Synopsis

Synopsis

In Bailout Conspiracy: They Stole Your Money, Frank Latell shares his true crime experience with a crook, a lawyer and a giant. Although his story is laced with humor, this is no joke because the participants are committing fraud and will continue to get away with it, especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

A single man’s fight for justice against a corrupt system begins in April 2010. Latell, who served in the Navy’s Seabees, later became an engineer and contractor. In addition to designing and building many homes, Latell and his wife also owned 2 apartment complexes in Florida. During the recession, when wanting to make a loan modification, little did he realize that he would be caught in a tug-of-war with individuals and institutions who only wanted to steal taxpayer money.

The crook is the loan servicer Peter Triano, the lawyer foreclosure attorney Lawrence Rochefort and the giant, Fannie Mae.

The scheme: Triano, VP of Sovereign/Santander Bank, managed a $300 million portfolio, 35 to 50 loans, of non-performing commercial real estate of which one-half were Fannie Mae loans. Triano told Latell that he could only make a loan modification if he defaulted – Latell did. Meanwhile, while in the midst of good faith negotiations, Rochefort, who represented Fannie Mae, secretly started foreclosure proceedings on Latell. Triano and Rochefort’s next step was get a court judgment in as large an amount as possible to “prove” a “loss” to Fannie Mae and to allow Fannie Mae to be reimbursed by the bailout provided by the Housing Economic and Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA).

In other words, Fannie Mae was given the option to hide relevant discovery if it did not seek a deficiency against Latell. Of course, since Fannie Mae knew it would not suffer any losses regardless – since it was going to be reimbursed for its ‘imaginary losses’ from the U.S. taxpayer – this was no ‘penalty’ at all.

The profit numbers are staggering: Fannie Mae made a $1,454,637.44 profit thanks to the Government bailout of $2,531,705.49.

Sovereign/Santander Bank, Fannie Mae’s loan servicer, and Rochefort, quickly made a $2,234,800.00 profit with no monetary investment other than to purchase Latell’s properties at their foreclosure sale.

After being bullied by Rochefort and his bank, Latell was humiliated, frustrated and angry.

“Fatto un torto,” said Latell. “Peter Triano, the Fannie Mae loan servicer and foreclosure attorney, Lawrence Rochefort, have all done me wrong and thinking back to my Italian heritage, I imagined taking revenge.

“Being that I thought murder would not go well with God, I imagined a gunshot in each of Triano’s knees and one elbow would be suitable. I thought that leaving one good arm would be justified, in that it would not be fair for someone else to have to wipe his stronzo!”

Told in an honest, interesting and factual timeline, included at the end of certain chapters are documents substantiating Latell’s case.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – well not if you’re an ‘uomo ordinario,’ ordinary man, like Latell. Many times throughout the process, he would run into brick walls. He asked a FNMA representative would they rather foreclose and come after him personally for a $2,000,000 deficiency, which includes the $1,100,000 plus per diem in fees and penalties, than simply reinstate the loan and not suffer loss of principal? The answer: Yes.

Then during testimony, the question was asked to Triano, under oath: “So your formal testimony is the bank lost money on these properties, it gained nothing by virtue of doing a foreclosure?” Triano: “It gained nothing.”

Additionally, Latell’s financial officer died suspiciously; a subsequent complaint was thrown out because of the financial officer’s failure to testify.

Frustrated, Latell’s smoking gun didn’t reveal itself in a courtroom but in a dream. Even so, from Peter Triano’s portfolio, established through his resume and deposition, the taxpayer most likely got stuck for well over $100 million dollars through the Sovereign/Santander Bank servicing of Fannie Mae loans in southwest Florida. Now multiply this by other areas of America serviced by Sovereign/Santander Bank and the number of agencies servicing Fannie Mae loans.

The extent of this scheme, is in the billions of taxpayer dollars; Fannie Mae was bailed out $116,149,000,000.

Latell and his wife kept the exact amount of what the loan payments were each month in a separate account, so all missed loan payments could be paid in full once the modifications were granted. After the defaults, they were never given any modification offers and were even denied the right to reinstate the loans. The $2.3 million in obligations were transmogrified into nearly $3.9 million in judgments through the foreclosure process; the difference (so-called losses) were reimbursed by the federal government. The properties then appear to have been sold for a profit of an additional $2.3 million.

Now you understand. If the loans were reinstated, Latell would have paid the $2.3 million that was owed. By not allowing a reinstatement, much greater profits could be generated. Is this what Congress intended? Through the Housing Economic and Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), the U.S. Government opened the door to let the thieves come in.