From the category of WTF:
The U.S. Justice Department did not ensure that mortgage fraud was prioritized at the level it said it would publicly. That's according to a new report released by the department's Office of the Inspector General, an independent auditor.
snip...
Specifically, the OIG found that the FBI ranked mortgage fraud as the lowest criminal threat in its lowest crime category. The FBI received $196 million in federal funds to investigate mortgage fraud activities from 2009 through 2011. That was when fraud involving so-called "robo-signing," foreclosure processing came to light. Mortgage servicing employees were signing thousands of documents without reading them.
The OIG claims it tried to review the scope of the Justice Department's prosecution efforts involving mortgage fraud, but could not because not enough data was provided.
snip
One glaring example of inaccurate reporting was cited by the OIG. Specifically, it says, the Justice Department inflated the number of criminal defendants by five-fold during an October 2012 highly publicized press conference. The event was held to tout the success of the Distressed Homeowners Initiative, a mortgage fraud program involving the Justice Department and the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. It took a year for the Justice Department to correct the mistake.
I have never understood what DOJ did on this. I suppose you can argue that if you had to rank the crimes DOJ prosecutes, mortgage fraud isn't as important as murder or rape.
But as a former prosecutor I don't get it. In any Prosecutor's office there are cases that are required because to not pursue them calls into question the basic fairness of the justice system. In this instance, any idea of fairness SCREAMED OUT FOR THESE CASES TO BE PURSUED. Why is pursuing a drug dealer more important than going after people who played games with people's houses?
I DON'T GET IT. I WILL NEVER GET IT.
http://www.cnbc.com/...