by Justin L. Seekamp
DocX, considered by many as one of the largest companies that provided home foreclosure services to mortgage lending banks and institutions across the nation has been indicted by a grand jury in Missouri. Details of the indictment were discussed in a recent article from the New York Times and the entire story can be found here. The article details allegations that DocX “mass-produced fraudulent signatures on notarized real estate documents” and that doing so constituted forgery.
The indictment from the Missouri grand jury accused DocX of 136 counts of forgery in its preparation of documents used to foreclose financially strained homeowners from their homes. Additionally, DocX’s founder and former president, Lorraine O. Brown, was also indicted on these same charges. Details also revealed that DocX, a unit of Jacksonville, Florida’s Lender Processing Services, executed and notarized millions of mortgage documents for big banks and loan servicers over the years. Lender Processing Services shuttered its doors in April of 2010 amid similar evidence that emerged that forgery of these types of documents had occurred, a practice commonly referred to as “robo-signing.” If Ms. Brown is convicted on the charges against her, Ms. Brown could face up to seven years in prison for each forgery count and DocX stands to be fined up to $10,000.00 for each forgery conviction. Clearly, the chances of serious repercussions are at stake in this situation.
Evidence of pervasive mortgage foreclosure proprieties is nothing new but, state officials have most often relied upon civil suits against such institutions and the law firms that filed the fraudulent documents. For example, in Nevada, individuals have been charged with notary fraud but, beyond that matter, criminal charges, like the indictment here from Missouri, that have arisen from foreclosure practices are not very common. DocX and Lorraine Brown’s indictment is only one of the most recent legal actions filed against DocX and its parent company Lender Processing Services. In August of 2011, American Home Mortgage Servicing, another of the large U.S. mortgage servicers, sued Lender Processing and contended that more than 30,000 residential mortgages that Lender Processing had handled contained, “improper execution, notarization, and recording of assignments of mortgage.” Lender Processing’s DocX unit had executed these documents for American Home from April 2008 through November 2009, as was stated in the lawsuit.
It seems like there continues to be confusion and chaos in the mortgage and foreclosure spheres. But, as always, should you be served with foreclosure paperwork and are looking for someone to fight for your rights as a homeowner, then seeking representation from a qualified and experienced Florida foreclosure attorney may be the best way to do so.
