Professional Documents
Culture Documents
http://www.propublica.org/article/gmac-mortgage-whistleblowe...
1 of 4
8/1/11 9:22 AM
http://www.propublica.org/article/gmac-mortgage-whistleblowe...
2 of 4
8/1/11 9:22 AM
http://www.propublica.org/article/gmac-mortgage-whistleblowe...
day [9], a revelation that helped kick off the scandal. According to a former employee and a consumer
attorney, Stephan still works at GMAC, though he has been transferred to a different unit.
GMAC, which is still majority owned by the government, said it is still pursuing foreclosures based on
assignments signed by Stephan.
"There is no reason or requirement to 'withdraw' valid assignments of mortgage that happened to have been
signed by Mr. Stephan," said GMAC spokeswoman Proia, because there's "no requirement that [the
assignment] be signed by a person with knowledge of any particular facts." All that mattered, she said, was
that the signer had received the proper authority.
Banks have little reason to worry about their documents being challenged, since homeowners rarely contest
foreclosure actions. In a filing with the New Jersey Supreme Court, GMAC said that of the more than 4,000
foreclosures it has handled in the state only about 4 percent of homeowners had contested the action.
When homeowners do challenge banks' documentation for foreclosures, they can have success. Late last
week, the Vermont Supreme Court threw out a foreclosure case handled by GMAC due, in part, to a flawed
assignment document signed by Stephan.
"It is neither irrational nor wasteful to expect the foreclosing party be actually in possession of its claimed
interest," the court said [10], "and have the proper supporting documentation in hand when filing suit."
Since last fall, GMAC has added staff, increased training and added new procedures, said Proia. But some of
those new hires have come from firms themselves accused of filing false foreclosure documents.
One manager at GMAC, Kevin Crecco, moved there from a position at the Law Offices of David Stern in
Florida after the firm drew scrutiny from the state's attorney general for allegedly filing forged documents.
Stern's office, once among Florida's biggest foreclosure law firms and labeled a "foreclosure mill" by critics,
ceased operations earlier this year.
An internal organization chart [11] from this spring for GMAC's foreclosure department lists Crecco as a
manager overseeing roughly two dozen employees. GMAC declined to make Crecco available for an
interview. He hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing.
Mortgage servicers like GMAC continue to be set up like assembly lines, with members of its "Document
Execution" team responsible for signing documents. The organizational chart shows two "Document
Execution" teams of 13 employees each.
The employees are tasked with, among other things, signing affidavits attesting to the accuracy of the basic
facts of the loan, such as the mortgage amount, outstanding fees, etc. Affidavits are a necessary step to
foreclosure in many states where banks have to go to court to seize a home.
During the robo-signing scandal, GMAC admitted that employees signing affidavits didn't verify the
underlying facts. The bank says it has fixed the problems.
But consumer attorneys said that while GMAC's processes have improved, they haven't corrected basic flaws
with their process.
Cox, the attorney who questioned Stephan last year as part of a foreclosure case, said employees on the
"Document Execution" team still aren't truly checking the accuracy of the underlying information. Rather
than digging for the original documents, employees on the team look at the numbers given by a GMAC
3 of 4
8/1/11 9:22 AM
http://www.propublica.org/article/gmac-mortgage-whistleblowe...
1. http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/entities/236-gmac-now-ally-financial
2. http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/228207-internal-loan-document
3. http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/228208-assignment-of-mortgage
4. http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6253/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=1884
5. http://4closurefraud.org/
6. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/18/us-foreclosure-banks-idUSTRE76H5XX20110718
7. http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/whos-who-in-the-foreclosure-scandal-a-primer-on-the-players
8. http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/gmacs-robo-signers-draw-concerns-about-faulty-process-mistakenforeclosures
9. http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/june-2010-deposition-by-jeffrey-stephan-a-gmac-employee
10. http://abigailcfield.com/?page_id=174
11. http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/228206-gmac-organizational-chart
4 of 4
8/1/11 9:22 AM