NY’s AG gets $1.9M as foreclosures rise
By CATHERINE CURAN,
Last Updated: 11:35 PM, February 2, 2013
Posted: 9:51 PM, February 2, 2013
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While foreclosures nationally fell 3 percent last year, New York City filings climbed 19 percent, or 13,116 properties, according to a new report.

The outer boroughs were the hardest hit, with Queens seeing a 164 percent rise year-over-year and Staten Island rising 19 percent over the same time frame, according to RealtyTrac, which expects another spike this year.

As the new numbers were released, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a paltry $1.9 million settlement deal with robosigning giant Lender Processing Services.

Put another way, LPS, which earned operating income of $290 million in 2011 on revenues of $2.1 billion, has to pay a penalty roughly equal to the average sale price of a Manhattan apartment — for misdeeds affecting New Yorkers statewide. LPS shares rose 1.64, to $24.04, Thursday on the news.

The $1.9 million is New York’s portion of a $121 million multistate deal with LPS and its subsidiaries, LPS Default Solutions and DocX, to settle for misdeeds (including robosigning), overhaul its business and fix mistakes.

Foreclosure experts called the payment stunningly inadequate and noted that faulty documents created by LPS and other firms in the past are still appearing in foreclosure cases.

“It looks like a big number, but it’s truly a failing for the people in New York,” said foreclosure defense attorney Linda Tirelli. “I continue to find these documents every day.”

A source with knowledge of the settlement said the penalties were based on how many documents generated by LPS existed in each state, plus fees.

Experts said the settlement appears to fall far short of addressing all the documents created or the enduring damage done to America’s system of land records. In November, the Department of Justice announced that former DocX President Lorraine Brown admitted participation in “a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage-related documents with property recorders’ offices throughout the United States.”

Schneiderman's corrupt crew
Last Updated: 9:01 AM, October 22, 2010
Posted: 10:54 PM, October 21, 2010
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State Inspector General Joseph Fisch yesterday referred to state and federal prosecutors his findings regard ing last year's eye-poppingly corrupt Aqueduct racino deal -- in the process undercutting any reasonable case for the election of state Sen. Eric Schneiderman as attorney general Nov. 2.

Fisch's 308-page report excoriates state Senate Democratic leaders John Sampson and Malcolm Smith, plus Sen. Eric Adams and Senate Chief of Staff Angelo Aponte.

And self-styled champion of reform Schneiderman is thick as thieves with the Senate Democratic leadership -- of which, as deputy majority leader for policy, he is an integral part.

He was part and parcel of the deal that installed Sampson, Smith and Pedro Espada as the Senate's supreme leaders and made Aponte its chief political appointee. Indeed, he's as tight as anyone can be with the chamber's leadership.

So where was he when -- in Fisch's words -- "our state leaders abdicated their public duty, failed to impose ethical standards and focused on political gain at a cost of millions to New Yorkers"?

Out for a long lunch, no doubt.

Fisch alleges that the Senate leadership wired the bid of its favored vendor, Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG),

by leaking confidential information about competing bids to AEG.

Whereupon AEG shelled out tens of thousands in contributions to Senate Democrats as well as to the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network (to which, it so happens, Schneiderman has promised its own "annex" in the AG's office if he's elected).

There's more -- much more -- and Fisch has forwarded it all to Manhattan DA Cy Vance and US Attorney Preet Bharara for possible prosecution.

The AEG deal unraveled after the Lottery Division deemed the firm "unlicensable." Ultimately, the agency picked Genting New York to run the video casino.

Gov. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also had a hand in the debacle, of course. But the bulk of the chicanery was in the Senate, according to Fisch.

So Senate Democrats, who run the joint, need to pay a price for that next month.

That goes for Schneiderman, too.

By contrast, his opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, is unencumbered by ties to Albany's business-as-usual bunch.

The choice for New York's chief law-enforcement officer couldn't be more vital -- or clear.