Why the delay in “The Informant”?

Frankly, it was more a question of the statute of limitations than anything else. I was recently asked the same question, and the delay is due to permission to write about my role as an informant for the FBI. Since these are two different jurisdictions, Florida and California, different timelines apply. I thought this could be circumvented with a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, but even that came back like something out of Mission Impossible. I quote you from the May 2024 DOJ letter: “The FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence of records that comply with your request under the exceptions to the Privacy Act. Your request specifically targets confidential FBI informant records. Simply confirming the existence or non-existence of such records would reveal confidential informant identities and information, expose law enforcement methods, and endanger the life or physical integrity of individuals.”

That seems a bit extreme.

Even stranger, I had no problems with the first FOIA request in 2014. The documents were on a CD-ROM and came with a certified letter saying my fingerprint card would not be returned. FOIA requests require a fingerprint card. I had forgotten that.

Still, where did all this take place?

In 2010, I received a call while working on mortgage deals in Florida about two condos in Burbank, California that I had sold to a mortgage fraud ring based in Sacramento. These mortgage fraudsters had done the same thing to other real estate sellers – unbeknownst to me as the buyers had overpaid for my properties and paid themselves a fee at the close of escrow. For me, it was pure luck as both of these properties were foreclosed.

Please explain.

The fee or spread was usually the difference between the old loan repayment and the purchase price. That is, if the old loan or existing lien was $650,000, they pay $800,000 for the property under the guise of it being a 1031 tax exchange. These are usually purchased above list price to avoid the buyer’s tax liability on the downleg, which is the property they are getting out of. The upleg, in 1031 jargon, refers to the replacement property. As a former commercial real estate agent, I am no stranger to these terms. The net amount between the lien and the closing price is the “profit” for the scammer. Here’s how it works. Between 2010 and 2012, I worked with the FBI to bring the case to a close. In 2012, it was all over.

Have you been arrested or detained?

Since I was a cooperating witness, I had nothing to lose. And since I had done nothing wrong, I really had no fear of going to jail. All I had to do was tell the truth. I was, quite literally, the clueless “mule.” If my FBI handlers had been too eager, they could have made things very difficult for me. Any time you get a call from law enforcement—unless it’s to sell tickets to the cops’ ball—it’s not going to be a good day.

In “The Informant” you also mention Wells Fargo Bank and the problems with whistleblowers that it has faced or is facing.

That would be just a small part of the book. The focus of The Informant is the two-year period from 2010 to 2012 related to the Sacramento mortgage fraud ring. They searched for and purchased several properties before and after the real estate implosion in 2008. As for Wells, in 2016-2017 I came across some incriminating documents that may be of interest in a civil lawsuit on behalf of the federal government. As a mortgage operations management consultant, I worked nationwide during that period on projects administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support bailout programs designed to help people avoid foreclosure.

What kind of programs?

The entire alphabet of government programs like HARP, HAMP, TARP, Safe Act, etc.

And how were you a whistleblower?

I never claimed to be a whistleblower. An individual or headhunter approached me about my background related to my mortgage portfolio and wanted to ensure my access to internal correspondence at Wells Fargo Bank related to the denial of thousands of loan modification requests. Ultimately, I never cooperated with this organization’s legal proceedings because I was never guaranteed payment, as a legal proceeding of this nature almost always guarantees a whistleblower payment for providing evidence of a company’s wrongdoings to the federal government. Long story short, this organization essentially stated they could not guarantee payment on their behalf because the documents I would provide to them – several hundred pages – might not be considered “critical” to the settlement. As a whistleblower, I would have no access to confidential documents and could never prove they used my documents. It was all subjective.

What did you mean by critical?

This was a sort of free pass from this bunch if the documents were not deemed critical to the settlement. Basically, they decided they just didn’t need to or want to pay me. Nice. They even went one step further and said that if they did, I could protest the non-payment to the federal judge hearing the case. Unbelievable, I thought. They’re telling me what to do if they decide to cheat me, and if that happens, I’ll be doubly cheated, given the code of brotherhood between lawyers and judges. This takes transparency to a whole new level. The next level of transparency is based on an incestuous conspiracy of legal exploitation.

What does this mean?

That is, the judges do not interfere and side with the lawyers when it comes to paying a secondary whistleblower, which would have been me.

Anything else about “The Informant”?

No. Let’s just hope we get this over with sooner rather than later. There is plenty of historical data on the 2008 crash, mortgage fraud and how it was committed, profile cases of mortgage fraud rings, real estate fraud, and major financial laws of the last 50 years such as the Glass Steagall Act, FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act), the creation of the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and the other government agencies, regulatory laws and bodies such as TARP, HARP, HAMP, CARES, MHA (‎Making Home Affordable) and the HHF (‎Hardest Hit Fund). In short, the ABCs of what you need to know about financial responsibility.