Foreclosure Defense Attorneys Roy Oppenheim and Jacquelyn K. Trask-Rahn shed light on the ramifications of Wall Street greed during the housing boom and how the improper securitization of "mortgage-backed" securities that were never mortgage-backed built a precarious house of cards that came tumbling down on the whole nation
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 26, 2011 — Occupy Wall Street adds another exhibit to the Wall Street Hall of Shame and call it Deconstructing the Black Magic of Securitized Trusts by Oppenheim Law's foreclosure defense team Roy Oppenheim and Jacquelyn Trask-Rahn.
The banks must be held accountable for their conduct on all levels
The Black Magic article will be published in Stetson Law Review's Spring 2012 issue and is posted on OppenheimLaw.com. In the article the attorneys analyze the continued failure of the banks to follow the rules, and how their fraudulent documentation involving millions of foreclosures opened the door on an even larger scandal regarding the improper securitization of "mortgage-backed" securities, that were never mortgage-backed. The article chastises a court system that has become a private collection agency for the banks, and which has seen the practice of "lore" rather than law as rules of evidence and civil procedure are blatantly disregarded in order to promote expediency rather than protecting the due process and property rights of homeowners.
The article calls for members of the legal community and implores them to protect the integrity of the judicial system through the foreclosure epidemic: "The judicial system was never meant to be evaluated by how swift justice could be dispensed or by how quickly a particular judge could dispose of cases on his or her docket. As officers of the court, both judges and attorneys are responsible for protecting the integrity of the system, ensuring that the system is never compromised solely for financial expediency."
Going viral with corporate greed and systematic fraud
Legal documents don't typically go viral, but this article caught the attention of highly influential consumer advocates and bloggers such as April Charney and Neil Garfield, who both commented on the article.
"Exceptionally well written and I am looking forward to these authors going forward to tackle the negotiable/non-negotiable debate raging right now …," consumer advocate and attorney April Charney said in an email to legal peers.
Charney is an attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and has been called the "Angel of Foreclosure Defense." She has been at the forefront of the legal fight against home foreclosures in America.
"Explicitly articulates the basic problem with foreclosures today as well as providing insight into the changing mortgage approval process," noted Garfield on his highly trafficked website Livinglies. "The authors clearly explain how the system was rigged to provide the appearance of passive entities to avoid tax consequences and in so doing ignored basic requirements of substantive law." Garfield stated that the article "is balanced and … should be used as an authoritative treatise in memos to the Court."
Are banks too large to be governed and too big to be caught?
In fact, the article has gone viral due in large part to the notion by a growing segment of the population that the banks have become too large for government to control. "We pinpoint how securitized trusts are emblematic of the problems inherent in the whole system, ranging from robo-signers to fraud-closure," said award-winning blogger and real estate attorney Oppenheim.
Homeowners finally have a fighting chance in court
The other reason that the article has gone viral is that the court system is finally paying attention to the fact that there are real defenses available to homeowners. Homeowners are now in a better position to bring a defense and fight the banks rather than just walking away. Further, when they fight, they become part of the overall protest movement.
When Oppenheim was asked what should be done with the conclusions drawn from the article, he said, "It's simple! Like all people the banks must be held accountable for their conduct on all levels. Management must go and the owners and bondholders must be responsible for allowing management to run amuck. Finally, the banks have proven to be too big and powerful to be adequately regulated and governed, taking on the illusion of being a fourth branch of our government. To restore true capitalism and democracy, they must be broken up. It's just plain common sense!"
For a copy of the executive summary or full article submitted to Stetson Law Review, the online versions of the full article are available on OppenheimLaw.com or the Executive Summary on the South Florida Law Blog at
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