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I think opinions may differ regarding whether or not that's criminal activity. See argument here: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/g3hgw/bank_of_ameri

I think opinions may differ regarding whether or not that's criminal activity. See argument here: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/g3hgw/bank_of_america_fraud_documents_released/c1knp22 http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/g3hgw/bank_of_amer... The guy who leaked this information is a former employee of BofA. Since his firing BofA has ruined his life/credit/relationships and he will probably be in court for the rest of his life. Bank of America made a lot of errors with their loan adjustments due to not updating and/or staying on top of things and subsequently forclosed a lot of homes that should not have been forclosed on. So the emails you see at the bottom of the page are BofA execs asking for the removal of certain DTN records from their Databases (from what i understand DTN's are like information records). The reason they are doing that is because they are being audited, and when the auditors look up the loans that should be tied to those DTN's and find that there is no existing DTN record, they will discount it as a system error and move on. The result of this "deleting of DTN's" was some $60B worth of fraud on the part of Bank Of America in order to cover up the mistakes they made during the housing crisis. These emails are just the first ones released, but they are clearly TO and FROM BofA execs, asking for the deletion of DTN's from the system and even a response from one exec saying, "Are you sure we can do this"??

jrockway 16y ago
Since his firing BofA has ruined his life/credit/relationships and he will probably be in court for the rest of his life. I'd really like to hear more, as I'm having trouble understanding what they could do other than take him to court for stealing documents or whatever. Specifically, how did they ruin his relationships? Do they call and hang up when his girlfriend answers? Do they call his friends claiming to be him, impersonating his voice, and saying things like, "you know, your feet really smell"?
- dsplittgerber 16y ago
  Apparently, it's this: http://bankofamericasuck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/boa10010.png http://bankofamericasuck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/boa1...
  - jrockway 16y ago
    The moral of the story is: don't be a whistleblower unless it's for some area of industry where the government gives you immunity and a few million in cash. Or, be prepared to never work in that industry again: this is whistleblowing 101, so don't be surprised. (Not that I think he is blowing the whistle on anything, really. It sounds like he was upset that he was fired so he tried to make his Outlook dump sound interesting enough to get himself some media attention. It didn't work.)
    - fleitz 16y ago
      Haha, even the guy who blew the whistle on UBS eventually got nailed to the cross and is serving federal time now. A lot of rappers talk about talking to the police, they all have great advice.
      - dlytle 16y ago
        He also withheld information from the investigators. If you blow the whistle, you're expected to give everything up, not just the stuff that doesn't make you look bad. THAT'S why they nailed him to a cross; he tried to double-deal.
        jbooth 16y ago
        And the people who were and still are committing tax fraud on a scale that blows away what any individual could do on their own? They're fine, thanks. The guy who tries to blow the whistle gets nailed, though. That's not why they nailed him to the cross, that's how they did it. The why is evidenced by the fact that they're not going after the actual tax cheats in addition to him.
  - GHFigs 16y ago
    I think there is an important part of the story missing between: "If I wasn't blocked from the position I deserved..." and "...patrol officers came into my house to accuse me of being a terrorist."
michaelcampbell 16y ago
> subsequently forclosed a lot of homes that should not have been forclosed on I don't understand this bit; what, other than non-payment of mortgage, makes a house a "should have been foreclosed on" as opposed to "should NOT have been foreclosed on"?
- Duff 16y ago
  You can only forclose on a home on which you hold a lien. One of the big problems associated with this mess is that banks couldn't figure out which bondholders owned which mortgages. The junk mortgage companies (one of which BOA acquired) were as good with record keeping as they were with underwriting. (That is, really bad) Many homeowners skated through this mess with a free house because the banks could not actually prove that they have a valid lien on the home. The downside for these folks is that they are trapped in the home, as the title isn't clean.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    It's also worth noting that while they couldn't track down the lien, they probably didn't screw up and foreclose on anyone who didn't deserve to be foreclosed upon. At least, that's what the Fed's audit (of a sample of foreclosures, not all foreclosures in the US, obviously) said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/fed-reports-finds-no-wron_n_834010.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/fed-reports-finds-n... The bondholders are the real victims in this mess.
    - Duff 16y ago
      I can't speak to the numbers, but I've read about foreclosures thrown out of court by judges in the WSJ and Economist, so it has happened -- at least in the early days of the mess.
      - yummyfajitas 16y ago
        As you noted above, a foreclosure might fail for more reasons than simply foreclosing on someone who doesn't deserve it. Every case I've read about has simply involved the bank screwing up paperwork and a real estate speculator being permitted to keep the house even though they failed to make payments.

jrockway 16y ago

Since his firing BofA has ruined his life/credit/relationships and he will probably be in court for the rest of his life. I'd really like to hear more, as I'm having trouble understanding what they could do other than take him to court for stealing documents or whatever. Specifically, how did they ruin his relationships? Do they call and hang up when his girlfriend answers? Do they call his friends claiming to be him, impersonating his voice, and saying things like, "you know, your feet really smell"?

dsplittgerber 16y ago
Apparently, it's this: http://bankofamericasuck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/boa10010.png http://bankofamericasuck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/boa1...
- jrockway 16y ago
  The moral of the story is: don't be a whistleblower unless it's for some area of industry where the government gives you immunity and a few million in cash. Or, be prepared to never work in that industry again: this is whistleblowing 101, so don't be surprised. (Not that I think he is blowing the whistle on anything, really. It sounds like he was upset that he was fired so he tried to make his Outlook dump sound interesting enough to get himself some media attention. It didn't work.)
  - fleitz 16y ago
    Haha, even the guy who blew the whistle on UBS eventually got nailed to the cross and is serving federal time now. A lot of rappers talk about talking to the police, they all have great advice.
    - dlytle 16y ago
      He also withheld information from the investigators. If you blow the whistle, you're expected to give everything up, not just the stuff that doesn't make you look bad. THAT'S why they nailed him to a cross; he tried to double-deal.
      - jbooth 16y ago
        And the people who were and still are committing tax fraud on a scale that blows away what any individual could do on their own? They're fine, thanks. The guy who tries to blow the whistle gets nailed, though. That's not why they nailed him to the cross, that's how they did it. The why is evidenced by the fact that they're not going after the actual tax cheats in addition to him.
- GHFigs 16y ago
  I think there is an important part of the story missing between: "If I wasn't blocked from the position I deserved..." and "...patrol officers came into my house to accuse me of being a terrorist."

michaelcampbell 16y ago

> subsequently forclosed a lot of homes that should not have been forclosed on I don't understand this bit; what, other than non-payment of mortgage, makes a house a "should have been foreclosed on" as opposed to "should NOT have been foreclosed on"?

Duff 16y ago
You can only forclose on a home on which you hold a lien. One of the big problems associated with this mess is that banks couldn't figure out which bondholders owned which mortgages. The junk mortgage companies (one of which BOA acquired) were as good with record keeping as they were with underwriting. (That is, really bad) Many homeowners skated through this mess with a free house because the banks could not actually prove that they have a valid lien on the home. The downside for these folks is that they are trapped in the home, as the title isn't clean.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  It's also worth noting that while they couldn't track down the lien, they probably didn't screw up and foreclose on anyone who didn't deserve to be foreclosed upon. At least, that's what the Fed's audit (of a sample of foreclosures, not all foreclosures in the US, obviously) said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/fed-reports-finds-no-wron_n_834010.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/fed-reports-finds-n... The bondholders are the real victims in this mess.
  - Duff 16y ago
    I can't speak to the numbers, but I've read about foreclosures thrown out of court by judges in the WSJ and Economist, so it has happened -- at least in the early days of the mess.
    - yummyfajitas 16y ago
      As you noted above, a foreclosure might fail for more reasons than simply foreclosing on someone who doesn't deserve it. Every case I've read about has simply involved the bank screwing up paperwork and a real estate speculator being permitted to keep the house even though they failed to make payments.