Foreclosure fraud investigations came from hard work of consumer advocates

Demanding foreclosure accountability

Michael Redman and Lisa Epstein didn’t take their foreclosure cases sitting down – they fought back, and fought back hard. Now, in part due to their hard work and tireless advocacy, the Florida Attorney General’s office has launched investigations into four of the largest foreclosure plaintiff’s firms in Florida.

Epstein and Redman had somewhat different motives for taking up the fight. Epstein started as a way of saving her own home, but soon found that the problem went much deeper than she imagined:

Initially, we were mortified, outraged and grieving over the eviction of millions of Americans from the only home that they had. Shelter was chosen as the basis for a Wall Street gamble. Wall Street lost and got bailed out while the average family was evicted onto the streets.

For Redman, the house he fought for wasn’t even his own – it belonged to his fianceé. He started to review various court documents to compare the “evidence” submitted by the banks – and noticed something very suspicious: I began noticing patterns of the same people signing assignments [of mortgage] for 20 different banks but their signatures never matched. In other words, the documents were faked.

Providing much-needed information for non-lawyers

Both Redmond and Epstein have extremely well-read websites that are a key resource for anyone trying to fight a Florida foreclosure: Epstein at Foreclosure Hamlet and Redmond at 4closurefraud.org.

My friend and colleague Lynn Szymoniak heaped praise upon them both:

It is strange, but they have the most ready and easy to access information for defense lawyers. They are a huge resource tool for us. On their sites, I can find depositions that would take me hours to get. Some of the most helpful information comes from them.

Right now, the problems plaguing our foreclosure cases are very well known to foreclosure lawyers – but all too few non-lawyers know what’s really happening out there. People like Lisa and Mike make it possible for non-lawyers to learn about, and understand, why our judicial system is so screwed up when it comes to foreclosures. We need about a thousand more just like them.