Crimes, Various and Sundry

17Mar/110

Crimes, Various and Sundry

I can't recall which twitterer brought this delightful headline to my attention, but his response was "Duh."

Deputy: Strip Search Finds Crack Between Buttocks

This one seems more certainly aware of the ludicrousness:

Congratulations! It's a pharmacy!

I've got some more information on the OTS and related failures, that I'll be taking up soon . . . maybe tomorrow. This is related.

It is high-time to call attention to Fannie Mae’s dastardly practice of NOT disclosing existing inspections and reports to buyers of their REO properties. Fannie Mae is knowingly breaking real estate law and asking it’s REO listing agents to do so as well.

Pretend you buying a foreclosed property owned by Fannie Mae. The listing agent sends you over a package of disclosures (or most of them anyway). They are also required to send over all inspections and reports from any previous escrows. But, they don’t and they won’t.

But you know how serious the authorities are when it comes to massive fraud:

The founder of Germantown-based AmeriDebt has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, admitting that he concealed assets during court proceedings against the now-defunct debt counseling company.

Prosecutors alleged that Andris Pukke deliberately transferred millions of dollars in assets to his father, estranged wife and girlfriend in order to conceal them from authorities after AmeriDebt was accused of cheating debtors.

The company was founded in 1996 to help clients lower payments and receive counseling. It became one of the country's largest debt counseling services before the Federal Trade Commission claimed in a 2003 lawsuit that the company charged debtors $172 million in hidden fees, which Pukke allegedly used to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself.

A settlement with the FTC in 2006 required Pukke to turn over all assets to a $35 million restitution fund to pay back the victims.

*******

He was jailed for about a month in 2007, when U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte found him in civil contempt of court for using family and friends to hide the money.

The FTC agreed to Pukke's release after he turned over $4.5 million.

So, you see, the fraudulently obtained mortgages led to fraudulently loaned home equity loans to pay off fraudulently gotten credit card debt that led to fraudulent debt repayment schemes, and then the institutions that started the whole thing got recapitalized at public expense.

This is why there needs to be a general amnesty for illegal immigrants:

An illegal immigrant from the Philippines was arrested Thursday and charged with 17 counts of voter fraud for allegedly voting in Lake County elections since 2003.

Maria Azada, 53, of Grayslake, faces 17 felony counts of perjury, mutilation of election materials and tampering with voting machines in connection with illegal voting by a non-U.S. citizen, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security investigations in Chicago, said ICE will “aggressively investigate and bring to justice anyone who falsely claims to be a U.S. citizen so they can illegally vote.”

The investigation began in February 2009 when Azada allegedly admitted to an ICE officer during an interview for an immigration benefit that she had voted, authorities said. It is illegal for foreign nationals to vote.

The investigation revealed Azada voted nine times in primary, general and consolidated elections between 2003 and 2009, authorities said. According to the arrest warrant, she falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen on two Illinois voter registration applications.

Otherwise the very people whom we ought to want to make citizens will continue breaking the law.

Also from Illinois:

The Illinois Senate is currently debating SB1645 which would arbitrarily limit a citizen’s “right to know.” If a citizen asks more than fifteen questions per year under FOI rules (Freedom of Information Act Requests), the citizen’s requests would be characterized as a “vexatious” requests.

I wish I could limit the number of questions the government asks of me to 15 per year.

Probably worst of all:

Oh joy and rapture, Al Gore is writing another book! I know, I know. The very idea of 300 or so pages from such a scintillating wordsmith as Gore is enough to stir the soul to heights of heretofore unknown bliss, but I have better than an idea. I have a summary of the book from the author himself!