The Foreclosure Sellout Settlement Is Getting Weird

I missed it, but the New York AG canceled a press conference about his position on the mortgage/foreclosure fraud settlement at the last minute:

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman late Tuesday postponed a much anticipated conference call with reporters that was set up to announce whether the state would participate in broad a settlement with five big banks over foreclosure practices. Schneiderman, who is co-chair of a new mortgage fraud task force, told reporters in late January that he was not ready to participate in state settlement negotiations. Observers had speculated that he might announce his participation.

This is happening despite the full court press from the Obama administration for this deal to go through.

The sticking point appears to be the MERS lawsuit, and the banks want this dropped before they sign off on any deal.

I think that this delay is a good thing because:

• The deal is basically another bailout for the banks.
• As it gets nearer to the election without a deal, the more it becomes likely that the Obama administration will be forced to go after them for electoral benefit, as opposed to just going after some small fry.

This should get interesting.