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Health & Fitness

Speak Up Guest - FRM Victims

Why do government Official enjoy Immunity after destroying so many lives? The Penalty of a nice Pension seems more than unjust. Is there any Justice for the FRM Victims?

On November 9, 2009, FRM, a mortgage broker licensed by the NH Banking Commission and its mortgage servicer, CL&M ceased operating. 
Since that time, numerous significant NH State regulatory failures have
been identified. Additionally, a political scheme by the Commissioner of the NH Banking Department intending to shift the blame away from both the banking commission and himself, resulted in a second financial nightmare for the lenders. 

The Banking Department regulated and audited FRM for 20 years and never fined or revoked their license even while the banking commission’s own auditors documented 70 violations of state and federal law.  A bank attorney wrote FRM “has illustrated a willingness to forgo the laws and rules of NH whenever they see fit” in a Show Cause Order for License Revocation that never concluded. No one knows why.   

The Commissioner’s two brothers were involved in FRM and one of his best friend’s law firm represented FRM. Within eleven (11) days of FRM closing, the NH AG and Banking Department placed FRM into Chapter 7, involuntary bankruptcy without examining lender mortgage documents, or assessing company assets. This one action proved to be a second financial victimization to the lenders that was more significant than the original crime.When FRM and CL&M closed their own door, the Banking Commissioner immediately declared FRM was a Ponzi scheme and a securities matter and directed lender/victims to the NH Securities Bureau.

The federal bankruptcy trustee immediately sued the FRM lenders declaring notes and mortgages they funded, in their name, filed in county courthouses, were property of the bankrupt estate.  He even demanded the equivalent amount of the mortgage principle and all interest paid by borrower to lender to be paid to the estate doubling the loss!  
In fear of losing whatever assets they had remaining to the bankruptcy estate, almost all lender/victims settled the suit with the trustee by paying cash to the estate, and/or forfeiting their mortgages, and/or their claim on the estate.  The one lender who did decide to fight the suit, spent 3 years in litigation and over $100,000 in legal fees.  The federal judge declared the mortgages were the property of the lender.The mortgages were not securities!
To date, the trustee (Steven Notinger. His law firm is Donches and Notinger.) has brought into the estate almost $5,000,000 which has been mostly collected from
lender/victim settlements.  FRM had hardly any assets.  The trustee hired his own law firm to administer the case and the firm has billed the estate $2,500,000, or half of what has been collected.  The trustee is not a government employee.  He is a contractor and is paid a 3% bonus of all monies he has brought into the estate at the end.
So, not only is he collecting cash payments from lender/victims to settle their law suit, the trustee is also selling mortgages/foreclosed properties at rock bottom prices.  The bankruptcy trustee’s job is to liquidate the estate, not take care of the creditors as the trustee’s law firm partner and wife said to the federal judge.  Through legislative hearings, it was learned the NH AG had received at least three criminal complaints in the last 4 years of FRM’s existence: two criminal complaints were from a former NH Assistant AG and a former FRM employee. The AG never followed up or investigated these complaints.  The NH AG’s Consumer Protection Bureau received and forwarded six consumer complaints to the Bank Department.  The same NH AG attorney who received the complaints also wrote the AG’s report on FRM declaring FRM was a
securities matter. To support his position he hired a Boston law firm to determine if the mortgages that FRM brokered were securities or not. 

   The hired law firm supported the AG’s position by testifying that the mortgages were securities.  When asked if anyone had ever looked at any FRM brokered mortgages, he said “NO”. The Director of the NH Bureau of Securities resigned as a “whistle blower” alleging a “cover up” or “stonewalling” of information regarding FRM by the Governor’s administration.  He believed this was so pervasive that he wrote a book about it!
  Cover Up, Mark Connolly.

The NH Secretary of State, who is responsible for the Bureau of Securities, ordered an independent investigation, the Chandler Findings of Fact in the FRM Matter.  Chandler stated, “… mistakes that rose to level of failure by state government.  The state had the necessary tools and resources at its disposal to perform their statutory duty and adequately protect the consumer, and failed to do so.  When needed to reach out and take
responsible action, agencies of the state with direct oversight responsibility, became timid, hid behind technicalities, and failed to exercise their full statutory authority.  …Our citizens  have every right to expect exemplary conduct at every level of our state government.”  The bankruptcy judge approved claims submitted by the NH AG’s Office on behalf of the Banking Department for an audit expense and penalty assessed, both occurring after FRM closed for $100,000 and the Banking Department submitted the same claim to an insurance company.  The judge also approved a claim submitted by the NH Department of Revenue of $97,000 for back taxes, interest, and penalties.  Both of these claims will be paid with money collected by the trustee from the lender/victims.
   The lender/victims have a bill,
SB180, before the NH legislature for a small percentage of their losses. The bill will be funded by fine monies and settlement monies collected from the industries regulated by the state and not general fund taxpayer monies. Farah, FRM, and Dodge, CL&M, operated a mortgage brokerage and servicing companies in Meredith, and embezzled lender and borrower money from the CL&M servicing accounts.  They both plead guilty to federal wire fraud and Farah mail fraud and are serving a prison sentences of 16 and 6 years respectively.

More Details come out in this Interview  Here On Speak up TV


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