While the hue and cry following Bank of America’s $2.8 billion “gift,” “bailout” or “settlement” – whatever you want to call the lender’s settlement with government controlled GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – has barely settled, the lender itself is probably glad to get the issue of mortgage buybacks out of the way so that it can concentrate on another potential threat that ultimately stems from within. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has been threatening since late 2010 to release a “hard drive from a Bank of America executive” and, in conjunction, to “take down” an unnamed – but heavily implied – “leading American bank”[1]. Assange claims he plans to release said information in “early 2011.”
Of course, Bank of America probably has plenty to fear. Even if no one in the organization is guilty of any wrongdoing – and in the wake of the robo-signer debacle, a lily-white lending and foreclosure record seems impossible for any lender – the release of this type of “leaked” confidential information will be a PR nightmare. The lender reports launching “an extensive internal investigation to determine both the source and the substance of potential information leaks,” hoping to head off the offensive by dealing with the information publicly and via its own media outlets rather than waiting for the WikiLeaks information to blow. Additionally, an internal review of regulatory and congressional investigations of Countrywide Financial loans acquisitions and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. are in the works.
Many people throughout the world believe that “the only people afraid of WikiLeaks are the people who have something to hide.” However, there appears to be little regulation of the information released on this website, and, much as Wikipedia may be a good source of leads on information but not a valid reference in and of itself, WikiLeaks appears to be somewhat “sketchy” when it comes to providing real, unbiased and fully verified, objective information. Of course, we should note that WikiLeaks is not affiliated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation, but is only associated with the popular free encyclopedia via the generic term “wiki,” which Wikipedia has emphasized “was already in existence prior to the advent of Wikipedia”[2].
Is it fair for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to target lenders, governments and individuals with his “explosive” information? Do Bank of America’s defensive maneuvers guarantee that the lender is guilty of something?
Thank you for reading! Your comments and questions are welcomed below.
[1] http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202477449673
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiLeaks_is_not_part_of_Wikipedia
I currently have a mortgage that was filed on bankruptcy with First Franklin Mtg Lender of Fort Worth, TX. However, since then the company folded and Bank of America now has the mtg and has added it to my banking portfolio. Now BOA is now offering to modify this loan. Should I trust that they will modify this loan and take it out of bankruptcy?
So often a public forum is for recognition rather than just change. Assange is a perfect example. While I agree it is HIGHLY likely that BofA is liable in many cases in regards to poor performance to legitimate opportunities to work on behalf of stockholders and clients, by failing to perform in a timely and educated manner, I do not subscribe to the notion that company emails and information should be open to the public without some level of censorship.
Assange has already proven he is more interested in notoriety over substance, so why should we automatically get behind him on this issue?
Check out this rumor. Countrywide borrowed 44 Billion Dollars from the Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank before the BofA deal. Collateral was sub-prime first and second mortgages. An extremely unusal transaction. Did it ever get paid back or did the tax-payers eat it?
It’s time to dismantle the mega-banks. They have corrupted our financial system as well as our government representatives. We don’t need them our country is filled with smaller banks and credit unions that are more than capable of taking up any slack. I say if Assange is able to expose the fraud these bastards are committing and wakes up the American people to this fact more power to him.
I believe that if the truth really be known not only of dealing with BOA but all of the big boys over the last five years there would have to be someone and some groups head pon a plate. This whole problem goes really deep. Wikileaks has something that will ope up the can of worms that nobody wants to open
I have to say I love this guy, as a Realtor and speaking for many of us out their, not only has Bank of America and all these other servicing companies and banks stolen from the american home owner and people but they have put us all out of work by saying one thing and doing another, and forclosing on homes they dont even own the securities/homes to take from the home owner in the first place, some of these home owners committed suicide some of these home owners killed their whole family becouse they felt worthless when hearing they were denied after doing everything the banks told them to do when the banks had no intentions on helping in the first place, HELL YEA!!!! Go Wiki expose the hell out of the sob ‘s …… and get em for the murder of these families while your at it.
Im a Realtor whom works on ethics not lies and deceit, Dare to be Bold
Dare to be bold!!
Open the worm can. Go for the kill. who realy owns My lown
The idea of the Federal Reserve system was the the combined reserves
of all the banks in the united States, when pooled together, would be enough
to bail out any one individual bank from failing if it came down to that.
We now have megabanks, who are so big, that if they go down, the resources
of the Federal Reserve are so horribly taxed to bail them out, that puts a risk
on having a bank collapse in another bank. The idea of collective security of the
Banking system falls to the wayside if banks are allowed to get so huge, that they
feel “they are too big to fail”. Therefore, we as tax payers are FORCED to bail them
out to prevent the economy and banking system from failing as a whole. Whether wikileaks
or not has any legitimate information, it can be sued for libel if it doesn’t.
Our anger shoudl be directed at allowing not at wikiLeaks, whether they are devil
or saint, or whether their information is garbage or truthful. Our anger should be placed
where it belongs: that we have 4 monster banks in the US: BONY, JPMorgan-Chase, CitiGroup,
and Wells Fargo, that holds over 39% of all customer deposits of a nation of 250 Million people.
Think about that! 250 Million, 39% of our nation is held by only 4 big banks!
That’s where the problem lies!
The banks have had it their way for far too long…even at OUR EXPENSE! STOP THE MADNESS!!! IF THEY CANNOT CONDUCT BUSINESS PROPERLY – LET THEM DIE! We might be better served Owner Financing our OWN properties IF THEY DID NOT PASS LAWS HINDERING THAT!
This process DOES NOT STOP!! It will get worse no matter WHO is in Congress…it has to do with the people who “Run the Show”. Obviously, Goldman and Chase aren’t going to do anything without being pushed into it.
THE TAIL CAN WAG THE DOG!
Wikileaks has nothing but soured short positions on empty threats with Bank of America. If they had anything and I mean anything at all that was substantial enough to hurt Bank of America there stock would not be having institutions piling in week after week. The stock is trading seven month highs and is about to break out to 17 bucks. Wikileaks prolly lost a boatload of money alleging it had the goods on the bank when in fact it has been in possession of th so called damaging files for over 15 months. If your going to try to unleash a flurry of headlines on a mega”corrupt” bank. It shouldn’t take years to organize the data. So much for wikileaks having any impact on whatever it is they release.. the story is old and stale whatever it is.. More then half of their executives have already been replaced. If there are a few still onboard and in the questionable leak… they can be replaced in days and its back to business as usual. Poop or get the pot Wikileaks!