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Black's Law Dictionary (Sixth Edition, p. 585) defines extortion as follows:

"The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right. 18 U.S.C.A. §871 et seq.; §1951."

The U.S. mortgage crisis is fraught with a host of activities that are seemingly rising to the level of "extortion" as Congress and most courts are "looking the other way" as ruthless attorneys, banks, and/or mortgage servicers are using a host of illegal tactics to extract money from homeowners that are desperate to keep their homes. Carefully orchestrated "intimidation schemes" are the name of the game.

Consider the following actual examples:

1. One homeowner was told, point blank (i.e. the foreclosing attorney put it in writing), that she must cooperate with a short-sale to a third party or he would proceed with a foreclosure. This happened while (a) her mortgage servicer absolutely refused to talk to talk with her, and (b) her original lender no longer existed due to its bankruptcy and the fact that the state banking department had issued a cease and desist order regarding the lender's future operation.

2. Another homeowner paid well over $30,000 to bring his mortgage account up to date and be "paid up for three-months in advance." In fear of losing his home, he used his family's entire reserves for education and emergencies to do so (despite that this reinstatement amount included a bucket of exorbitant fees). The mortgage servicer (well known on Wall Street) eventually said the deal was not authorized by the customer service representative who collected the money. So the mortgage servicer just kept the money, refused to account for it, and foreclosed on the homeowner; knowing that they had extracted every last drop of blood. The foreclosing attorney was more than happy to run interference for this financial powerhouse.

These are just a few of many horror stories that are evolving as the "mass foreclosure frenzy" is producing wind-fall profits by those willing to hold the "foreclosure gun" to people's heads in order to extract extra money and fees. This often happens with obvious disregard for whether or not the foreclosure is legal (i.e. conducted in strict accordance with applicable federal and state laws - and/or conducted by a mortgagee with proper legal standing as the true holder in due course of both the mortgage and mortgage note).

Wall Street made billions of dollars on the sub-prime mortgage derivatives and, now that the deck of cards has collapsed, the banking industry (and its entourage of hired guns) want to make more money by recycling the depreciated, "toxic" assets (the mortgages on the millions of homes across the country that were shuffled around Wall Street and are now underwater).

What a debacle and disgrace!

- Ed Smith