OCCUPIERS ESCALATE DIRECT ACTIONS FOR L.A. FAMILIES FACING FORECLOSURE BY FORECLOSURE KING DEUTSCHE BANK
German bank’s refusal to help East L.A. family brings participation by the Occupy Movement to bring attention to bank's foreclosure practices affecting tens of thousands of families in the U.S.A.
November 29, 2012
Los Angeles - After residing in East L.A. for 15 years, the Lucero family faces eviction by LA County Sheriffs following a questionable foreclosure by Deutsche Bank. The Luceros made payments towards a loan modification on time, but Deutsche Bank refuses to honor it and help the family stay in their home. Homeowner Margarita Lucero explains, “I just want to keep my home and I want the bank to accept the payment plan they promised me. I want to keep my family together.”
The Lucero family came to Occupy Fights Foreclosures, a homeowners advocacy group fighting foreclosures, asking for assistance in what she describe as "wrongful foreclosure and eviction". OFF and activists from Occupy LA and Occupy Whittier took action and mobilized to protect the family by occupying the Lucero residence.
"We contacted top Deutsche Bank executives in New York to try to get help but thus far they have been unwilling to help, they claim that they are only the trustees," says Carlos Marroquin. Deutsche Bank didn’t just act as a trustee that — coincidentally, it seems — they are actively involved in pushing the foreclosure process, court proceedings, auctions, sales and trading properties. "Deutsche Bank has referred us to their servicer Carrington Mortgage and refuses to take responsibility for the eviction." The German bank is responsible for tens of thousands of foreclosures and evictions here in the United States and has repeatedly broken U.S. foreclosures laws by short-cutting the process, forging documents, and ignoring U.S. judges' orders. Since Occupy has begun defending the Lucero home more victimized homeowners have come forward seeking help from what they are calling "wrongful foreclosure by Deutsche Bank." The German bank is berated on the internet as “America’s Foreclosure King.”
According to real estate expert Steve Dilbert, “some 85 to 90 percent of all outstanding mortgages in the USA are ultimately controlled by four banks, either as trustees or owners of a trust company. Deutsche Bank is one of the four.” Criticized publicly for his company’s role in the foreclosures, former Deutsche-Bank CEO Josef Ackermann responded: “It’s painful to look at these houses.”
Deutsche Bank as Trustees also played a central role in the profitable boom in high-risk mortgages that were marketed predatorily to people. The Countrywide Financial Corporation, which approved risky mortgages for $97.2 billion from 2005 to 2007, was the biggest provider of these mortgages in the United States. According to the study by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, Deutsche Bank was one of Countrywide’s biggest financiers.
The German bank is currently facing several lawsuits by the U.S. Government and the City of Los Angeles for their participation in fraud and blight conditions in Los Angeles. They are now under fire from Occupy Los Angeles. Occupy is committed to standing with Deutsche Bank's victims and all homeowners fighting foreclosure fraud.
