Is now debating its nomination of Steven Mnuchin to be the and this of treasury is another nomination on which the majority has walked away unfortunately from a 20 year bipartisan approach when it. Omes to the vetting process in 2009, when geithner was the first treasury nominee, a vetting issue came up in both sides of the finance committee carried the investigation out to its conclusion, but the situation has turned out quiet differently this time. There were several properties in the United States and abroad where 100 million in missing Steve Mnuchins disclosure. He failed to disclose several areas several positions. He misled the public, he misled , and he appears to have hidden key data that was requested by members of this body. Frankie, i dont believe these investigations would have been uncovered at all if not for the work of the investigations team. Themajority however, looked other way, and the vetting process was ended prematurely. So the vote on this nomination is eminent. Concerned heldst by members on this side, and im going to speak more on that today and as this debate continues. This morning, i want to focus on the substance of our concern. Madam president , the single dogest challenge is what to to reconnect working americans with this countrys economic engine . There are communities across the land, including many in my home state of oregon, where folks are just waiting for economic recovery to show up. They see their homes foreclosed, storefronts boarded up, factories shuddered. They just feel stuck. Aside from the president himself, nobody in america has greater influence over this nations Economic Future than the United States treasury secretary. That is the case, whether it is through tax reform that fights in fairness, rules thatreign rules that rein in wall street abuses, and good paying jobs here at home. And blueem red, white, jobs. The person who becomes treasury secretary has to be somebody who is ready to work on behalf of all americans, including those americans on the corners of our nation where optimism has dimmed. It Steven Mnuchins record is any indication, he simply does not fit that mold. Not even close. There is a lot to debate as the Senate Considers Steven Mnuchins nomination. Pretty significant is the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance committee is the issue of how our tax code punishes the way turning american. I will cover that this morning. In my view, the debate begins as bank. Ory of mr. Mnuchins howegins with gory details one left the industrialized process of taking people out of their homes and onto the street. It begins with the details of how mr. Mnuchin enriched himself at the same time his foreclosure machine was running. As i described, the financial crisis was a personal setback from which a lot of Americans Still have not recovered. Mnuchin, it was not exactly a setback but for mr. Mnuchin, it was not exactly a setback at all. In fact, it was the deal of a lifetime. 2009, mnuchin let investors who bought a bank that had been engulfed in crisis the year before. Mr. Mnuchin and his group got an unusually sweet deal from the buying 3. 5 billion worth of assets for 1. 6 billion. It was named one west bank and it opened up shop the very next day. As part of the sweetheart deal, mr. Mnuchin that what is known as a shared loss agreement from the federal deposit insurers corporation. Under the deal with one west, the federal Deposit Insurance Corporation made nearly 900 billion in payments to one west for back loans. Total payments from the federal Deposit Insurance Corporation of one west, including payments from loans made one west a came to 1. 22 billion it did not take long for mr. Mnuchin to roll out for the banks to be investigated. They had to concerns about one wests foreclosure practices. This, in my view, is where you see the guts of the foreclosure machine beginning to show itself. West president worked under mr. Mnuchin admitted under oath to the practice known as robo signing. This witness said she signed more than 750 foreclosure documents a week without reading them, and with no notary present during the process. That is a violation of the law. When asked how much time she spent executing each foreclosure document, ms. Johnson replied, and i quote i changed my signature considerably. E now. Ust an so no more than 30 seconds. And it was not just miss johnson p ritchie was a part of an entire team operating at this pace. Were aboutthat there 1100 document signed by her office each day, or roughly 6000 week. Amid an you have economic meltdown, our nation jobs,ng thousands of families facing an uncertain future. Mr. Manage and found a way to profit. He bought a bank at an extreme discount. He struck a deal to be reimbursed for 80 or more of the banks losses. Least one team in place that could sign 6000 ,oreclosure documents a week 6000 individuals and families thrown into the nightmare of potentially losing their homes. Were churningt out foreclosures with ruthless efficiency. Does not sound to me like that is somebody who is going to look out for the interest of working families. I want to talk a little bit about some who were victimized by one west industrial foreclosures. One of those was steve robinson, who shared her story with the atlantis settlement will atlanta sentinel. Balance ofe had a 3000, and she was trying to help her parents get to the finish line. But instead of the usual mortgage payment of 600, one west demanded over 1000. They said the home was in foreclosure and wanted 4000 in attorneys fees, but the robersons had never received a foreclosure notice. When they called one west, they got one big runaround. Gerald west was an army retiree who needed cash to finish an addition on his home. To a story in the baltimore sun, he discovered the monthly cost of a new loan was much higher then what he had expected. And that of the 3200 monthly bill, it was almost 4300. One west took over the servicing in 2009 and denied his request for modification in october 2010, a month after it had started foreclosure proceedings. He struggled with the process, and he hired an attorney who noticed something that struck him as very awed. Signatures on the foreclosure documents were fake. In fact, various foreclosure processors around maryland had been signing under the same lawyers name. But even with this discovery, madam president , of false it did not bring about the speedy modification he was hoping for. Rose and her family bought a small house in 2005, making payments on the mortgage until her brother was murdered in 2009 her income. Ly lost the next mortgage payment was two weeks late. One west said it would not forpt, and she had to apply a loan modification instead. But one west did not own the mortgage. They whirl me servicing it. They did not have the authority to grant they were only servicing it. They did not have the authority to grant the modification. She was in limbo for two years trying to modify the loan while fighting eviction. A group of protesters went to , protestings home outside and demand and answers. One west relented. Her was allowed to keep home. But it took essentially a four alarm Public Relations calamity to make that happen. Caseand jenny are another may have heard about. They sued one west in superior court and won. I will just describe a little bit from the San Francisco chronicle how their case played out. Making dozens of calls and submitting reams of paperwork to get a loan modification from one west. Another department of the bank foreclose on their home. This is especially important because this is a phenomenon known as tool tracking dual tracking. Along forg the couple months before telling them to just send in their loan modification. They said they would have an answer in 3060 days. Instead of a modification, they got an eviction notice. They were forced out of their home while she was eight months pregnant and grappling with the Breast Cancer diagnosis. Choicere left with no but to take one west to court. The legal battle stretched more than two years. So substantial that even a victory in court could not save their home. Now, these are all examples of typical mortgages, every day homeowners caught up in one foreclosureess practices. But it was not just your typical westage that one foreclosed on. Reverse had a big mortgage operation called thencial freedom, and foreclosure machine was running and running over there, too. The goal was to give people 62 or over the opportunity to use the equity in their homes to cover the bills. Unfortunately, it does not always go smoothly. Reverse mortgage division, it often went terribly wrong. A lot of couples getting reverse mortgages put them under only one name, often the husband. Here is the catch. If the person whose names on thed name appeared documents passed away, the terms of the reverse mortgage required to loan to be paid back in full. If it wasnt, the foreclosure process once again kicks in. So, you have a family where first they lose their loved one, andthey lose their home they are caught up in this nightmare scenario of a reverse mortgage. The common name for this president ,adam almost hurts to say it. It is widow for closure. Widow for closure. Foreclosure. Widow foreclosure. During the years that mr. Ran one west, they led the nation in widow foreclosures. You think about what you could , trying totion in help hardhit families, the kinds i just described. Id like to lead the nation in terms of reaching out and finding imaginative ways to help them, to really go to bat for them, to take them through the process, create something that common sense. What did this bank do . It leads the nation in widow foreclosures. In one case, one west and its predecessor tried to foreclose on an common sense. What older florida woman, twice. The fifth time it tried, it paperwork saying she did not live there. When they finally discovered she did live in the home, they backed off. Two years later, one wests new parent company, where mr. Mnuchin was a board member, try to foreclose again. This time it was over an unpaid bill of . 27. This involved a woman who was 90. Was 90 was involved in a foreclosure with an unpaid bill of . 27. Shes had to fight to keep her home twice because she was bombarded with petty and inaccurate allegations from mr. Mnuchins bank. The president recently tweeted an allegation that this story was fake news because the elderly woman never actually lost her home. The ordeals that the one west for closure foreclosure machine put her through certainly was not fake news to up and others who were against this activity. While one west was putting thousands of homeowners through the nightmare of foreclosure, bankschin used the money to make some pretty flashy investments in hollywood. In september 20 12, 1 west led a group of Financial Institutions 2012, onelished west led a group of Financial Institutions that established media,ely relativity which was led by ryan cavanaugh. Accounts claim that mr. Mnuchin and mr. Cavanagh became great friends. Bought a. Mnuchin private jet together and travel to various film festivals around the world. They were even investing in real estate together. They put millions into a shell , which owns property in southern california. Of 2014, mr. Mnuchin decided to buy into mr. Cavanagh s maybe studio himself. He purchased a steak and was movie cochairman studio himself. And wasased a stake appointed cochairman. Unfortunately, mr. Mnuchins time with relativity didnt go so hot. The studio014, suffered eight or nine figure losses. , the studio came to an end, that it owed one west and mr. Mnuchin a huge sum of money. Quit the board. A few days later, 50 Million Dollars in cash were swept back to one west from several relativity operated accounts. One account was earmarked to pay guild expenses, salaries for contractors and production people. That put the nail in , and theys coffin studio declared bankruptcy. ,his might have been a big mess but it did not do much damage to the banks bottom line. Around the time relativity crumbled, one west was purchased by an even bigger group, cit, at a massive profit. Originally brought the bank for less than 1. 6 million. Cit bought it for 3. 4 billion. Ofbetween, while tens thousands of americans were going through this daily nightmare of losing their homes, the bank had paid out more than 1 billion in dividends to mr. Mnuchin and its other owners. Buying one west was literally the deal of a lifetime for mr. Mnuchin, but the banks conduct caught the attention of federal watchdogs more than once. In 2011, the office of supervision conducted an examination of the one west for closure process. I am just going to outline a few foreclosure process. I am just going to outline a few of the findings done by the office of thrift supervision, which is in the business of monitoring and examining these institutions. Found, for example, employees filed affidavits in state and federal courts stating they had conducted a review and had personal knowledge of mortgages, including principal, interest to do, and other fees and expenses, when no such reviews had taken place. One west employees filed documents that had not been signed or affirmed in the presence of a notary. One west litigated foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings without ensuring the promissory notes were endorsed or signed by the appropriate parties at the appropriate time. One west failed to devote the administration of its foreclosure and loan modification procedures, and failed to enact internal oversight and controls to its foreclosure processes. Finally, one west failed to oversee the outside lawyers handling foreclosure services. The office of thrift supervision demanded that one west take corrective action, and the issue, what is known as a Consent Order basically, in english, the one west consent to clean an agreement up its act. The order was signed personally by mr. Mnuchin and the one west board of directors. They had been running one west for two years at this point, and the company was rife with problems. In 2014, the office of the comptroller of the currency stepped in. There office found more than 10,001 west borrowers were due 8. 5 million for improper 10,000 one west bar hours were due 8. 5 Million Dollars for improper foreclosure proceedings. The civil relief act protects members of our Armed Services from losing their homes while they are serving our country. Think about that. Here is the bank having to pay borrowers 53 million for violations of the Service Members civil relief act. Is is a law that protects the courageous people who serve our country from losing their homes while they put themselves at great risk, maybe making the ultimate sacrifice, and every day their families at home are worrying about them, and also worrying about their finances. According to this report, one west paid nearly 3 million to because they had violated the law that protects the courageous men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. At the heart of these violations is robo signing, the practice i thee about earlier, with one west team churning out 6000 documents a week. Senator casey and senator brown on our Committee Really zeroed on that issue. It was particularly concerning who representsy a lot of people who lost their homes to foreclosure by mr. Mnuchins bank. Senator casey asked, pretty simple, did one west robo sign documents . This is a straightforward based on the public record, the answer should of been a straightforward yes. Stead, mr. Mnuchin replied, one west bank did not robo sign documents. , years ofident documented proof says that is false. So, the Committee Gave mr. Mnuchin an opportunity to amend his response. Deniedain, mr. Mnuchin the truth. First, he said the concept of robo signing generally referred to distinct but related issues. Signing the signer of a foreclosure affidavit represented himself or herself to be someone else. Thats a fancy way to explain. We gave him an opportunity to amend his answer. Mr. Mnuchin again denying the truth on the issue of one west signing robo documents. He went on to say one west did not do these things. Now, there is just no way of getting around it, and none. Is flat wrong. The language mr. Mnuchin used to define robo signing is nearly identical to the language used by the office of thrift to provision in the findings of its investigation. ,iven the watchdogs report testimony from employees of one west and the public record, mr. Goodin cannot possibly in faith claim that one west did not robo sign. In fact, mr. Mnuchins signature is on one of the documents that proves otherwise, the office of thrift supervisions Consent Order. He ran the bank. Surely he had to read the document before signing it. Mr. Mnuchin has led the finance committee and the american , directlyrobo signing contradicting a mountain of evidence. A lot of families got hammered through foreclosure, foreclosures pursued by mr. Mnuchins bank. Senator casey and senator brown decided to do more digging into the information. Senator case the nationaled for foreclosure figures. Senator brown asked for a statebystate breakdown. This information was never provided. Further, mr. Mnuchin said he could not get the data. Then sen. Heller heller made a similar request. It seemed mr. Mnuchin answered to satisfy senator heller. That raises a question as to why a republican senator could get his inquiry answered but a pair of democrats cannot. Getting other basic fax from mr. Getting other wasc facts from mr. Mnuchin like a painful time at the dentist pulling teeth. When mr. Mnuchin filed his , herwork with the committee signed a testing that the document was true, accurate, and complete. Became apparent to Committee Staff that Key Information was missing, in , sec filings that indicated that mr. Mnuchin was the director of an entity located in the cayman islands. It was nowhere to be found in mr. Mnuchins paperwork. He also failed to disclose his of the chairman and ceo one west foundation, an entity that is said to have made in support ofions a controversial group. Also failed to mention the Holding Company he used to purchase indymac, the bank he used to purchase one west. All also failed to mention the Holding Company he told, after e raised by the finance committee disclosed mnuchin that he held positions in an additional 14 entities that were not listed on his initial paperwork. Here is an example of mr. Mnuchins failure to fully disclose his various investment. Investments. The finance Committee Requests disclosure of all entities held with a value of over 1000. Identity and value of all assets held directly or indirectly with a value in excess of 1000 was to be disclosed. Mr. Mnuchin failed to do this as well. He listed membership in a vacation resort in mexico, but he did not disclose any related property. That was the only that was only the first case of missing estate. Real after questioning by Committee Staff, mr. Mnuchin disclosed still more missing real estate, an additional 95 Million Dollars in Real Estate Holdings that had on been less did listed his initial paperwork. The fact is, the committee had to take the time and ask the thetions to track down multimillion dollar properties, unreported businesses, and unreported business relationships. I will say again madame president , i am convinced that ,one of what i have described undisclosed assets, substantial undisclosed assets, would have ever been brought to light if it work of thehe committees minority staff investigators. And yet, despite these efforts, mr. Mnuchin has still never produced the information requested by two members of the finance committee, senators casey and brown, considering concerning the one west foreclosures. President , is this is another nominee who has the ethics alarm bells sounding. He has misled the public. To be concealing information requested by members of this body, and his claim to fame is the cold and calculated efficiency with which his bank used predatory lending to get people out of their homes. I just dont think this is the type of person who should lead the treasury as secretary. I want to talk about the kind of person i want to see head the treasury department. And i want to note i have supported a number of republicans for this particular position in my time on the finance committee. Isant the kind of person who going to give everybody in america the opportunity to get ahead. To have more discussions about taxes, and important in this role will be the treasury secretarys view of taxes. We have a tax code that is a. Ale of two systems if you are a cough or a nurse in West Virginia or oregon, your a policecall officer or a nurse in West Virginia or oregon, your taxes are compulsory. They are taken out of your paycheck. But if you have a battery of Financial Experts, it doesnt work that way. You can use that battery of Financial Experts to pay what you want when you want to, and maybe not much at all. Want somebody for this position who feels passionately about giving everybody in america the opportunity to get ahead, who really understands to work priority it is to bring economic recovery to ose communities dimmed by hardship and folks suffering. There are people like in the president of the senates state. There sure are a lot in my home ande, Rural Communities feelings they have been hit by a wrecking ball. That is the kind of treasury secretary i want, the kind that gives everybody in america the opportunity to get ahead. Thus far, i just dont see
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