Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds

Shetland Park
JOHN L. O'BRIEN, JR. 45 Congress Street
Register of Deeds Suite 4100
Phone: 978-542-1704
Fax: 978-542-1706 Salem, Massachusetts 01970
website: www.salemdeeds.com

NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Salem, MA
May 3rd, 2011

Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register
kevin.harvey@sec.state.ma.us

The 1960’s television show “To Tell the Truth”, where imposters pretend to be the central
character, is playing out today at the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds and Register
John O’Brien is not happy about it. After the 60 Minutes’ expose on Mortgage Fraud was
aired and showed that leading mortgage services have been using forged documents to
foreclose on homeowners, Register John O’Brien reviewed mortgage discharges recorded in
his Registry. To view the 60 Minutes Article and a link to the video, go to
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/01/60minutes/main20049646.shtml

What he found astonished him. In 2010 alone, 286 Bank of America's mortgage discharges
were recorded with what he calls “questionable and possibly fraudulent signatures of the
notorious Linda Green.” O’Brien said that he has found at least four variations of Green’s
signature recorded in his Registry.

Green, who was spotlighted in the 60 Minutes Episode, had her name signed by various
individuals on thousands of documents recorded at Registries of Deeds throughout the state
of Massachusetts and across the nation. In Register O’Brien’s opinion, these documents
have corrupted Essex County homeowner’s chains of title. “I have a responsibility to ensure
that the documents recorded in my Registry meet the statutory requirements of recording. If,
however, I am presented with evidence that clearly shows that fraud may have been
committed then it is my responsibility as the keeper of records to turn these documents over
to the appropriate authorities for their review and action.”

O’Brien has today forwarded certified copies of these discharges to United States Attorney,
Carmen Ortez, Attorney General, Martha Coakley, and Essex County District Attorney,
Jonathan Blodgett. “If what I suspect has happened, then the people who have committed
this fraud should be held accountable for their actions” commented O’Brien. O'Brien fears
that this fraudulent behavior is only the tip of the iceberg and feels strongly that lenders and
mortgage servicers should be held accountable for their actions. Actions which he originally
only thought involved a scheme to circumvent the land recordation system by creating a
private, for profit cyber-registry to benefit the big bank's pocketbooks. Now it seems that
MERS, and its member banks may have added fraud to their repertoire of services that they
offer.

Register O’Brien questions if a good portion of this foreclosure mess could have been
avoided in the first place, if the big banks did what they were supposed to do and recorded
assignments like other lenders do. Register O’Brien believes: 1) Homeowners deserve to
know who owns their mortgages; 2) Assignments should be recorded in the appropriate
registry of deeds, each and every time a mortgage is sold, to provided transparency and
public disclosure of ownership; and 3) Any and all documents should be signed by an
authorized authority at the entity that actually owns and holds the note secured by the
mortgage.