Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EXHIBIT 25
Case 1:15-cv-00293-LTS-RWL Document 424-25 Filed 09/30/19 Page 2 of 7
Plaintiffs
No. 1 :15-cv-00293-LTS-JCF
v.
Defendants.
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there are no duplicates of that number, but that's how we track it through our system instead of
utilizing the loan number which can be considered proprietary.” 6
She was then asked, “So with regards to the order number, would a client such as Chase be able to
track this particular order number in TrackingLINK?” Ms. Lance replied “yes”. 7
Also in the deposition of Erika Lance, she admitted that the mail merged documents prepared by
NTC and sent to the lien release group in Monroe, LA, Q. It's the lien release group. A. That's
the group out of Monroe, Louisiana? I believe so, yes.”.8
“There is a 30-day SLA to begin the review. A Third-Party Vendor (NTC) validates the lien and
prepares the Lien Release documents. Once prepared, the documents are printed to PDF and sent
via sftp to Lien Release team to sign and notarize. The executed documents are shipped via Fedex
to the vendor. The vendor files the lien release documents with the appropriate county recorder
within in two to three business days.” 9
Erika Lance further states, “When we create them lien releases, vacations of lien releases and
vacations of modifications of mortgage, we send them via secure FTP. They print them and then
they execute them and notarize them and return them to NTC.”10
This process then continues with Chase employees executing the documents without review. As
stated by DeAndrea G. Chapman, Loan Administration, Lien Release, “I only sign the documents.
I do not do any research on the documents.”11
In a deposition, Brian Bly, an NTC employee, states that NTC did not engage in any quality control
prior to creating the documents, had no personal knowledge of the contents of the documents and
did not check to determine if Defendant owned the mortgage prior to releasing the lien.12 With
neither Chase nor NTC engaging in any quality control, there appear to be no checks on how sworn
documents were verified before execution and recording.
The “Certification of Patrick M. Boyle as to JPMorgan Chase, N.A.’s Intact Lien Validation
Process” signed (9/06/14 exhibit 43, 11/8/13 exhibit 42 of Solomon deposition) references using
CoreLogic and Decision Science as outside vendors to scrub data. Internal reviews by Chase’s
MIS Scrubs were used to review bankruptcy status, POTS Lien Release and indicators as to
excluding loans coded “repurchased, part of a note sale, or in a litigated status.” Despite this
6
See, deposition of Erika Lance taken on October 15, 2017 (Bly Tr.), at 63:3-12
7
Id.
8
See, deposition of Erika Lance taken on October 15, 2017 (Bly Tr.), at 63:3-12
9
See, JPMC-MRS-00084196
10
See, deposition of Erika Lance taken on October 15, 2017 (Bly Tr.), at 104:16-22
11
See, JPMC-MRS-00096383
12
See, deposition of Brian Bly taken on March 21, 2017 (Bly Tr.), at 14:15-25 and 15:1-8
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certification, and though details may have been summarized in the designation “part of a note
sale,” training as to responsibilities for recording assignments of mortgage deeds for the Plaintiff
was unclear. It is telling that Mr. Jason Oquendo states in his deposition that loans in the RCV1
“SOLD” queue are excluded from lien release projects, though how these loans were reviewed
against mortgage loan sales agreements was not clear. Limited system description documents and
training materials were provided to review.
While there were no external or internal audits assessing the efficacy of training and execution of
operational protocols available for my review, the internal audit report provided rated the “current
operational and technology controls over Recovery operations . . . [as] inadequate” and points out
that “[a]dequate controls do not exist to ensure sworn documents (e.g. Affidavits) are completed
appropriately and in adherence with Bank’s procedures, and all laws, regulations and statutes.”13
How procedures and systems, beyond the “SOLD” queue in a secondary system of record for non-
performing loan units, were designed to prevent or detect when mortgage liens being released after
the loan asset was sold to another entity was not described in procedures reviewed. Recovery
operations had not yet responded to internal audit as of January 1, 2013. The response to internal
audit dated January 1, 2013 states management’s action plan to remediate audit findings was
“TBD” regarding deficiencies noted for “Bankruptcy/Foreclosure Activities performed by
Recovery Operations,” “. . . Specifically, chain-of-title reviews are not being performed to verify
and document ownership of Notes prior to a POC or a surplus funds foreclosure filing.”14
When loan portfolios, including non-performing loan portfolios are sold, the loans should be
removed or at least segregated from the loans owned by investors being serviced by another. The
Plaintiff has identified 780 loan units where Defendant released the lien or provided the borrower
with a forgiveness letter even though the loan asset had been sold to the Plaintiff. These releases
were noted from review of Defendant’s iVault system and from the POTS system. These releases
are noted to have generally been executed after the Defendant sold the loan to the Plaintiff;
however, whether the lien release occurred prior to the sale or after, the Plaintiff’s capacity to
perfect interest in the underlying collateral is difficult not only because of the cloud on title but
also because the borrower is confused about their continued obligations to pay the Plaintiff and
the consequences of the release on the mortgage lien.
In paragraph 201 of the Defendant’s response to the Fourth Amended Claim, the Defendant
indicates that an offer was made to the Plaintiff to repurchase certain loans sold and handled in
error. Plaintiff also identified as many as 202 incidences where the Defendant took corrective
action for mortgage liens released or mortgage notes modified via a “Vacation and Rescission of
Lien Release” or a “Vacation and Rescission of Modification of Mortgage” presumably after
JPMC identified an error releasing a lien or modifying a mortgage note it did not own.
The Defendant’s mortgage servicing control environment for foreclosure processes during the
period of these loan sales to the Plaintiff came under the scrutiny of its regulators, as advocates for
the U.S. public. The Defendant’s operational controls environment to file appropriate documents
for foreclosure activity is sufficiently like transferring mortgage notes and liens to a mortgage
13
See, JPMC-MRS-00319626
14
See, JPMC-MRS-00208918
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purchaser to serve as a proxy for having authorized agents assign mortgage deeds or deeds of trust
pursuant to the Agreements. In the Matter of: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. a "Stipulation and
Consent to the Issuance of a Consent Order," dated April 13, 2011, page 2, that while the Defendant
neither admits or denies, the Comptroller found:
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While questions were asked, and answered regarding authority of Ms. Solomon and other
employees as agents JPMC, I have not read corporate resolutions stating that the NTC or JPMC
employees, both JPMC corporate officers and employees without title, are granted authority to act
on JPMC’s behalf. Statements from Ms. Launi Solomon specify no responsibility for assigning
MRS MLPA liens, no procedures, training material or audit findings as to the efficacy of training
and supervision of employees that sign affidavits were reviewed for purposes of this document.
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