People reach out to me on regular basis expressing frustration with the FDIC and its stonewalling of information and documentation regarding the sale of their Washing Mutual Bank mortgage loans to JPMorgan Chase. I have read countless email exchanges with the FDIC, as well as formal requests made for such information using “The Freedom of Information Act” (FOIA Requests). The responses coming back from various ombudsmen and customer service personnel routinely state that all requests for such information need to be sent to Chase. It is a vague and indirect way of saying the FDIC has nothing.
The attached public filing is an FDIC subpoena response that is now a public record in the matter: Wayne Barber, George White vs. Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. In the Superior Court of Riverside County, California Case number PSC 1802458. (See partial filed response: FDIC Subpoena Response – parial filed document – White v SPS). This response confirms the FDIC has nothing, and it is my opinion that this response is universal for all WaMu loans.
Here are some of the specific requests to which the FDIC acknowledges “no responsive documents.”
PLEASE PRODUCE ANY and ALL DOCUMENTS that evidence YOU acquired ownership of the SUBJECT LOAN when Washington Mutual Bank, Henderson, Nevada failed.
PLEASE PRODUCE ANY and ALL DOCUMENTS that evidence ownership of SPECIFIC SUBJECT LOAN was sold as part of “certain assets” acquired by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. on September 25, 2008.
PLEASE PRODUCE ANY and ALL DOCUMENTS that evidence servicing rights for the SPECIFIC SUBJECT LOAN was sold as part of “certain assets” acquired by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. on September 25, 2008.
PLEASE PRODUCE ANY and ALL DOCUMENTS that evidence the SUBJECT LOAN appeared on the financial statement(s) WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK, HENDERSON, NEVADA between January 1, 2006 to October 30, 2008.
PLEASE PRODUCE ANY and ALL DOCUMENTS that evidence the PURCHASE & ASSUMPTION AGREEMENT between the FDIC-R and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. included assets of WaMu Asset Acceptance Corp.
PLEASE PRODUCE the guidelines as established by YOU as to when and how JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. could, by power of attorney, transfer any ownership interest in the SUBJECT LOAN, SUBJECT NOTE, or SUBJECT DEED OF TRUST.
PLEASE PRODUCE the power of attorney issued by YOU to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. specific to the SUBJECT LOAN, SUBJECT NOTE or SUBJECT DEED OF TRUST.
Here is the FDIC’s response:
The FDIC’s Litigation Information Technology Unit advised this office they have completed searching the databases available for this Receivership and have identified no records that are responsive to your request.
It is now revealed that the FDIC can search its own databases through its “Litigation Information Technology Unit” without having to pawn the requests off to Chase. Here is what that database search screenshot looks like:
Despite this subpoena response, the FDIC continues to cover-up and stonewall those seeking this information. Here is a recent example of an FDIC FOIA response dated 12/29/2020 in which this specific screenshot was requested:
(Bold emphasis added)
The FDIC has provided you with a copy of all the agency records responsive to your request in reference to your loan. The FDIC does not have any record of the date of sale of your loan prior to September 25, 2008; therefore, please direct any further questions or records requests to JPMorgan Chase as the Custodian of Records. Per Section 6.3 of the Purchase and Assumption Agreement, JPMorgan Chase agreed to preserve and maintain all records in its custody and to respond to subpoenas, discovery requests, and other similar official inquiries with respect to the records of which it has custody.
Per the Purchase and Assumption Agreement, the Receiver (FDIC) delivered the records pertaining to Loan and collateral records, credit files and other documents to JPMorgan Chase. This included deeds, mortgages, abstracts, surveys, and other instruments or records pertaining to real estate or real estate mortgages.
JPMorgan Chase has an active Limited Power of Attorney from the FDIC and is authorized to act on its behalf in the assignments and mortgage lien releases originated and owned by WAMU.
If you need any additional information, please contact JPMorgan Chase at 1-800-242-7399 or email: executive.office@chase.com
Best regards,
Frank C Montañez
Resolutions and Closings Manager
Customer Service
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Division of Resolutions and Receiverships
This doesn’t appear to jibe with the subpoena response. Furthermore, the FDIC states that not only was it required to maintain custody of “Loan and collateral records,” it actually “delivered” said records to Chase. This is NOT how things went down according to the FDIC receiver Robert Schoppe who testified as follows (See: Testimony of Robert Schoppe – FDIC )
A. The agreement does call for us to get a list of the loans. We agreed that we would not get them. There were tens of hundreds of thousands of loans. We had no way of actually getting and — we usually — every other bank, we will get a download of all the loans. They number in the thousands. Here, they were numbering in the millions, I believe, tens of millions, and we simply didn’t have capacity to download that information, store it someplace where we could get it. So we agreed with JPMorgan that we would not take a download. If we needed the information, we would just get it from them.
The subpoena response above succeeded in opening the door for Plaintiff to amend its complaint based upon this new information and evidence, and the court has granted the request.
Both the subpoena response and the testimony of Robert Schoppe confirm that the FDIC has no evidence of selling any specific WaMu loan to Chase.
