Wells Fargo Wants Indybay.org Disabled As Soon As Possible

[ Photo by Bradley. November 30, 2011. A vacant bank owned by Wells Fargo is occupied in Santa Cruz. An occupier writes "Capitalism Is Working As Intended!" on a banner. ]


On March 12, 2014, the New York Post reported, "Wells Fargo, the nation’s biggest mortgage servicer, appears to have set up detailed internal procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand, according to allegations in papers filed Tuesday in a New York federal court."

On March 17, 2014, The Washington Post published Wells Fargo's 150-page manual to attorneys for fabricating foreclosure papers. The Post states, "Wells Fargo created an elaborate guide for how to produce missing documents to foreclose on homeowners, according to a lawsuit that has caught the attention of state and federal regulators."

The Wells Fargo manual is marked as "Foreclosure Attorney Procedures Manual – internal use only. This is intended only for privileged confidential use." The manual instructs Wells Fargo lawyers how to process foreclosures when a key document, known as an endorsement, is missing.

On March 21, 2014, Linda Tirelli, an attorney representing clients being foreclosed on by Wells Fargo, was interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan González for Democracy Now!. During the interview, Tirelli described the manual:

"[I]t’s actually entitled the 'Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney [Procedure] Manual, Version 1.' And it says on it that it’s last published 2/24/2012. Mind you, the national mortgage settlement agreement was announced a week prior, on 2/19/2012.

"The way I obtained it, it was actually sitting right there on the Internet, of all things. A colleague of mine, through a Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy Boot Camp, which I am a member, an active member, gave it to me and said, 'Hey, I found this online, and I know you’re doing a lot of Wells Fargo cases. Maybe you can use this.'

"Reading it, my jaw just dropped. As I see it, it’s clearly outlining procedures, not just for the $12-an-hour robo-signers that we’ve heard about all these years, but for the lawyers, who need to be held accountable to a much higher degree. It’s the manual for the lawyers to actually fabricate documents, as I see it, and request that documents that are lacking be fabricated by Wells Fargo. It’s absolutely appalling."

On March 22, 2014, Wells Fargo's manual for fabricating foreclosure papers was published on Indybay.org by IndyRadio in a post titled, "Wells Fargo instructions for fabricating foreclosure documents."

On June 12, 2014, Eric George of PhishLabs Security Operations contacted the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay) and recorded a voice message. In the message, George states that Wells Fargo is a client of PhishLabs, and that "wells-fargo-foreclosure-manual.pdf needs to be removed as soon as possible."

After recording a voice message, Eric George of PhishLabs emailed Indybay on June 12, 2014, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."

On June 25, 2014, Marnie King of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as the Telx data center, and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. We have discovered that your web site, www.indybay.org , is hosting material (PDF file) that is confidential in nature and bears the Wells Fargo name without authorization. We kindly request that you remove this material as soon as possible."

On June 27, 2014, Israel Perez of PhishLabs Security Operations emailed Indybay, as well as Telx and domain name provider worldnic.com (Network Solutions), and wrote, "Our company investigates computer crime incidents on behalf of banks and other companies. A site containing unauthorized material was found to be operating on your network and displaying Wells Fargo material.

"If possible, please provide the following information to assist our investigation:

"- Web server and FTP server log files for the past several days
- Copies of all phishing files, hack tools, or other hacker files

"Finally, we kindly request that you disable or remove the site as soon as possible."

As of June 28, 2014, there are no updates to report.

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In the Dark is the 12th studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between January 6 and 13, 1987, and originally released on July 6, 1987. On the original release, "Throwing Stones" (written by John Perry Barlow) is track #6 on side two. The song debuted on September 17, 1982. Here's an excerpt from the lyrics:

"So the kids they dance, they shake their bones
While the politicians are throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Shipping powders back and forth
Singing "black goes south while white comes north"
And the whole world full of petty wars
Singing "I got mine and you got yours."
And the current fashions set the pace.
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical he rant and rage, Singing "someone got to turn the page"
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing "Just leave well enough alone"
But his pants are down, his cover's blown
And the politicians are throwing stones
So the kids they dance they shake their bones
Cause its all too clear we're on our own"

- Grateful Dead, Throwing Stones