Consent Judgment is available at :www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com
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48. At all applicable times, Defendants had been continuing to utilize its RCV1
database.
49. However, as in 2008, the loans housed in the RCV1 repository presented a huge
reputational risk and legal liability as the loans housed in RCV1 were not being treated as federally
related mortgage loans, were not in compliance, were no longer being serviced as such, but were
50. By 2012, the RCV1 database contained hundreds of thousands of federally related
mortgage loans, which had been inactivated in regular systems of records and whose accounts
51. Chase ported into the RCV1, borrowers whose federally related mortgage loans
were for low valued properties. This practice was in violation of RESPA, TILA, FDIC Act, and
the ECOA.
52. Chase's porting of federally related mortgage loans and inactivation in regulated
systems of records again breached its Servicer Participation Agreement with the U.S. Department
of the Treasury. In spite of these acts, Defendants entered into a Civil Monetary Penalty with the
Federal Reserve concerning its unsafe and unsound practices in its foreclosure, bankruptcy and
loss mitigation obligations. Likewise, On February 22, 2012, Defendants entered into a Civil
Monetary Penalty with the Federal Reserve concerning its unsafe and unsound practices in its
53. The National Mortgage Complaint, among other things, alleged that the
misconduct of the defendants "resulted in the issuance of improper mortgages, premature and
unauthorized foreclosures, violation of service members' and other homeowners' rights and
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protections, the use of false and deceptive affidavits and other documents, and the waste and abuse
of taxpayer funds." The National Mortgage Complaint also contained several allegations
concerning unfair and deceptive trade practices engaged in by Chase and other financial
institutions.
54. In April 2012, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia approved
a settlement between the Government, the States, JPMorgan Chase, and four other banks, which
resulted in the National Mortgage Settlement Agreement (the “NMS”), reflected in a consent
judgment (the “NMS Consent Judgment”). The NMS Consent Judgment contains both federal and
state releases to the financial institutions in exchange for their agreement, among other things, to
55. Exhibit A to the NMS Consent Judgment contains Servicing Standards that were
intended to be used to test general compliance including timeline requirements during the loss
mitigation process. The Servicing Standards were mapped to various "metrics" which were
designed to gain public confidence in the mortgage servicing industry and improve upon the lack
56. The Servicing Standards were a general framework for the underlying HAMP
requirements pursuant to Chase’s Servicer Participation Agreement with the U.S. Treasury (the
“SPA”) and the underlying federal and state, mortgage servicing and consumer protection laws.
57. As set forth in Exhibits D and D-1 of the NMS Consent Judgment (the “NMS
Consumer Relief Provisions”), Chase was required to provide $4.2 billion in consumer relief to
borrowers whose loans it owns and/or serviced and would receive "credits" towards its consumer
relief obligations for various forms of loan modifications. The process for the loan modifications
is clearly set forth and defined in the HAMP Handbook with which Chase is required to fully
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58. The NMS Consent Judgment addressed Chase’s requirement to implement anti-
blight programs with respect to mortgages it held in poverty stricken cities. In order to avoid the
expense required for compliance with the anti-blight programs, Chase engaged in a practice of
releasing liens on properties that served as collateral for loans which Chase had owned or
contractually serviced for others. This included loans that Chase had sold to Plaintiff MRS in the
59. As explained by Chase employee, Kimberly Cowman, Chase had received notices
regarding certain properties from municipal authorities. Ms. Cowman feared that the city could
fine Chase daily or charge [Chase] with all cost of repairs/demolition if the city did the work.
Hence, Ms. Cowman urged that Chase release liens in order to not have a judgment filed on Chase
60. As set forth in Exhibit F of the NMS Consent Judgment, the United States of America
fully released Defendants from all servicing related “covered conduct” as of 11:59 p.m.., Eastern
fulfilled their consumer relief obligations. The parties to the Settlement agreed that Joseph A.
Smith, Jr. would serve as Monitor. along with various Professional law firms, accountants and
other entities selected by him. The Monitor selected BDO Consulting, a division of BDO USA,
LLP (“BDO”), Grant Thornton LLP, the law firms Poyner Spruill LLP and Smith Moore
Leatherwood, LLP, the accounting firm Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, the forensic accounting firm
Parkside Associates, LLC and the communications firm Capstrat. The Monitor also created the
of thousands of liens which had been housed in RCV1, with reckless disregard of Plaintiffs’ and
other investors’ ownership of the liens and the intent of the Lender Settlements, which was to assist
low income borrowers to remain in their homes by offering to modify the terms of their mortgages
and to prevent community blight .This effort, which has continued at least through the cut-off date
for seeking credit under the RMBS Settlement of December 31, 2016, was a deliberate scheme to
evade scrutiny, penalties and other obligations under the Lender Settlements, and seek improper
released liens.
Continuation of the Scheme: Defendants also Used the RMBS to Defraud Plaintiffs
63. On November 19, 2013, the federal government, a number of other governments
and agencies of government and Chase entered into five agreements with Chase to settle federal
and state civil claims arising out of the packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of residential
mortgage backed securities by Chase, The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. and WAMU prior to
January 1, 2009. As part of the RMBS settlement, JPMorgan acknowledged it made serious
misrepresentations to the public - including the investing public - about numerous RMBS
transactions. 8
64. On November 19, 2013, according to a DOJ Press Release on November 13, 2013,
the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a $13 billion settlement with Chase to resolve
“federal and state civil claims arising out of the packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of
residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) by Chase, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual
8
Chase RMBS Settlement available at https://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/69520131119191246941958.pdf
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65. Pursuant to the agreement of November 19, 2013, according to a DOJ Press Release
on November 13, 2013, Chase agreed to pay $13 billion in exchange for complete civil immunity.
66. The RMBS Settlement was executed by Stephen M. Coutler, Chase's General
Counsel.
67. Before the RMBS Settlement was entered into, Chase had sold a significant volume
of its mortgages to individual investors like the Plaintiffs. After the RMBS Settlement was entered
into, Chase claimed credit towards its requirement to provide $4 billion of consumer relief to
borrowers by, inter alia, including the full indebtedness owed by borrowers whose loans Chase
68. In order for Defendants to enter into the RMBS Settlement Agreement, that
settlement would have to be approved by its board of directors as to what claims of covered
conduct was released and more importantly, what claims of covered conduct were specifically not
released. That communication with the board of directors would likely have been provided by its
general counsel Stephen M. Cutler and its chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
69. The RMBS Settlement is subject to the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement, which
is subject to the 2011 Consent Orders with its Prudential Regulators, which is subject to its Servicer
Participation Agreements with Treasury, which is subject to compliance with all federal and state
laws.
70. Once again, the RMBS Settlement created a position of “independent” Monitor to
ensure Defendants satisfied their consumer relief obligations. The parties to the Settlement agreed
that Joseph A. Smith, Jr. would once again serve as Monitor. To assist in his work, the Monitor
continued his retention of BDO, Poyner Spruill and Smith Moore Leatherwood as Professionals.
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In the Monitor’s Initial Report, the Monitor claimed that none of these Professionals had
meaningful conflicts that would interfere with the integrity of the work.
71. Under the Lender Settlements, Defendants were obligated to take steps to deter
Foreclosure Program,” through which Defendants essentially released liens without disclosure to
community blight. These releases, which were done with the knowledge of executives as high up
at Chase as Jamie Dimon, were done slowly so as to avoid municipality detection. The released
liens included liens on properties that served as collateral for loans Defendants had already sold to
the Schneider Entities. The lien releases are ongoing, and damaged the Schneider Entities, despite
the Schneider Entities’ repeated written notices to Chase that those releases are improper.
72. The lien releases include releases with respect to loans in the RCV1 whose servicing
violations have been concealed from the Monitor. Some of the loans in the RCV1 have been
transferred to MRS, without MRS’s knowledge, to further the Defendants’ goal of concealment of
their violations. These transfers were used by Defendants, upon information and belief to facilitate
the issuance of lien releases designed to improperly take advantage of credits for RMBS Consumer
Relief (while also exacerbating their evasion of community blight deterrence obligations). As
noted above, some scores of the lien releases were on properties associated with loans sold to the
Schneider Entities.
73. When Plaintiffs became aware of the scope of Defendants’ misconduct, Plaintiffs
took steps to assert their rights. One such action was Plaintiff’s principal, Laurence Schneider,
filing a federal False Claims Act complaint (the “FCA Complaint”) as relator against Defendants.
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The FCA Complaint was partially unsealed on or about November 1, 2013, and likely became
74. To further evade their responsibilities under the Lender Settlements, Defendants put
to use a pre-existing process that they referred to internally as the “Pre-DOJ Lien Release Project.”
This process had been developed to release liens on loans in the RCVI and aid the Defendants in
circumventing their obligations under the various Lender Settlements. The Pre-DOJ Lien Release
Project was implemented in the fall of 2012, after the execution and implementation of the Consent
Judgment, yet was designated as the “Pre-DOJ Lien Release Project.” A number of actions under
75. These activities interfered with Plaintiffs’ rights to monies and properties to which
Plaintiffs were entitled and materially interfered with relationships with its borrowers. They further
wrongfully entangle the Schneider Entities in JPMorgan’s efforts to claim unfair RMBS Consumer
Relief credits. In addition, these actions expose the Schneider Entities to liability to borrowers
whose liens Defendants may have released. However, because of Defendants’ use of MRS as a
repository to “dump” loans from the RCV1 queue of which the Monitor became fully aware, MRS
is unable to presently determine the scope of liability it may be incurring to borrowers and
municipalities.
76. Despite Defendants’ efforts at secrecy, certain Municipalities learned of the unfair
lien releases and filed complaints against Defendants. These complaints came to the attention of
the Monitor and his Professionals but were ignored. For example, by letter dated July 9, 2014, The
City of Milwaukee, wrote Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Monitor, Office of Mortgage Oversight of their
concern that:
Thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn’t
know they still owned after banks decided it wasn’t worth their while to complete
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foreclosures on them [emphasis theirs]. With impunity, banks have been walking away
from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages
when the housing market first crashed.
77. This was clearly not done. The Monitor has admitted to Plaintiffs that the Monitor’s
Office did nothing in terms of trying to relieve the concerns of cities like Milwaukee.
78. The following individuals or entities aided and abetted in the wrongdoing and
x Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Monitor under the NMS and RMBS Settlements;
x Professionals hired by the Monitor, including his own law firm, Poyner Spruill, LLP,
Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP, BDO USA, Grant Thornton LLP, and others (the
“Professionals”);
x Other Servicers participating in the NMS and/or RMBS Settlements;
x Nationwide Title Clearing (NWTC);
x Third Party Collection Agencies.
79. After entering into the Lender Settlements, Defendants, with the knowledge and
approval of the Monitor and Professionals who were supposed to oversee compliance with the
Settlements, avoided complying with the servicing and consumer relief requirements by, inter alia,
releasing thousands of non-compliant, non-serviced loans in the RCV1 database, thereby evading
the required scrutiny and testing metrics of the Settlements. In addition, these fraudulent releases
of non-compliant loans did not qualify for the credits under the Settlement because they had not
been properly serviced, Defendants did not own the loans, or were an improper effort to evade
80. Under the Lender Settlements, the Monitor, with the support of his Professionals,
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had the responsibility to ensure that Defendants were in compliance with the Servicing Standards
and had properly satisfied the consumer relief requirements. Nevertheless, the Monitor and his
Professionals knowingly assisted Defendants in avoiding compliance with the letter and intent of
the Settlements.
81. As set forth above, in anticipation of the NMSA, Defendants determined in 2012
that RCV1 must be excluded from internal review and DOJ testing because Defendants knew they
had not been serviced properly. Defendants began releasing RCV1 liens to avoid compliance with
the servicing and consumer relief requirements of the NMSA and to obtain credit thereunder.
82. In 2012, the Monitor learned of the existence of RCV1, which had been excluded
from compliance servicing requirements under federal law and Settlement requirements. In
December 2013 (and perhaps earlier), the Monitor had in fact found RCV1 loans had failed metrics
testing and advised Defendants that the loans should be subject to NMSA testing. Yet in direct
violation of his duty to enforce the terms of the Settlement and with knowledge that RCV1 loans
were not and could not be compliant with servicing standards under the NMSA, Defendants and
the Monitor discussed how the RCV1 loan population could be excluded from the Monitor’s
review. The Monitor advised Defendants by email dated January 31, 2014 that he agreed with
Defendants’ argument that the RCV1 loans could be excluded from the definition of federally
related loans under RESPA or Regulation X, and thus excluded from testing under the NMSA, as
long as Defendants released the first and second liens on the subject properties.
83. This agreement to exclude RCV1 loans from metrics testing or further scrutiny
aided and abetted Defendants’ continued course of misconduct of releasing RCV1 liens on non-
serviced, non-performing loans for which Defendants could seek credit and yet continue collection
efforts. The Monitor’s agreement undercut many purposes of the Settlement, such as ensuring pre-
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release loan modification efforts to enable borrowers to stay in their homes, forgiving debt for
84. There was further deliberate non-compliance and lack of independence in enforcing
the Settlements on the part of the Monitor. Under the 2012 NMSA, the Monitor was assigned to
evaluate all Servicers for a period of up to three and a half years to supervise compliance with the
Settlement. In the Settlement Section E at E-3, the Monitor was not to be retained by any Party or
its successors or assigns for a period of two years after the conclusion of the terms of the
engagement. Nevertheless, the 2013 RMBS settlement appointed the very same Monitor who had
allowed Defendants to evade their obligation under the NMS Settlement to evaluate whether the
85. The specific facts relating to the Monitor’s and Professionals’ knowing
involvement in the scheme include the following, as verified by Joseph A. Smith’s deposition on
x The Monitor received at least $1 Million for monitoring compliance with the NMSA;
x The Monitor received $200,000 per year for monitoring compliance with the RMBS;
x The Monitor’s law firm, Poyner Spruill, and Smith Moore Leatherwood helped the Monitor
“interpret” the Settlement documents and “implement” the Settlements;
x The Monitor and the Professionals attended cross-servicer Lender Settlement signatories
to establish uniform rules of performance and measurement for all servicers;
x The Monitor and Professionals reviewed Chase’s systems of record, including RCV1, and
met with Chase management and IT regarding the same;
x The Monitor relied on whatever follow up information Chase provided without
independent verification of the integrity of the systems of record;
x The Monitor was aware that at least one of his Professionals, Grant Thornton, had
determined that RCV1 loans were not to be included in populations for metrics testing so
long as the liens on the loans were released prior to testing;
x The Monitor and his Professionals knew that management, not the Monitor, determined
the population of loans to which metrics testing applied;
x The Monitor never reported to the Court that the RCV1 loan population had been excluded
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86. This intentional dereliction of duty under the Settlements by the Monitor and
Professionals aided and abetted Defendants’ continued course of misconduct of releasing liens
throughout the country on loans hidden in RCV1, successfully helping Defendants avoid metric
testing under NMSA yet potentially allowing them to seek credit under the Lender Settlements.
The Monitor’s and his Professionals’ acquiescence to Chase’s intentional acts also undercut the
purposes of the Settlement, such as providing troubled borrowers with loan modification efforts to
enable borrowers to stay in their homes, debt forgiveness for struggling borrowers and community
anti-blight efforts. The Monitor’s acquiescence to Chase’s intentional acts assisted Chase’s
scheme from at least September, 2013 through December 2016 of utilizing the RCV1 system to
hide problematic loans, manipulate compliance, and seek credits under the Lender Settlements to
which Defendants were not entitled by releasing and collecting on liens sold to Plaintiffs and no
87. The purported watchdogs of the Settlements also attended joint meetings with the
banks participating in the Settlements (Chase, Citibank, GMAC, Bank of America and Wells
Fargo). This compounded the potential for wrongdoing and violated their duty of independence by
participating in “cross servicer discussions” to discuss “alignment” regarding what the banks, and
not the Monitor, would consider compliance with the Settlements. This included whether each
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bank would release liens on all of their charged off second lien portfolio, whether they would
forgive debt at the time of a lien release or continue collecting on the loan, and the procedures for
lien releasing first mortgages in abandoned low value blighted properties. Such joint discussions
allowing the banks to determine what was compliance under the Settlements was in derogation of
the duty of the Monitor and the Professionals to maintain their independence. The Monitor and his
Professionals provided illusory insurance of compliance with the Settlements: in reality, they were
in the pockets of all of these banks since their compensation was solely provided by the parties
88. Other knowing participants in the conspiracy include third party title clearing
agencies, such as Nationwide Title Clearing Company (NTC), Pierson Patterson, and LCS
Financial Services, who were directed by Defendants to prepare and then file fraudulent lien
releases and other documents affecting interests in property. Either these entities were hired to
verify liens and successively failed to properly validate the liens before creating documents and
lien releases containing false information, or these entities were directed by Chase to create the
documents with the information provided by Defendants. In either case, these title clearing
agencies which recorded fraudulent releases of liens and related documents in the public record,
had independent and separate duty from Defendants to file, under various state laws, all relevant
documents only after a good faith proper validation of the liens. Instead these entities deliberately
violated their duty of care by knowingly or recklessly filing false lien releases and false documents
89. In many states, the act of creating these documents is considered the unauthorized
practice of law. In Florida, where NTC is organized, there is a small exception for title companies
who are only permitted to prepare documents and perform other necessary acts affecting the legal
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title of property where the property in question is to be insured, to fulfill a condition for issuance
of a title policy or title insurance commitment by the Insurer or if a separate charge was made for
such services apart from the insurance premium of the Insurer. Plaintiffs have not ascertained
whether Nationwide Title or any other agencies created documents for Chase as a necessary
90. Chase used Real Time Resolutions, GC Services, and Five Lakes Agency, among
other collection agencies, to maximize its own back door revenues on loans that were problematic
and had been inactivated/“charged off” and thereby were invisible to regulatory agencies.
91. At all times, Defendants directed the collection of revenue on problematic federal
mortgage loans, placing them in succession at third party collection agencies. Those third party
92. The third-party collection agencies had a duty to verify whether the debts were
owned by Chase, offer pre-foreclosure loss mitigation, offer Borrowers foreclosure alternatives,
and comply with any of HUD’s quality control directives and knowingly or recklessly failed to do
so. The third-party collectors knew that the debts they were collecting at Defendants’ directions
were mortgage loans. They also knew they did not have the mechanisms to provide any regulatory
servicing. Nonetheless, the third-party collection agencies continued collection on behalf of Chase
for RCV1 loans. The collection agencies continued to collect without oversight or verification
and did in fact continue collecting on debt on behalf of Defendants, despite the mortgage loans
being owned by the Schneider entities. The ongoing collection gave Chase continued windfalls.
93. The Plaintiffs are in the business of buying from financial institutions federally
related residential mortgage loans which are not performing according to their original terms. Each
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purchase would include the full collateral file with the original documents including the note, the
mortgage or deed of trust, payment history, and the servicing file and history.
94. The Plaintiffs’ business model is to provide superior service with the goal of working
out reasonable and sustainable payment plans with the borrowers so that they can retain their
homes. Under this model, Plaintiffs would be able to make flexible tailor made arrangements with
95. Plaintiffs’ business model necessitates that Plaintiffs receive the entire collateral file
96. Beginning in 2005, S&A began regularly purchasing residential mortgage loans from
Bank One, a division of Chase, pursuant to a Master Mortgage Loan Sale Agreement (the
97. From April 2005 to June 2010, pursuant to the MMLSA, S&A acquired
approximately 650 first and second lien mortgage loans from Chase, which included delivery of
an assignment of the note and mortgage or deed of trust to S&A (the “S&A Loans”). S&A was
98. A list of the loans S&A purchased from the Defendants is annexed as Exhibit 1hereto.
99. Beginning in 2008, 1st Fidelity began purchasing residential mortgage loans from
Chase. Between May 2008 and November 2010, 1st Fidelity acquired approximately 350
individual first and second lien mortgage loans from Chase (the “1st Fidelity Loans”) through
individual note sale agreements that included the assignment of the mortgage or deed of trust
securing the loan. 1st Fidelity also purchased loans pursuant to a Master Mortgage Loan Sale
Agreement (the "MMLSA") between 1st Fidelity as purchaser and Chase as seller and is annexed
as Exhibit 3 hereto. A list of the loans 1st Fidelity purchased from the Defendants is annexed as
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Exhibit 1 hereto. A chart showing the number of loans purchased by S&A and 1st Fidelity is below:
Summary Of Loans Bought By S&A From Chase Summary Of Loans Bought By 1st Fideilty From Chase
100. With respect to both the S&A Loans and the 1st Fidelity Loans, Chase provided
S&A and 1st Fidelity, shortly after the closing of each loan sale to S&A and 1st Fidelity and
pursuant to the requirements of the MMLSA, all of the files and records evidencing or relating to
each purchased loan, including all of the original documentation for each loan.
101. Through November 2010 S&A and 1st Fidelity purchased hundreds of first and
second lien residential mortgage loans from the Defendants without any significant problems. As
intended, Plaintiffs were able to provide borrowers with flexible and tailor made repayment
arrangements which Chase representatives were unable to provide, thus allowing for the Plaintiffs
to profit in a symbiotic relationship with homeowners through affordable and sustainable payments
102. In 2008, Eddie Guerrrero, Real Estate Recovery Supervisor for Chase, informed
Schneider that Chase was interested in selling a portfolio of "First Lien Walks," that is, closed-end
first lien residential mortgage loans, which Chase had determined, based upon a cost-benefit
analysis also known as a Net Present Value (“NPV”) analysis, it no longer made sense from a
business perspective to continue to own or service these loans. Guerrero told Schneider that the
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"highest levels of Management" had made it an urgent priority to get rid of this portfolio, which
consisted of low- valued properties, mostly in parts of the country hardest hit by the housing crisis,
such as Detroit and Flint, Michigan; St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland and
numerous other cities in upstate New York. Guerrero told Schneider that, in view of the dramatic
increase in the volume of defaulted loans, Chase had set new thresholds in determining whether a
particular first lien loan was worth foreclosing, resulting in a higher volume of "First Lien Walks"
that Chase wanted to sell. Guerrero’s claims of the highest levels of management making the
disposal of this portfolio an urgent priority were reconfirmed on a November 11, 2008 email.
103. Via electronic correspondence beginning September 16, 2008, Eddie Guerrero
advised he was beginning to lay the groundwork for a "strong note sale push" on behalf of Chase.
104. In order to encourage Schneider to buy the proposed loan package, Guerrero told
Schneider that the proposed loan package included some "cherries," (valuable loans) that were
erroneously “charged off”, removed from Chase's primary System of Records (“SOR”) and ported
to its Recovery department, but Guerrero failed to disclose that the alleged loans were not being
serviced.
Management at Chase confirms that as early as 2008, Defendants had charged-off the main SORs
and ported at least 29,230 loans into RCV1 and that 15,974 of those loans were not owned by
Defendants, but rather owned by Residential Mortgage Backed Security Trusts and other investors,
in which Defendants had a contractual obligation to properly service the mortgages on behalf of
106. A September 30, 2014 document shows that as late as September 30, 2014,
107. On October 16, 2008, Mr. Guerrero advised Mr. Schneider electronically that he
should be expecting a call from Jason Miranda Oquendo; Project Manager for Chase to complete
the application process for the purchase of loan pools from Chase. Mr. Oquendo communicated
with Mr. Schneider and on October 17, 2008, Mr. Schneider provided Mr. Oquendo all of the
information required in order to be approved for bulk loan sale bidding, including a copy of the
108. Unbeknownst to Schneider, on October 20, 2008, Oquendo emailed Victor Fox, V.P.
Real Estate Recovery for Chase, asking for direction on whether to off load notes: “What are your
thoughts on this? I’m not comfortable making this decision since this isn’t in line with our policy.”
109. Also unbeknownst to Plaintiffs, on October 28, 2008, Victor Fox emailed Mr.
Guerrero, stating “Ed, thanks Chad and I talked last night and we want to put this to bed. If he
can scrub the entire 20,000 (bank owned and serviced) he can have the first right, as long as he
understands we will have to get at least one competitive bid to stay in compliance, let’s rock and
roll on this” to which Eddie Guerrero responded "I’ll ask Larry to scrub list of all accounts. He
can have 1st right but need one other competitive bid . . .Are we able to release liens on serviced
loans? . . Do we treat serviced loans the same as owned? . . .Have rep calling me today."
110. Defendant Chase provided only a minimal amount of information to Schneider about
the loans, purportedly to be in line with legal requirements as Plaintiffs did not own any of the
loans. Larry Schneider, on behalf of Plaintiffs, understood the term "scrub" to mean the attempt
of due diligence on the loans using the limited data made available by Defendant Chase and use
111. As early as July of 2008, there were numerous discussions amongst Chase employees
discussing the off-loading of loans posing a reputational risk. For example, Nancy Wooten,
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Default Centralized Operations, Todd Kalbac, Vice President Operations Analysis, Sam Brown,
Default Risk Management, and Chad Paxton discussed between July 22, 2008 and July 23, 2008
the need for the analysis to determine when Chase should be releasing liens on "first walk
decisions" on loans in the Recovery Department. Later on October 29, 2008 in an email from Chad
Paxton, AVP Default Servicing & Recovery at Chase, to Victor Fox, Chase would discuss whether
112. Unbeknownst to Plaintiffs, Chase was selling non-compliant and thus no longer
"federally related mortgage loans" to Plaintiff which Chase had ported and inactivated within their
regulated systems of records but had copied over to a separate data repository solely for the purpose
of collecting without servicing. Under the upcoming HAMP, Recovery One loans presented a
reputational risk because Chase would essentially be in breach of its own Servicer Participation
Agreement under HAMP. Additionally, the existence of the loans as bank owned loans would
throw off the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program stress test results for the Bank Holding
Companies which would take place in 2009 to measure the financial strength of Chase as one of
the nation's largest financial institutions. The requirements of the stress tests measured each bank
holding company's Tier 1 common capital against a baseline scenario and a hypothetical scenario
that was deemed more adverse. Chase successfully passed the stress test in the spring of 2009.
113. On October 30, 2008, Guerrero sent Schneider an email attaching the preliminary
tape for the "First Lien Walks" available for sale. Guerrero also informed Schneider that the
114. The data tape sent was useless from a due diligence perspective as it did not even
include borrowers' names, the addresses of the underlying collateral properties being offered, or
the loan balances. Schneider informed Guerrero about the missing information, and requested the
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same.
115. Unbeknownst to Schneider, later that day, Guerrero informed Fox, Paxton and
Richmond, of Chase that, “the lists I have for the first lien walks don’t include the entire collateral
address (brought to my attention after the file was sent to the investor)… Do we have a list that
contains the entire collateral address or can we bump this list up against something to fill in the
street address?” Fox then forwards the email string to Sam Brown and includes the following
statement “Sam, we have an investor who will scrub our loans for free, if they have the right of
first refusal on sale. Can you see Ed’s note and let us know if you can handle this”? Brown then
replied to all saying, “Shouldn’t be a problem. Is this in the RCV1 by Chance? If not, I can look
elsewhere.” Richmond then states, “The collateral address is in FORTRACS-HE from VLS,
FORTRACS-Prime for HE/RE, and DRi for Subprime…As far as I know, that is our only
options.”
116. Plaintiff MRS was not privy to Defendants' internal communications of October 30,
2008, which clarify that Chase knew that the loans it was intending to off load onto the Plaintiff
were not on the primary system of record and were being provided from the un-serviced repository
called RCV1. The information in RCV1 was not complete because it was not a regulated system
of record. As indicated by Chase's communications, Chase purposefully cut and pasted select
information where it could from other systems of records to the information in RCV1. Defendants'
emails discuss data from the FORTRACS application, the acronym for Foreclosure Tracking
System, which is an automated, loan default tracking application that also handles the loss
mitigation, foreclosure processing, bankruptcy monitoring, and whose data would have originally
come from a primary system of record. Rather than a normal and customary data tape, Chase was
information.
117. In November 2008, Guerrero sent Schneider an email attaching a second data tape
(the "November 2008 Data Tape") which identified a data field indicating all the loans as first lien
mortgages. Although information was substantially incomplete on some of the loans, including the
borrowers' names and collateral addresses, Guerrero said he would provide the information shortly.
The spreadsheet within the November 2008 Data Tape contained a total population of
approximately 5,785 mortgage loans, with an aggregate "charge off" balance of approximately
118. Schneider began to perform due diligence on the November 2008 Data Tape by
sorting the loans by highest balance. The largest two loans were the Ali Sayed and Ricardo Salinas
loans, both of which had balances in excess of $500,000 and both were located in areas which
Schneider knew contained homes valued in excess of $1M. Upon a search of the public records,
which confirmed recorded mortgages on the subject properties which coincided with the amount
Guerrero represented in the data tape, Schneider immediately realized that the “cherries” to which
Guerrero had referred were fully secured and should yield over $1 million in liquidation value.
119. Schneider asked Guerrero why there were so many names and addresses missing
from the November 2008 Data Tape. Guerrero responded that Chase had all of the information but
it was not yet accessible because Chase had just acquired Washington Mutual, Inc. and had not yet
completed the lengthy process of converting the data from Washington Mutual's system to Chase's
system. Plaintiff was not aware of Defendants' October 30, 2008 internal emails which detail the
true source of the loan data and reason for the missing information.
120. Guerrero assured Schneider that Chase was in possession of all the data and would
supply all the necessary borrower information and collateral files, as it had consistently done
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pursuant to the contractual terms between the parties and the past protocol established in hundreds
of individual note sale agreements with S&A and 1st Fidelity. According to a November 6, 2008
email from Guerrero to Schneider, Guerrero states; “Excellent, trust me. I am making you out to
be a god send as well as making sure they understand how big and expensive of a task this. This
is an important issue for the way higher ups, so it makes me look like a hero and should help you
121. Adding pressure for Plaintiff to buy the loans, Guerrero told Schneider the loan sale
had to close by the end of the year so that Chase could get the loans off its books. Plaintiff was
unaware that the loans coming from RCV1 were no longer being serviced, that RCV1 loans were
"off the books" and no longer "federally related mortgage loans". Chase's alignment of the cutoff
date of the MLPA to be within the 2008 calendar year added profits and ultimately avoided
122. In December 2008, Schneider informed Guerrero that he would not be bidding on the
MLPA loan pool. Despite the “cherries” which Schneider confirmed existed within the population
of potential loans being offered, Schneider was not interested in making a competitive bid for
several reasons, including the fact that MRS was in the final stages of consummating a $250M
123. Shortly thereafter, Guerrero called Schneider and indicated that Chase would sell the
portfolio of loans to Schneider for only $200,000, as the sale had to close prior to the end of the
year and Chase knew that Schneider would honor his commitment, as he had on hundreds of
occasions in the past. Based on his evaluation of the “cherries,” Schneider said that he would buy
the portfolio listed on the November 2008 Data Tape for $200,000.
124. On December 22, 2008, Guerrero sent Schneider an email urging him to prepare,
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instead of a competitive bid letter, a letter "reiterating your acceptance of our offer," to purchase
125. On December 22, 2008, Schneider sent a letter to Victor B. Fox, Vice President, Real
Estate Recovery for Chase Home Finance, in which he made a formal offer to purchase
126. Defendants, by and through their agents and management, knew and intended to
profit off of selling otherwise non-compliant, non-serviced loans parked in its off the books
repository RCV1, which Defendants intended to lien release before HAMP became active.
127. On December 23, 2008, as instructed, Schneider obtained a cashier’s check payable
to Chase in the amount of $200,000 for payment in full for the Non-Performing Closed end First
Lien Mortgage Loan Portfolio. The memo on the cashier's check said "1st Lien Pool," based on
Guerrero's representation that all of the loans were first lien mortgage loans. The cashier’s check
128. On December 23, 2008, Schneider again asked Guerrero for all the boarding
$200,000.00 check was in route, Guerrero emailed Fox, who then immediately replied “So do we
have a live check in hand or is it in route to us? Guerrero responded by email on December 18,
130. The $200,000 purchase price represented a fraction of the amount of money MRS
federally related mortgage loans because MRS understood it was contractually and legally required
to service the loans which would entail establishing an escrow account, analysis to determine the
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periodic payments, taxes, insurance, disbursement dates, providing an escrow account statement,
mortgage servicing transfer disclosure, responding to borrowers’ qualified written requests, and
preservation. MRS understood it would service the loans in accordance with the mortgage
servicing and consumer protection requirements of federally related mortgage loans pursuant to
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, RESPA, and other applicable laws with which Chase was
required to comply. MRS intended to utilize a staff of approximately ten people plus outsourced
131. On January 5, 2009, Schneider again requested the final Exhibit A and specifically
indicated that Exhibit A needed to contain the minimum and customary loan boarding data to input
Schneider explicitly informed Guerrero through email of the “Initial Boarding information to send
RESPA letters:
• Borrower Name
• Co-Borrower Name
• Collateral Address
• Principal balance
• Mailing Address
• Phone Number
• Social Security #
• Chase Loan #
Additionally, Schneider informed Guerrero by email on January 5, 2009 that the loans could not
• Monthly Payment
• Interest Rate
• Last Paid
• Next Due
• Payoff.
• Copy of the Note and Mortgage for Maturity date
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• Term
• Rate (margin & Index if adjustable)
• Payment History
132. Unbeknownst to Schneider, a January 6, 2009 email from Guerrero to Oquendo and
Sandra Mulloy of Chase, again confirms the loans being off-loaded onto Schneider were non-
compliant accounts in the RCV1 system and not customary loans from regulated SORs ,’ “Here
is the list of First Lien Walks that are out with Agency. Please recall all accounts that don’t have
a working arrangement and send the list of recalled accounts to Sandra to be moved into the
4SALE queue.”
133. Schneider requested that Chase provide him with the final data tape so that he could
review it before signing the MLPA. Chase told Schneider it would provide him with the final data
134. It was not until February 5, 2009 that Schneider received an email from Guerrero
attaching the Mortgage Loan Purchase Agreement (the "MLPA") for Schneider's review and
signature, with a placeholder for inclusion of Exhibit A as the list of mortgage loans being sold
pursuant to the MLPA. The MLPA provided for sale of 4,271 loans with an outstanding principal
balance of $172,093,033.13. This was $72,093,033.13 more than Schneider had been informed
would be included in the pool. Yet Chase did not ask for any additional funds. The list was to be
drawn from the November 2008 Data Tape, but Schneider was never provided with a copy of the
data tape that was purportedly to be Exhibit A to the MLPA. On February 5, 2009, Schneider
135. In reliance upon his long-standing relationship with Guerrero and Chase, Schneider
signed the MLPA on behalf of MRS, despite the fact that he had not received Exhibit A to the
MLPA, and MRS paid the full consideration required under the MLPA.
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136. On February 6, 2009, after Schneider had executed the February 6, 2009
preliminary MPLA, Fox emailed Richmond and Paxton with a celebratory email stating “…Chad
can you work with your management team to document the process so we can put this baby to
137. On February 23, 2009, Defendants circulated an internal email from Guerrero to
Fox and Paxton in which Guerrero states, "I am trying to wrap up the 1st Lien Walk Sale and be
done with it once and for all… Once both parties sign, we have the accounts ready to be moved to
a sold queue where they will be stamped with contact info for the purchaser. We have a
spreadsheet with all pertinent data that will also be sent to the purchaser so he can board the
accounts and send RESPA notifications.” This email confirms that that the accounts were moved
to the SOLD queue, where they would be stamped with purchaser information and thus
identifiable. The "SOLD" acronym refers to a queue within the RCV1 (RCY_SYS) database and
138. Victor Fox, Vice President of Chase, faxed to Schneider the fully-executed MLPA
which provided for the sale to MRS of 3,529 "nonperforming and/or impaired closed end first lien
mortgage loans that are or have been delinquent for 180 days or more and have been or may
otherwise be in default" (the "MRS Loans"), with an outstanding balance of $156,324,399.24. See
Exhibit 4 hereto at 1.
139. After receiving the fully-executed MLPA, Chase emailed to Schneider a data tape
140. Although MRS had originally agreed to Chase’s offer to purchase approximately
$100 million of loans for $200,000, Chase did not ask for any additional consideration for the 50%
increase in the loans actually sold. The reason for Chase’s conduct is that Chase knew, but
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Schneider did not, that the MRS Loans represented an enormous liability to Defendants for Chase’s
violation of statutory and regulatory requirements owed to these borrowers, to state and federal
regulatory agencies tasked with oversight of consumer protection, and to federal agencies that
oversee the safety and soundness of financial institutions. Chase knew, and Schneider did not, that
the increase in loans sold simply transferred a substantially increased liability from Chase to MRS.
141. Ultimately, Schneider learned that Chase used his entities, through the MLPA, as a
dumping ground for the enormous liabilities it transferred to MRS based on Chase’s systematic
violations of Federal laws. Chase knowingly and deliberately violated the representation and
warranty in the MLPA that it had fully complied with all applicable law.
142. Pursuant to the MLPA, Chase sold the Mortgage Loans to MRS "AS IS with no
143. However, in the MLPA, Chase made the following representations and warranties:
(i) The information set forth on the data tape provided by Seller to
Purchaser with respect to the Mortgage Loans is true and correct in
all material respects as of the date such data tape was compiled;
(ii) Seller is the sole owner of the Mortgage loans and has full
right to transfer and sell the Mortgage Loans to Purchaser; and
(iii) Each Mortgage Loan complies in all material respects with all
applicable federal, state, or local laws, including, without limitation,
the Federal Truth in Lending Act of 1969, the Federal Equal Credit
Opportunity Act, the Federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
of 1974, and state and federal usury, consumer credit protection and
privacy, predatory and abusive lending laws applicable to the
Mortgage Loans.
Exhibit 4 § 6.
144. The MLPA contains the following provision with respect to its survival:
Exhibit 4 § 11.
Exhibit 4 § 15.
The Defendants' Breaches of their Contractual Obligations and Duties Owed to Plaintiffs
under the MLPA
146. While the MLPA refers to an attached schedule of purchased mortgage loans,
Schneider received the fully executed MLPA from Chase, signed by Victor Fox, Vice President,
on behalf of Chase, without Exhibit A. Later that same day, Guerrero emailed the purported data
tape to Schneider which constituted Exhibit A. However, the Exhibit A Schneider received on
February 25, 2009 (the "Corrupted List") was grossly deficient in that it did not include basic
information such as borrower names and phone numbers, addresses of the mortgaged properties,
current outstanding balance of each loan, the status of the property as occupied or vacant and other
147. Guerrero assured Schneider that he would supplement the information on Exhibit A
but he never did so. Each time Schneider raised the issue with Guerrero, Guerrero claimed that
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the delay in providing the tape was caused by the difficulty of converting information from
148. In fact, as MRS ultimately learned, none of the MRS Loans were legacy coded as
149. Because of the inadequacy of Exhibit A, MRS was forced to invest an enormous
amount of personnel time to research borrower identities, property locations, and occupancy status
from a review of public records and internet searches. None of these expenses would have been
incurred by MRS if Chase had fulfilled its contractual obligation to provide a complete Exhibit A
to MRS.
150. Aside from the Corrupted List retained by MRS, contrary to its obligation to sell
MRS "closed end first lien mortgage loans," a significant portion of the loans sold to MRS were
unsecured mortgage deficiency claims remaining after the mortgages had been foreclosed by the
Defendants.
151. Unbeknownst to Plaintiff, Chase had intended to release the liens on these foreclosed
152. In many instances, the properties were occupied by people who had purchased the
153. In many instances, collection of the deficiency claims was barred by applicable state
law.
154. Nevertheless, Chase sold these loans to MRS as first lien mortgage loans.
155. Schneider promptly and repeatedly reported this situation to Defendants but they took
156. Despite its representation and warranty that Chase “is the owner of the Mortgage
Loans and has full right to transfer the Mortgage Loans,” a significant portion of the loans listed
157. Upon information and belief, some of the loans sold to MRS were RMBS trust loans
which Chase was servicing. Chase had transferred these to MRS in order to avoid non-
reimbursable advances and expenses. The unlawful transfer of these loans to MRS as part of the
portfolio of loans sold under the MLPA aided the Defendants in concealing Regulatory non-
160. Contrary to its representation and warranty that "Each Mortgage Loan complies in all
material respects with all applicable federal, state, or local laws," MRS discovered that Chase had
failed to comply with nearly all such laws. MRS later discovered that Chase’s desire to escape the
consequences of its long-running violations was the primary motivation for Chase to off-load these
161. Chase committed, inter alia, the following violations of law with respect to the loans
sold to MRS:
a. Chase transferred the servicing of the mortgage loans to and from multiple
unlicensed and unregulated debt collection agencies which lacked the mortgage
servicing platforms to account for or service the borrowers’ loan with any accuracy
or integrity.
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disclosures and good faith estimates, thus putting MRS in a position where it was
e. Chase failed to provide any accurate borrower payment histories for any of the loans
in the MLPA.
that Defendants knew had been foreclosed and sold to third parties.
from its primary record-keeping platform and creating an entry in its RCV1
repository. This had the effect of denying the borrowers their rights concerning
federally related mortgages yet allowed Chase to retain the lien and the benefit of
h. Chase included on Exhibit A loans that it had previously sold to third parties and
i. Chase knowingly and deliberately changed the loan numbers of numerous valuable
loans sold to MRS after the MLPA had been fully executed and in force. This
allowed Chase to accept payments from borrowers whose loans had been sold to
MRS without its own records disclosing the wrongful acceptance of such payments.
162. The MLPA specifies that Chase sold to MRS 3,259 closed-end first lien mortgage
163. However, Exhibit A shows different amounts owed for the same loan.
164. MRS has attempted to painstakingly reconcile the information on the corrupted
Exhibit A to determine the correct information for loans it was to have purchased and to date,
Defendants have not provided full information on all the loans that it purchased.
The MLPA states that the aggregate principal balance of the sold loans was
$156,324,613.80 as set forth on the corrupted Exhibit A Chase provided. However, the
Corrupted List totaling $156,324,613.80 did not reveal the principal balance of each loan.
Instead, it listed the amount Chase charged off, which included the principal balance, the unpaid
interest, late fees, property tax advances, and customary default servicing fees.
g. Chase failed to provide MRS with assignments of the notes and mortgages
165. Chase breached the MLPA, and exercised exclusive control of the loans
purportedly sold to Plaintiffs, by failing to provide MRS with assignments of the notes and
166. By refusing to provide assignments of the notes and mortgages, Chase prevented
MRS from realizing the value of the purchased loans, and allowed Chase to offload the loans when
167. Chase’s failure to provide the assignments of the notes and mortgages was not an
act of negligence. As events unfolded, it became clear that Chase failed to provide the assignments
of the notes and mortgages because it wanted, in selective instances, to continue to treat the sold
168. On December 19, 2009, Solomon emailed Schneider informing him of Payments
I have pulled a report of the pmts due to you since the Feb sale. There are issues due to
dupe acct # project or something Larry Sandra says you know about? So some of these
accts your groups can’t find under certain acct #'s because we changed them???
Anyway, I’m going thru to see what is valid and what is not - I will send updates as I
know. For your benefit, I’m going thru the largest pmts first to get them going. Here is
your first one I just ordered ACCOUNT NUMBER . 19044379 XXXXXX $20,000
pmt on 5/26/09, this was a settlement negotiated. [Borrower Name Redacted by Plaintiff]
169. On December 19 2009, Chase employee, Solomon, sent a list of payments which
x Jimmy Bell 2,500.00 for payments received between February and September
2009
x Randolph Johnson $3,350.00 for payments from April through December 2009
x Millie Arnold $3,565.36 for a payment on May 2009
x Litteton Organ $1,259.30 for payment on May 2009
x Ryan Fisher $1,023.10 for payment on May 2009
x James Piester $1,576.70 for April 2009
x Ida Smith for $320.00 for payment February 18, 2009
x Angela Overdorf $337.00 for payments in February 2009
x Sandra Tynan $500.00 for payment on March 2, 2009
x Cindel Phillips $4,426.65 for payment March through November 2009
x Judith Sanders $4,600 for payments March through October 2009
x David Wisenbaugh $4,237.42 for payments February through August 2009
170. However, on December 29, 2009, Solomon emailed Schneider informing him that
some payments would not be coming because a code was changed and it was "not reversible."
171. Specifically, according to the December 19, 2009 email, MRS was to expect a
$20,000.00 payment for a settlement which Defendants negotiated with the buyer on the loan sold
to and owned by MRS, without MRS' knowledge. Defendants chose to keep the monies due MRS
and changed the coding to "Corporate Advance", effectively converting the proceeds and
172. Moreover, despite its sale to MRS of the loans actually listed on the Corrupted
List, after those loans were sold to MRS, and despite MRS' continued request for complete
information, Chase continued collection on the same RCV1 accounts and for example, (1) sent
letters to borrowers whose loans were sold, (2) had collection agencies send letters to borrowers
whose loans were sold, and (3) directed the borrowers to make payments to Chase.
173. In these letters, Chase represented directly, or through the collection agency, in
contravention of its contracts with Plaintiffs, that it owned the loans and/or was the authorized
174. Chase also continued to collect payments from insurance carriers on mortgaged
properties whose loans it had sold to Plaintiff entities. For example, one of the loans that Chase
sold to MRS under the MLPA on February 25, 2009 was a purported first mortgage loan to Vahe
Kevorkyants. The loan ultimately turned out to be a HELOC for $250,000 of March 23, 2007.
Unbeknownst to Plaintiffs at the time of purchase, on June 27, 2008, Chase had filed a title
insurance claim with XL Insurance America (“XL”) claiming that it was insured for a first
175. In its letter to the borrower regarding JP Morgan Chase's actions, XL Insurance
America indicated that although underwriting notes suggested JP Morgan investigated the title to
the property prior to approving the claimed loan, XL Insurance asked the borrower to assist in
investigating whether the JP Morgan Chase had in fact obtained a full title search and to provide
XL Insurance America with the report. In the fall of 2009, months after the sale of the mortgage
loan to MRS through the MLPA, Chase received and failed to forward to MRS $250,000 that it
176. In March and April 2009, Chase notified MRS that it was "recalling" a number of
loans, including the most valuable loans in the loan pool – the “cherries” that Guerrero used to
induce Schneider to purchase the portfolio. Chase ultimately recalled $6 million in loans.
Notably, none of the loans recalled by Chase in March or April of 2009 had included the
Kevorkyant loan.
177. Specifically, on March 24, 2009, Solomon notified Schneider on two occasions,
178. When Schneider objected, Chase personnel claimed that these loans were
included by mistake. Chase personnel then represented to Schneider that Chase would pay for
the recall of the loans by providing additional loans in an amended Exhibit A. Chase did not
179. On April 9, 2009, Guerrero emailed MRS and stated Chase was recalling over 50
loans sold in the MLPA which Guerrero identified by loan number and specific prefixes.
180. As of this time, Chase had still not delivered to MRS any of the original loan
documentation.
181. The recalling of the loans was a direct violation of the MLPA which prohibited
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182. Despite contracting to sell loans it had hidden in its RCV1 repository, and marking
these loans as "SOLD" to avoid reputational risk, Chase duplicitously left itself a back door to
183. MRS never received all of the loan files or assignments, hence, MRS was powerless
to prevent Chase from recalling these loans. MRS could do nothing more at that time except
cooperate, in the hopes that Defendants would supply the proper data tapes and files for the
184. On October 31, 2009, Guerrero passed away mysteriously at the age of 29. Prior to
his death, Guerrero had told Schneider he was putting together an updated Exhibit A to the MLPA
which would correct all the errors in the Corrupted List and reimburse MRS for the loans it
recalled.
185. Under New York law, a party that breaches a contractual representation or warranty
is liable to the injured party for the difference in the value of the contract betweenwhat the contract
would have been worth, but for the breach of warranty, and what the contract was actually worth
186. Based on the historic performance of the over two hundred plus 1st lien mortgages
the Schneider Entities had purchased in the past, if Chase had complied with the express warranties
in the MLPA – MRS would have realized approximately $300 million from the 3,529 purchased
loans.
187. On November 13, 2009, Schneider sent an email to Mark Davis, Senior Vice
President of Recovery for Chase and Chad Paxton, Vice President of Relationship Management at
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Chase. In this email, Schneider explained that approximately 2/3 of the loans listed on the
Corrupted List were coded incorrectly and were mortgage deficiencies, not first mortgage loans.
Schneider urged Davis and Paxton to reimburse MRS adequately for these loans and the expenses
and liabilities MRS had incurred as a result of the inaccuracies on the Corrupted List.
188. Schneider received a response to his emails from Patrick "Mike" Boyle, Vice
President of Loss Mitigation Recovery, who explained that he had recently assumed leadership for
recovery operations and he wanted to get "a full understanding of the efforts . . . underway prior
to [Mr. Guerrero's] passing, and move forward as appropriate." On December 9, 2009, Schneider
sent Boyle an email confirming a conversation they had regarding Chase's exposure to potential
they had regarding Chase's exposure to potential liability as a result of its mishandling of certain
defaulted loans.
190. Later in December 2009, Chase sent MRS a Post-MLPA List that purported to
include an additional 850 loans "sold" to MRS. However, the additional partial list of 850 loans
were loans where Chase had acted in violation of law and had been flagged by Chase as part of a
lien release project. Chase by its actions was seeking to off-load its liability onto MRS.
Defendants' Fraud and RICO Scheme Caused Damage To Plaintiffs and Others
191. As part of the Defendants’ Fraud and RICO Scheme to evade legal and regulatory
compliance, as outlined supra, the Schneider Entities have been injured by Defendants’ subsequent
and ongoing post-MLPA fraud and misconduct in relation to the loans Defendants sold to the
• Defendants have continued to approve short sales on properties subject to loans that
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Chase Home had previously sold to one or more of the Schneider Entities.
the Schneider Entities as the responsible party. This has forced and continues to force the
Schneider Entities to incur significant expenses in dealing with the governmental entities and,
more significantly, potentially exposes the Schneider Entities to damages for Defendants’
violations of laws.
written correspondence to borrowers of loans sold to the Schneider Entities misrepresenting that
Chase or the collection agency owned the loan at issue and/or was the authorized servicer for the
loans at issue.
• Defendants falsely represented to certain borrowers that their loans had been
transferred to one of the Schneider Entities when, in fact, the Schneider Entities never acquired the
loans at issue. Such false statements have led to significant damages to and potential liability for
the Schneider Entities, including prompting complaints to be filed with various state and federal
agencies and impeding the ability of the Schneider Entities to generate new business.
• The deficient records maintained and provided by Defendants have impeded the
Schneider Entities’ ability to respond to borrower inquiries about loan balances, payment histories
• Between September 2012 and, upon information and belief, through 2016,
Defendants mailed debt Forgiveness Letters to thousands of defaulted borrowers whose loans were
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in the RCV1 queue, including borrowers whose loans Chase had previously sold to one or more
of the Schneider Entities. As a result, a number of borrowers informed the Schneider Entities that
liens on properties that served as collateral for loans sold to the Schneider Entities. The scores of
lien releases are ongoing, and targeted at the Schneider Entities, despite the Schneider Entities’
192. Between September 2012 and January 2013, Chase sent over 50,000 Forgiveness
Letters telling borrowers, many of whose loans now were owned by Plaintiffs, that their debt was
forgiven pursuant to the National Mortgage Settlement. All of these letters were signed by Patrick
193. On December 5th, 2012, Chase notified the Schneider Entities that it had
incorrectly sent debt forgiveness letters to 23 debtors where the loan was owned by 1st Fidelity or
194. Plaintiffs were provided the option to sell back the loans for 1.5x the purchase price
or have retraction letters sent. Due to uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of a retraction letter,
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S&A agreed to sell back all 11 of its loans. 1st Fidelity agreed to only sell back 2 loans, believing
it would be able to successfully communicate the error to the borrowers and collect on the
remaining 10 loans.
195. The 13 loans sold back to Chase for $105,375 had a principal balance outstanding
at the time (per Chase) of $496,668.19 (Chase paid the Plaintiffs 21% of the outstanding balance).
196. The 10 loans NOT sold back to Chase had a principal balance outstanding at the
time (per Chase) of $775,073.84 (Chase offered to pay Plaintiffs only 13% of the outstanding
balance).
197. Plaintiffs have no reason to believe that this represents the totality of 1st Fidelity
and S&A borrowers that Chase has sent forgiveness letters to, and Chase has provided no data
198. Chase did not own the loans of thousands of the recipients of the Forgiveness
Letters, scores of whose loans had been acquired by the Plaintiffs long before 2012. Annexed
hereto as Exhibit 5 are copies of the Forgiveness Letters S&A knows were sent to borrowers whose
loans it had purchased. Annexed hereto as Exhibit 6 are copies of the Forgiveness Letters 1st
199. With respect to each of the forgiven loans, including the loans previously sold to
Plaintiffs, Chase at least intended to and in some cases took credit towards the $4.2 billion
consumer relief requirement in the NMS Consent Judgment for the total indebtedness due under
200. Additionally, many of the S&A and 1st Fidelity borrowers whose loans Plaintiffs
had purchased from Chase and who received the Forgiveness Letter refused to make further
payments to the Plaintiffs because they had received a Forgiveness Letter from the Bank.
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201. When Schneider first confronted Bank personnel with the fact that it had forgiven
loans it had previously sold to the Plaintiffs, the Bank refused to admit what it had done. As more
and more borrowers received Forgiveness Letters, Chase acknowledged there was an error but
could not quantify the number of affected borrowers. Chase then asked for an entire list of loans
which its entities had sold to the Plaintiffs since 2005 so that it could attempt to determine the
number of affected borrowers whose loans had been sold to the Plaintiffs. Finally, in November
2012, Chase offered to buy back the loans it had forgiven of which the Plaintiffs were aware and
sent out the December 5, 2012 correspondence confirming same (See Exhibit 7).
202. Plaintiffs agreed to sell back to the Bank some of the loans for which borrowers
were sent Forgiveness Letters but only on the condition that the Bank would send retraction letters
to the other affected borrowers indicating that the Bank made an error and, as a result,the borrower
S & A Borrowers who received 2nd Lien Extinguishment Letters From Defendants
203. On November 22, 2006, S&A purchased a $35,730 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrowers on the loan were Carol Laug and Garry Keeton (“Laug Loan”). The Laug Loan was
originated on January 24, 2001. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed by Patricia
204. On September 13, 2007, S&A purchased a $16,132 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrowers on the loan were Allen and Gloria Bradley (“Bradley Loan”). The Bradley Loan was
originated on April 26, 2000. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed by Patricia
Lopez, Corporate Executive Officer for Chase and prepared by Launi Solomon, Corporate
205. On September 26, 2007, S&A purchased a $29,000 mortgage loan from Chase. The
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borrowers on the loan were Frank Demske and Barbara Yockey (“Yockey Loan”). The Yockey
Loan was originated on November 20, 2000. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed
by Patricia Lopez, Corporate Executive Officer for Chase and prepared by Launi Solomon,
206. On September 27, 2007, S&A purchased a $9,844 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrowers on the loan were Jerry and Linda Grimm (“Grimm Loan”). The Grimm Loan was
originated on March 8, 2001. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed by Patricia
Lopez, Corporate Executive Officer for Chase and prepared by Launi Solomon, Corporate
207. On September 18, 2007, S&A purchased a $25,000 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrower on the loan was Randy Frazier (“Frazier Loan”). The Frazier Loan was originated on
July 28, 2004. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed by Patricia Lopez, Corporate
208. On June 24, 2008, S&A purchased a $91,000 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrower on the loan was Diane Busza (“Busza Loan”). The Busza Loan was originated on
December 21, 2005. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed by Patricia Lopez,
Corporate Executive Officer for Chase and prepared by Launi Solomon, Corporate Executive
209. On March 22, 2010, S&A purchased a $20,200 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrower on the loan was Dianna Goodwin (“Goodwin Loan”). The Goodwin Loan was originated
on June 28, 2004. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and prepared by Launi
210. On July 23, 2010, S&A purchased a $79,000 mortgage loan from Chase. The
borrowers on the loan were Dorothy and Jeffery Vance (“Vance Loan”). The Vance Loan was
originated on May 4, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and prepared by
211. S & A purchased a loan from Chase secured by a second mortgage. On August 4,
2009, Chase executed an assignment of the second mortgage, which was recorded on November
5, 2009 in the appropriate registry of deeds. Larry Schneider (“Schneider”), in his capacity as the
primary representative of S & A, had been communicating and working with the Borrowers,
212. Soon thereafter, Borrowers informed S&A that the first lender, Chase, was
foreclosing due to non-payment. The Borrowers then ceased communications with S & A.
213. Upon review of the public records, S & A discovered that the property had been
214. The closing attorney of the transaction confirmed that Chase had approved a short
sale of the property, and Chase had received and applied a payoff on both Chase’s first loan and
215. Pursuant to a Facsimile from Zelia Frias, paralegal for closing attorney, to Robert
Di Marco dated May 25, 2012, containing short sale approval letter from Janet Joh, Chase
Representative, to Borrower dated December 7, 2011, Chase advised the money that was wired
for the transaction was “[a]pplied and closed two accounts for the Sellers”.
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216. On May 25, 2012, Schneider electronically contacted Chase employees Janet Joh
and Julio Escobedo, Ms. Joh’s supervisor, notifying them of the situation and requesting that the
217. Shortly thereafter, Schneider followed up with a telephone call to Ms. Joh but was
advised Ms. Joh told Schneider not to contact her again and hung up on him.
218. Schneider proceeded to leave voicemail messages and emails for Mr. Escobedo,
219. On Monday, October 1, 2012, Schneider reached out to Mr. Kassem to notify him
of the situation and the lack of response by Chase representatives and Mr. Kassem responded by
indicating “I’m amazed both these Chase folks never responded back. Or at least a manager.”
220. Chase representatives were instructed not to communicate in any manner with S &
221. The order not to communicate with S&A has made it impossible for this matter to
be resolved by S & A.
223. On January 14, 2010, S & A acquired a loan secured by a second mortgage from
Chase. On January 25, 2010, Chase executed an assignment of the second mortgage which was
recorded on February 8, 2010 in the appropriate registry of deeds. After more than a year of
negotiations with the Borrower and subsequent legal action by S & A, S & A and the Borrower
executed a Stipulation Agreement. The Borrower had performed on the parties’ Stipulation
Agreement, making regular monthly payments from January 2011 through October 2013.
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224. On or about October of 2012, the Borrower began to receive correspondence from
Real Time Resolutions (“Real Time”) a debt collection agency working for Chase (Letter from
Real Time Resolutions to the Borrower dated October 19, 2012.) In that correspondence, Real
Time indicated its authority to release Chase’s lien on the property for 35% of the amount secured
by the lien.
225. Over the next several months, the Borrower continued to receive written
correspondence from Real Time, accompanied by harassing phone calls. The substance of the
correspondence dating between March 8, 2013 and July 15, 2013 from Real Time changed several
times, varying between claims that Real Time owned the loan itself to Real Time serviced the loan
for Chase.
226. On July 29, 2013, Real Time, on behalf of Chase, sent a letter to the Borrower
offering repayment options and stating that the debt of $38,133.12 carries no interest rate.
227. This amount erroneously took into account the amount of money S&A paid for the
loan years earlier as a payment toward the Borrower’s debt. In effect, S & A was considered a
payee of the loan, and no interest had accrued based upon Chase’s “servicing” of the loan during
those intervening three years. The accrual of zero interest over more than three years violated all
228. Borrower sought to correct the issue with Chase and Real Time. Chase and Real
Time both confirmed in writing that they would research the matter.
229. Subsequently, by letters from Real Time to the Borrower dated May 24, 2013 and
dated July 10, 2013, Chase informed the Borrower in writing that it owned the loan and that Real
Time was the authorized agent for service. The Borrower then retained counsel and threatened
direction from Alex Winters, a representative of Real Time, that the Borrower should cease all
payments to S & A and demand that all payments made to date be returned.
231. On October 7, 2013, S&A received a letter from the Attorney for the Borrowers
claiming that S&A was violating RESPA, threatening legal action against S&A and indicating that
Real Time had directed his client to cease making payments to any other entity.
232. Furthermore, the letter stated that Real Time had not credited any payments to the
Borrower’s account since Real Time received the mortgage from Chase, and demanded that all
233. On November 21, 2013, S & A was notified by its bank that the Borrower’s
234. Chase representatives were instructed to not communicate in any manner with S
& A or any related entities, thus making it impossible for this matter to be resolved by S & A.
235. Chase has not retracted its false statements and fraudulent acts.
236. The matter remains open at the time of this writing, and the borrower has refused
to make any payments and has threatened litigation if Plaintiffs attempt to do so.
1st Fidelity Borrowers who Received 2nd Lien Extinguishment Letters From Defendants
237. Between 2009 and 2010, 1st Fidelity entered into several agreements to purchase
non-performing closed end first and second mortgage loans from Chase.
238. On October 14, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $50,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were Jacob Rossatto and Miriam Alvarez (“Rossatto Loan”). The
Rossatto Loan was originated on October 6, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was
signed and prepared by Eddie Guerrero, Corporate Executive Officer for Chase.
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239. On October 14, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $90,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrower on the loan was Matthew Di Minno (“Di Minno Loan”). The Di Minno Loan was
originated on September 20, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and
240. On October 14, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $190,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were Yvonne and Edward Harrity (“Harrity Loan”). The Harrity Loan
was originated on March 8, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and
241. On October 14, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $60,400 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were Marvin and Cassandra Cornish (“Cornish Loan”). The Cornish
Loan was originated on January 27, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed
242. On October 14, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $37,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were Saleh Ahmed and Beverly Ahmed (“Ahmed Loan”). The Ahmed
Loan was originated on May 21, 2007. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and
243. On October 30, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $60,400 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were Vito Derosa and Nicolette Derosa (“Derosa Loan”). The Derosa
Loan was originated on October 19, 2005. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed
244. On October 30, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $100,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrower on the loan was Irene Williams (“Williams Loan”). The Williams Loan was
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originated on January 7, 2005. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and prepared
245. On November 4, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $25,000 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrower on the loan was Teresa Hancock (“Hancock Loan”). The Hancock Loan was
originated on March 31, 2006. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and prepared
246. On November 10, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a $44,000 mortgage loan from
Chase. The borrowers on the loan were William Spence and Laura Spence (“Spence Loan”). The
Spence Loan was originated on June 20, 2005. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was
signed and prepared by Launi Solomon, Corporate Executive Officer for Chase.
247. On January 15, 2010 1st Fidelity purchased a $19,950 mortgage loan from Chase.
The borrowers on the loan were George and Theresa Lawwill (“Lawwill Loan”). The Lawwill
Loan was originated on April 5, 2005. The Assignment of Mortgage Agreement was signed and
248. 1st Fidelity did not agree to sell back most of the affected loans because Chase did
249. The borrowers on some of the loans that 1st Fidelity did not agree to sell back to
Chase filed complaints against 1st Fidelity with various governmental agencies on the ground that
250. Chase sold to 1st Fidelity, on September 24, 2009, a second mortgage on property
mortgage to 1st Fidelity, which was recorded on December 11, 2009. The borrowers entered into
a payment plan with 1st Fidelity and were making monthly payments in accordance with that plan.
251. On September 13, 2012, 34 months after selling the loan to 1st Fidelity, Chase
sent the Warwicks a letter extinguishing the second mortgage and canceling the debt in the amount
252. 1st Fidelity pleaded with Omar Kassem (“Kassem”), Portfolio Manager at Chase,
to issue a retraction letter to each of the borrowers whose debt Chase had wrongfully forgiven but
253. On October 5, 2012, Schneider notified Kassem that the Warwicks had ceased
making payments to 1st Fidelity and he asked Kassem to send a retraction letter to the Warwicks.
254. On December 12, 2012, 1st Fidelity received a letter from the State of Maryland,
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Division of Financial Regulation stating that the
Warwicks had filed a complaint against Chase and requesting that 1st Fidelity cease all collection
activity until the investigation was completed. Enclosed with the letter was a statement by an
investigator for the State of Maryland questioning “whether Chase is somehow gettingcredit from
a write off they never actually have to honor.” See Exhibit 9 hereto.
255. On January 28, 2013, Chase agreed to repurchase from 1st Fidelity, the Warwick
second mortgage loan along with two other loans with similar circumstances for their full face
256. In other instances, Chase refused to buy back the loans even though it had
wrongfully sent a forgiveness letter to a borrower on a loan that it had sold to the Plaintiffs. For
example, in September 2012, 1st Fidelity was in the process of foreclosing on a second mortgage
executed by Saleh Ahmed and Beverly Ahmed that 1st Fidelity had acquired from Chase in
October 2009.
257. On September 13, 2012, Chase issued a Forgiveness Letter to the Ahmeds notifying
them that Chase was cancelling their debt of $42,543.97 as a result of the NMS Consent Judgment.
258. On October 5, 2012, Schneider notified Kassem that the Ahmeds were threatening
to report 1st Fidelity to the Attorney General of Oklahoma for seeking to wrongfully recover a
cancelled debt. Kassem refused to take any action to rectify the situation.
259. In December 2012, Schneider informed Kassem that 1st Fidelity had to postpone a
foreclosure sale and he continued to plead with Kassem to have Chase buy back the loan at full
face value to prevent further harm to 1st Fidelity and the affected borrower.
260. On January 9, 2014, the Ahmeds filed an answer in the foreclosure action in which
they asserted as a defense that the loan was used by Chase to satisfy the consumer relief
requirements in the NMS Consent Judgment. See Exhibit 10 hereto. Yet, to date, Chase has refused
261. On August 27, 2009, 1st Fidelity purchased a loan from Chase that was secured by
assignment of the second mortgage on November 4, 2009, which was recorded on August 6, 2010.
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Hancock-Roberts entered into a payment plan with 1st Fidelity and performed consistent with the
terms of the payment plan. On September 13, 2012, Chase sent Hancock-Roberts a Forgiveness
Letter cancelling a debt of $28,209.15 as a result of the NMS Consent Judgment. (See Exhibit 11
hereto)
262. Hancock-Roberts stopped paying 1st Fidelity after she received the debt
forgiveness letter.
263. Hancock-Roberts filed a complaint against 1st Fidelity with the State of
Connecticut Department of Banking which was forwarded to the Federal Trade Commission and
264. Hancock-Roberts has not made any further payments to 1st Fidelity and has
threatened to file additional complaints if any collection attempts are pursued by 1st Fidelity.
265. According to a February 25, 2013 email between McPhillips, Oquendo. White
Barbieri, Satterfield, Boyle Mudick and Palazzo, Chase was aware that loans owned by the
Schneider’s 1st Fidelity and S & A Capital entities were harmed by Defendants and their associates
in fact.
266. Schneider pleaded with Chase to send a retraction letter to Hancock-Roberts but
Chase Quietly Releases First Mortgage Liens to Evade Regulation X and Metrics of
Settlements
267. After encountering several severe business disruptions that significantly impacted
the Schneider Entities’ ability to service its mortgage pools, including the second lien forgiveness
letters by Chase discussed supra, and the continued collection on debts owned by 1st Fidelity and
S&A, Plaintiffs conducted title searches on all of its active first lien mortgages. During this
investigation, Plaintiffs realized that Chase illegally released the liens of 57 loans owned by 1st
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Fidelity and S&A worth $2,562,837. Additionally, during the discovery process, the Schneider
Entities learned that Chase released or attempted to release the liens on 550 loans it purportedly
sold to MRS worth $23,673,169. A list of known lien releases can be found at Exhibit 12 hereto.
268. Chase accomplished this by quietly releasing thousands of liens, without the
knowledge of the borrowers whose liens were released, and despite the fact that hundreds of these
loans had been sold several years earlier to the Plaintiffs. Despite releasing these liens to avoid its
legal responsibilities, Chase created blight and continued to collect on the debt of these borrowers.
269. On October 10, 2013, according to a Chase document summarizing the meeting
minutes of the Walk Population Review, “Lisa Shepherd announced that the lien release team may
begin immediately releasing the liens according to their schedule. All of the 1st and 2nd liens must
270. Thus, the massive purge of anti-blight responsibilities began on October 20, 2013,
when Chase embarked on a new scheme to defraud the Plaintiffs’ borrowers when it released liens
on thousands of properties where it had abandoned its servicing responsibilities despite local, state
and federal requirements to properly service first lien federally related mortgage loans and despite
274. The lien releases were processed through Defendants’ third party lien release
provider, Nationwide Title Clearing (“NWTC”). Nationwide Title would enter into a consent
decree with the state of Illinois, 12 CH 03602, October 31, 2013, agreeing not to sign a document
unless the person signing the document performs substantive review of the information, ensuring
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that affidavits executed by Defendant, are based on affiant's review and personal knowledge of the
assertions in the affidavits, documents recorded by NWTC would accurately reflect the nature and
substance of the transaction, NWTC would remediate any document found by a court to be a cloud
on title or otherwise unlawful, or when reasonably necessary to assist any person or borrower, or
when required by federal, state, or local law. In December 2015, NTC would again agree to
275. According to the recorded documents on loans lien released by NWTC, as ordered
by Defendants, NWTC Chief Information Officer Erika Lance claimed to have created the
documents.
276. The lien releases were “robo-signed,” that is, signed by persons lacking any
knowledge as to the relevant facts concerning each lien, as hundreds of these loans were owned
by the Plaintiffs. These lien releases were attested to under penalty of perjury.
277. The signatures of the notaries who executed the lien releases are significantly
278. In its eagerness to avoid liability for urban blight, Chase released liens on properties
that Chase had previously sold to the Plaintiffs. Some borrowers who became aware of these lien
releases then refused to continue making payments to Plaintiffs because they claimed the liens had
been released. This caused Plaintiffs to lose the revenue on the loans where the liens had been
released and, in many instances, exposed the Plaintiffs to litigation from the borrowers whose loans
279. For example, S&A purchased from Chase a first mortgage loan to Patricia B. King.
Chase executed an assignment of mortgage on February 16, 2010, which was recorded on March
15, 2010. See Exhibit 13 hereto. On October 25, 2013, S&A commenced foreclosure proceedings
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because King was in default. On November 6, 2013, Chase executed a discharge of the first
mortgage and recorded the discharge on November 19, 2013, despite the fact that Chase no longer
280. Similarly, 1st Fidelity purchased from Chase a first mortgage loan to Mark
Damstra. Chase executed an assignment of the mortgage on October 22, 2010, and the assignment
was recorded in the appropriate registry of deeds on November 15, 2010. On November 21, 2011,
1st Fidelity, through counsel, sent a notice of intent to foreclose on the mortgage to Damstra and,
thereafter, instituted foreclosure proceedings. On October 23, 2013, Chase executed a discharge
of the first mortgage sold by Chase to 1st Fidelity, which was recorded in the appropriate registry
of deeds on November 13, 2013. This made it impossible for 1st Fidelity to foreclose.
281. A review of public records reveals similarly robo-signed lien releases executed by
signers purporting to be “Vice President or Secretary” of JPMorgan Chase. These releases of liens,
which were previously sold to the Plaintiffs, has caused and continues to cause harm to the
Plaintiffs.
282. A review of public records also reveals that Chase executed and caused to be filed
into public records Vacation of Liens, and Vacations of Modifications that contained misleading
283. All of Chase's conduct, as described above, has interfered with the Plaintiffs’
relationships with the borrowers whose loans Plaintiffs had purchased; caused substantial
damage to the Plaintiffs' business reputation; forced the Plaintiffs to face the ire of governmental
entities seeking to enforce property maintenance obligations against mortgage holders; and
exposed Plaintiffs to accusations of predatory lending despite the fact that the Plaintiffs only
sought to collect what they were legally entitled to collect from borrowers whose loans Plaintiffs
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had purchased from Chase. Chase, on the other hand, received payment for the loans Plaintiffs
284. On or before January 7, 2014, Defendants realized they once again harmed
Plaintiffs’ entities in their attempts to defraud the Federal and State Governments in various
285. According to a January 24, 2014 summary of meeting minutes, Chase decided to
286. In order to accomplish this concealment, Defendants once again relied on the
services of NWTC, in this unusual document requests to undo a fraudulent lien release. These
287. Despite Defendants’ knowledge that it had once again harmed Plaintiffs in its
ongoing schemes to increase profits and reduce expenses, Defendants purposefully did not inform
Plaintiffs of its widespread fraud of its various lien release projects and protocols, as it would
jeopardize the numerous ongoing schemes to defraud the Government, described supra, as to its
claims of compliance with the 2011 Consent Orders with tits Prudential Regulators, the Federal
and State governments as to its compliance with the NMS and with its recent $13B RMBS
Settlement with the Agencies of the Federal Government. The schemes also defrauded its
borrowers and the public as to Defendants’ actual consumer relief assertions. Defendants engaged
in a series of actions which violated MRS' rights under the MLPA. These actions include but are
288. In some instances, Chase contacted borrowers and told them that Chase had
reacquired the loan and that the borrowers had to make payments to Chase.
289. After the execution of the MLPA, Chase continued to use collection agencies to
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collect payments from borrowers on the loans it had sold to MRS. In many cases, it retained all
such payments.
290. In order to conceal its theft, after the execution of the MLPA, Chase changed the
loan numbers of valuable loans that had been sold to MRS, where the borrowers were making
monthly payments. After the execution of the MLPA, Chase continued to assert its right to
proceeds of paid title insurance claims it had purchased on the mortgaged premises as mortgagee,
investigate Chase's conduct with respect to loans it had purportedly sold to MRS, Chase told the
investigate Chase's conduct regarding violations with respect to loans which Chase still owned,
and had not sold to MRS, Chase falsely told the agencies to contact MRS as the responsible party.
293. In situations where there were patent violations of law, Chase falsely represented
to borrowers that their loans had been purchased by one of the Plaintiffs so as to deflect action by
294. When Plaintiffs tried to speak with Chase representatives to resolve these matters,
296. The MLPA is a valid and binding contract between MRS and Chase.
297. MRS has fully performed its obligations under the MLPA.
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298. Defendants have breached the warranties made to MRS under the MLPA, inter
alia, in the following ways (a) Chase sold non-conforming deficiency claims in place of first lien
mortgage loans; (b) Chase withheld information and documents concerning the loans it sold to
MRS; (c) Chase sold loans to MRS where Chase had violated applicable law; (d) Chase sold loans
to MRS where Chase provided a corrupted data tape as Exhibit A to the MLPA; (f) Chase accepted
and retained payments it received from borrowers and/or insurance companies on loans it had sold
to MRS; and (g) Chase changed the loans sold, after the sale, by pulling valuable loans back and
adding loans that violated loan servicing and consumer protection laws.
299. Defendants have further breached the MLPA and the implied obligation of good
faith and fair dealing by forgiving the debt owed by borrowers on loans sold to MRS or releasing
the liens securing loans sold to MRS, in order to falsely satisfy Chase's obligations under the
300. Defendants are liable to MRS for all of the damages caused by Chase's breach of
the MLPA and the obligation of good faith and fair dealing implied in every contract governed by
proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable, including
302. S&A purchased loans from Defendants pursuant to valid and binding contracts
303. S&A has fully performed its obligations under its agreements with Chase.
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304. Defendants have breached the contracts it had with S&A by, inter alia, (a)
releasing mortgage liens securing loans previously sold to S&A; (b) forgiving loans it had
previously sold to S&A; and (f) accepting and retaining payments it received from borrowers
305. Defendants are liable to S&A for all of the damages caused by its breach of
contract and the obligation of good faith and fair dealing implied in every contract governed by
proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable, including
307. 1st Fidelity purchased loans from Chase pursuant to valid and binding contracts
308. 1st Fidelity has fully performed its obligations under its agreements with Chase.
309. Defendants have breached the contracts it had with 1st Fidelity by, inter alia, (a)
releasing mortgage liens securing loans previously sold to 1st Fidelity; (b) forgiving loans it had
previously sold to 1st Fidelity; and (c) accepting and retaining payments it received from
310. Defendants are liable to 1st Fidelity for all of the damages caused by its breach of
contract and the obligation of good faith and fair dealing implied in every contract governed by
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proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable, including
312. Under the MLPA, Chase sold to MRS the mortgage loans listed on Exhibit A to
the MLPA.
313. As stated above, Chase sold to S&A mortgage loans pursuant to individual loan
314. As stated above, Chase sold to 1st Fidelity loans pursuant to individual loan sale
315. Plaintiffs retained exclusive right of possession to the promissory notes and
borrowers of the purchased loans and putting them on payment schedules so that they could make
317. Chase wrote forgiveness letters to borrowers whose loans it had sold to the
Plaintiff.
318. Chase directed third party vendors to collect and negotiate on loans owned by
Plaintiffs.
319. As a result of Defendants’ actions, Borrowers refused and ceased to pay Plaintiffs
320. Defendants also directed third party vendors to file false documents including
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statements, and failed to refrain from asserting dominion over Plaintiffs' property.
322. Defendants and associates in fact retained moneys paid on loans owned by
Plaintiffs.
323. Defendants and their associates continued the above actions in derogation of and
324. As a result, Defendants have interfered with Plaintiffs' exclusive possessory rights
325. Defendants have interfered with Plaintiffs’ exclusive ownership and possessory
326. Defendants have interfered with Plaintiffs’ exclusive ownership and possessory
rights by refusing to register the transfer of rights with the collection companies.
327. Defendants have interfered with Plaintiffs’ exclusive rights to the collateral
328. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' acts as alleged above, Plaintiffs
have been damaged in an amount to be proven at trial of no less than $ 300 million.
329. Defendants are liable to the Plaintiff Mortgage Resolution Servicing for
compensatory and punitive damages for its conversion of Plaintiffs’ purchased assets.
330. Defendants are liable to the Plaintiff 1st Fidelity for compensatory and punitive
331. Defendants are liable to the Plaintiff S&A for compensatory and punitive damages
WHEREFORE, 1ST Fidelity, S&A, and MRS demand judgment against Defendants in an
amount to be proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable,
including pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and the costs of this suit.
333. Plaintiffs purchased federally related mortgage loans through multiple individual
334. Plaintiff acquired contractual rights as Assignees of the Defendants under these
335. Defendants intentionally and without any justification interfered with Plaintiffs'
contractual relations with Borrowers under the individual mortgage loans by issuing forgiveness
letters, directing third party collectors to continue collection efforts on behalf of Chase, releasing
the liens on loans through third party vendors, and filing false documents into public record on
336. But for the Defendants' actions, Plaintiffs' contractual relations with Borrowers
337. The Defendants had no legitimate basis for taking the actions they took and the
interference stemmed from Chase's desire to eschew compliance and regulatory requirements.
338. By sending out forgiveness letters to borrowers whose loans Defendants had sold
to the Plaintiffs, and by releasing liens securing loans it had sold to the Plaintiffs, Defendants also
proximately caused the impairment and spoliage of the Plaintiffs’ business reputation and their
relationships with the borrowers whose loans they had purchased from Chase, which reputation
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339. Defendants are liable to Plaintiff MRS for compensatory and punitive damages.
340. Defendants are liable to Plaintiff S&A for compensatory and punitive damages.
341. Defendants are liable to Plaintiff 1st Fidelity for compensatory and punitive
damages.
WHEREFORE, 1ST Fidelity, S&A, and MRS demand judgment against Defendants in an
amount to be proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable,
including pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and the costs of this suit.
343. Defendants, by their statements, acts, omissions and conduct, knowingly made false
344. Defendants’ statements include those made by Guerrero and others beginning in
October 2008 that (a) misrepresented that Defendants would provide a complete Exhibit A to the
MLPA detailing the full and customary servicing information for all the loans sold under the
MLPA; (b) misrepresented that Defendants would provide all original loan documentation to MRS
relating to the purchased loans; and (c) misrepresented that the loans sold to MRS under the MLPA
consisted of first lien mortgage loans that had been made and serviced in full compliance with all
applicable law.
345. Defendants knew, at the time those representations were made, that a significant
percentage of the loans included in the portfolio sold to MRS were deficiency claims, not first lien
mortgages, and that the Defendants’ servicing of the loans had violated federal, state, and local
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laws.
346. Defendants knew, from inception of the negotiations, that their intention was to
dump on MRS a massive volume of liabilities that Defendants had incurred as a result of their
deliberate failure to comply with state and federal law concerning residential mortgage loans.
347. From February 2009 until November 2010, Guerrero and others repeatedly
misrepresented to Plaintiffs that Defendants were in the process of compiling complete servicing
data for the MLPA portfolio of loans. Following receipt of the Corrupted List, Schneider had
multiple conversations and exchanges of emails with representatives of Chase regarding the
absence of information identifying borrowers and collateral. Each time Schneider raised the
subject, he was assured that Defendants were in the process of assembling it and that the problem
was converting information from Washington Mutual’s system. In fact, as MRS later learned,
Defendants knew it could not provide a complete Exhibit A; they never provided to MRS an
Exhibit A as required by the MLPA; and is still unknown whether any of the loans purportedly
348. Defendants, by their statements, acts, omissions and conduct, also knowingly made
false representations to Borrowers, county recording offices, and Courts including Bankruptcy
349. But for the false statements made by the Defendants, S&A and 1st Fidelity would
have not have been involved in legal disputes and liabilities as to loans purchased from Chase.
350. But for the false assertions made to Borrowers, S&A and 1st Fidelity would have
351. But for the false assurances made by the Defendants, MRS would never have signed
the MLPA and invested the enormous personnel time required to uncover the information that
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Plaintiffs’ long-standing business relationship with Defendants and the apparent sincerity of the
353. As a result of Defendants’ fraudulent conduct, MRS has incurred and continues to
WHEREFORE, 1ST Fidelity, S&A, and MRS demand judgment against Chase in an
amount to be proven at trial, and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable,
including pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and the costs of this suit.
355. Defendants have, by their statements, acts, omissions and conduct, at the very least
made negligent misrepresentations to MRS about their ability and intention to provide a proper
356. Defendants had exclusive knowledge of the material facts relating to the loans sold
to MRS under the MLPA and whether or not Defendants had originated and serviced those loans
357. Defendants knew that MRS could not possibly obtain the facts concerning the
purchased loans prior to signing the MLPA and that, thereafter, MRS could only obtain those facts
358. Defendants had a duty to be honest and forthright with MRS and to not
negligently misrepresent the condition or nature of the collateral and the quality of the loans.
359. Defendants knew that there were pervasive violations of federal, state and local
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misrepresentations and Defendants are liable to MRS for all of the damages resulting therefrom.
and such other and further relief as may be just, proper and allowable, including pre-judgment and
362. Plaintiffs repeat the allegations heretofore stated as though fully set forth here.
365. More specifically, Defendants have broken those promises by (a) sending debt
forgiveness letters to borrowers whose loans had been sold to Plaintiffs; (b) recording lien releases
of liens that had been transferred to the Plaintiffs; and (c) falsely informing borrowers, insurance
companies, collection agencies and others, that Defendants own loans when, in fact, the loans had
366. Defendants’ statements and filings have destroyed or impaired the validity of
Plaintiffs’ title to the loans and the collateral securing the loans and have prevented Plaintiffs from
367. As more specifically alleged above, Plaintiffs paid Defendants for the loans and
promises in undertaking the liability and costs including servicing costs on the loans at issue.
369. As more specifically stated in the general allegations, Plaintiffs' reliance was
370. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' acts as alleged above, Plaintiffs
have been damaged in an amount to be proven at trial of no less than $ 300 million.
371. Defendants caused borrowers, whose loans Plaintiffs had purchased, to cease
making payments on the loans and to threaten to take, or to take, legal action against the Plaintiffs
372. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiffs have incurred,
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs pray for judgment against Defendants for damages in an amount
to be determined at trial, for pre-judgment interest on any recovery by Plaintiff, for expenses of
suit incurred herewith; for reasonable attorney's fees; and for such other relief as the court may
374. At all relevant times, Plaintiffs were “persons” within the meaning of RICO, 18
U.S.C. § 1961(3), and Plaintiffs were each a “person injured in his or her business or property by
375. At all relevant times, Defendants were “persons” within the meaning of RICO, 18
§§ 1961(3) and 1962(c), and were employed by or associated with an “enterprise” within the
376. The Defendants and their officers and employees formed an enterprise as described
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in 18 U.S.C.§ 1962(c) which included the Monitor, his Professionals, Nationwide Title Clearing,
other title clearing agencies, and various third party debt collection agencies that the Defendants
utilized in connection with the scheme alleged above. The Enterprise is separate from the ongoing
business of Defendants and the aiders and abettors to the Scheme. Defendants are not the entire
Enterprise but are perpetrators of the alleged racketeering activity of the Enterprise
377. The victims of the RICO fraud are Plaintiffs as well as other note sale investors
who purchased loans from Defendants and whose liens were improperly released, including B&B
Funding, Ginsburg Family Trust, Mortgage First LLC, West Coast Capital and Secured Equity
Financial. In addition, consumer borrowers and blighted communities were injured by not
receiving the relief to which they were entitled under the Lender Settlements. The FDIC has been
injured in that it paid claims to Defendants on loans that were subsequently housed, collected upon,
and released. The FHA was injured in that loans on which Defendants made claims, loans for
which the FHA settled, were likely housed in RCV1 as debt for further collection. The state
Attorney Generals and federal government were injured in that the consumer relief and protection
they sought has not been remedied but continues through Defendants’ scheme.
378. At all relevant times, Defendants conducted and participated in the conduct of the
enterprise’s affairs through a “pattern of racketeering activity” within the meaning of RICO, to
defraud the governmental entities as well as the Plaintiffs. 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5), 18 U.S.C. §
379. The predicate acts include mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1341, wire fraud
FDCPA, and obstruction of justice through acts to corrupt Defendants’ compliance with the Lender
Settlements in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1503. The Defendants used the wires and mails to make
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false communications with and misrepresentations to victims of the scheme including Plaintiffs,
borrowers, municipalities, the States and the DOJ, as set forth above
380. The predicate acts are part of a larger effort by Defendants to relieve themselves of
their legal obligations and liabilities and to pave the way to being able to seek improper credits
under the Lender Settlements by defrauding Plaintiffs, homeowners, municipalities and others who
were to receive the benefits of federally related loan servicing, the purchased loans and the relief
381. The RICO scheme began in 2000 and continues to date by intentional and secretive
violations of servicing standards to save money and inconvenience, off-loading non-serviced loans
to unsuspecting third parties to continue to avoid federal scrutiny, improperly releasing liens and
collecting on loans belonging to Plaintiffs, and other violations of the Lender Settlements, all to
avoid compliance with federal and state and Lender Settlement servicing standards.
382. Each of the Defendants’ employees described above, the Monitor, his
Professionals, title companies and collection agencies knowingly conspired to commit and/or
aided and abetted the commission of two or more acts of racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C.
Sec. 1962(d). As set forth above, Defendants devised the scheme to avoid the cost and
inconvenience of servicing standards and the terms and conditions of the Lender Settlements. The
Monitor and his Professionals participated in the scheme in order to receive lucrative payments
and prestige under the Lender Settlements by Defendants and the other participating Servicers.
The title companies and collection agencies participated in the scheme to receive continued
employment and profits by receiving payment for continuing the fraudulent release of liens and
activity” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5). These acts allowed Defendants to avoid
compliance with federal and state servicing standards, and compliance with their legal obligations
under the consumer relief provisions of the Lender Settlements, without expending any money or
Plaintiffs have incurred and will continue to incur damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
385. Defendants’ RICO conspiracy has impacted the Plaintiffs in, inter alia, the
following ways:
(a) Plaintiffs have lost revenue from borrowers who ceased making payments, or disputed
the Plaintiffs’ right to collect payments or initiate foreclosure proceedings, after the borrowers
received Forgiveness Letters from, or had liens on the subject properties improperly released by,
the Defendants.
(b) Plaintiffs have lost revenue because Defendants sent correspondence to borrowers
whose loans had been sold to the Plaintiffs misrepresenting that Defendants or the collection
agency working for the Defendants owned the loans at issue and/or was the authorized servicer for
the loans at issue and that the borrowers should make payments to Defendants.
(c) Plaintiffs have lost revenue as a result of Defendants’ wrongful retention of payments
(d) Plaintiffs have lost revenue due to Real Estate Tax Foreclosure Sales due to Defendants
(e) Plaintiffs have lost revenue due to Homeowners Association Foreclosure Sales due to
(f) Plaintiffs have lost revenue due to borrowers whose loans were sold to Plaintiffs when
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(g) Defendants’ acts of mail and wire fraud have harmed Plaintiffs’ reputation and
relationship with borrowers, resulting in the destruction of Plaintiffs’ successful business model,
which converted non-performing loans into sustainable payment plans that provided substantial
streams of income to the Plaintiffs while enabling many borrowers to keep their homes.
(h) Defendants’ acts of mail and wire fraud have exposed Plaintiffs to legal liability for
Defendants’ failure to deter community blight, comply with consumer protection laws and
otherwise fulfill their servicing obligations, the scope of which is not yet ascertainable.
(i) Plaintiffs have lost the benefit of the bargain under loans purchased from Defendants as
a result of Defendants’ approval of short sales on properties on which Plaintiffs held the mortgages.
386. Pursuant to RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c) and 18 U.S.C. § 1964(d), Plaintiffs are
entitled to recover from Defendants treble damages plus costs and attorneys’ fees.
387. Defendants regularly and repeatedly used interstate mail and wires, to defraud the
parties to the Servicer Participation Agreements, NMSA Consent Judgment, the RMBS
Settlement, the Plaintiffs, and the borrowers whose loans had been sold to the Plaintiffs.
388. The acts alleged were related to each other by virtue of common participants,
common victims, a common method of commission, and the common purpose and common result
of evading Defendants’ obligations to the Plaintiffs, evading Defendants’ obligations under federal
and state servicing requirements and anti-blight laws, allowing Defendants to fraudulently receive
HAMP incentive payments and fraudulently purport to satisfy the consumer relief provisions of
1. On the first claim, awarding Plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages in the
2. On the second claim, awarding S&A compensatory and punitive damages for breach
of contract.
3. On the third claim, awarding 1st Fidelity compensatory and punitive damages for breach
of contract.
4. On the fourth claim, awarding Plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages for
conversion.
5. On the fifth claim, awarding plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages for tortious
6. On the sixth claim, awarding Plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages for fraud
7. On the seventh claim, awarding MRS compensatory and punitive damages for
negligent misrepresentation.
9. On the ninth claim, awarding Plaintiffs treble damages for Defendants’ violation of
And such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.
1 S&A loans & 1st Fidelity loans purchased from the Defendants
2 Master Mortgage Loan Sale Agreement between S&A and Defendants
3 Master Mortgage Loan Sale Agreement between 1st Fidelity and Defendants
4 Mortgage Loan Purchase Agreement between MRS and Chase Home Finance
5 Forgiveness Letters that the Defendants sent to borrowers whose loans Defendants
had previously sold to S&A.
6 Forgiveness Letters that the Defendants sent to borrowers whose loans Defendants
had previously sold to 1st Fidelity
7 December 5, 2012 letters sent by Defendants to Schneider offering to buy back over
20 mortgages that had been sold to Plaintiffs and, thereafter, forgiven by Chase.
8 September 13, 2012 letter sent by Defendants to the Warwicks extinguishing the
second mortgage and canceling the debt in the amount of $167,003.51 which
mortgage and debt Defendants had sold to 1st Fidelity 34 months earlier.
9 Statement by an investigator for the State of Maryland questioning “whether Chase
is somehow getting credit from a write off they never actually have to honor.”
10 January 9, 2014 answer filed by the Ahmeds in the foreclosure action in which they
asserted as a defense that the loan was used by Chase to satisfy the consumer relief
requirements in the NMSA Consent Judgment.
11 September 13, 2012 debt forgiveness letter sent by Chase to Hancock-Roberts,
cancelling a debt of $28,209.15 as a result of the NMSA Consent Judgment even
though the debt had previously been sold to 1st Fidelity.
12 Known Lien Releases to Schneider Entities by Defendants