master robo signer, jeffrey stephan vs. georgia homeowners

8/7/2019 Master Robo Signer, Jeffrey Stephan vs. Georgia Homeowners

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“Master Robo Signer” –

Jeffrey Stephan Vs. Georgia

Homeowners

February 11, 2011

By Justice@Home Staff Writer,

Yinka Winfre ([email protected])

DeKalb County, GA homeowners fight Jeffrey Stephan and the banks to keep

their home.

US Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) called him the "master" while chairing

the December 15th, 2010 Congressional Judicial Committee Hearings on

foreclosure. His real name is Jeffrey Stephan, and he -- at least his signature --

has shown up in the Congressman’s own back yard.

Wekesa & Afiya The Representative has his hands full refereeing a battle between

homeowners and the nation’s largest lenders. Two of Johnson's own

constituents - Wekesa Madzimoyo and his wife, Afiya, have been

waging a pro-se battle to stop Mr. Stephan's employers- GMAC,

JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of NY Mellon Trust (BNYMT) from

foreclosing on their Stone Mountain, GA home. Just when it

looked like the homeowners’ case might gain some traction in the

GA State Court, the lenders moved the case to Federal Court and b

Jeffrey Stephan to perfect yet another retro-assignment.

rought in quick-signing



South De Kalb County, GA is home to many educated, middle and

upper-middle-class African Americans who flooded to the area in

the 90s fueled by expanded educational and job opportunities. They

were also driven by the aspirations of their parents and g

who fought to overcome the lingering legacy of sharecropping,

Crow, and redlining. They came to finally realize the American

home ownership.

“W

Black Mecca,” says Mr. Madzimoyo.

randparents

Jim

dream - upward mobility and

e never saw so many Black people living in so many fine houses. It was the

hen a DeKalb County Commissioner, Hank Johnson, saw a dark cloud

ored

s not enough.

oday the Mecca is beginning to resemble a wasteland of broken promises and broken dreams.

“His work was crucial, yet too few listened to his warnings,” said

nty

According to the Atlanta Journ

African-American church, wh

March of 2009, Mr. Madzimoyo sent a letter to Homecomings Financial, LLC asking them

questions that would help him validate the debt and to identify the true lender or secured

The Madzimoyos’ Home

T

behind the silver lining. He called it "predatory lending" and in 2002 auth

and passed Georgia's first approved ordinance against predatory lending,

which state legislators later used as a guide in passing statewide law. It wa

T

Afiya Madzimoyo. Now, there are empty houses all over South

DeKalb and the property values have plummeted - dashing

homeowners’ dreams and the municipal budget. DeKalb Cou

is closing over a dozen schools. Over the last year 90 churches

have been in foreclosure. One of them was Flat Rock Church.

al-Constitution, “Flat Rock likely is DeKalb County's oldest

ose origins date back to at least 1860. In January of 2011 alone,DeKalb County had 1,438 foreclosures.

In

2



creditor. He says his goal was to sit down with the lender to renegotiate better terms for his loan,

given the economy and dropping home values.

He was current on his mortgage when he started

to ask for debt

alidation and lender verification. “I’ve always paid my mortgage

s

standing with a qualified written request, the lender-

rvicer stopped short of answering Mr. Madzimoyo’s questions. They said that what he wanted y

eing told that Homecomings Financial, LLC was his servicer and JPMorgan Chase was

is lender, he sent JPMorgan Chase the same verification request. According to Mr.

rd.

Repeated requests sent to each newly identified servicer or lender fell on deaf ears.

v

since 1999 when we put $20,000 down to move into this house. I

love this house. I raised my children here. My wife has worked thi

red Georgia clay, so now she grows everything from cilantro to

blueberries right here on our property.”

When asked to validate the debt and their

seto know was “confidential and proprietary business information.” “I responded by saying that m

money was proprietary, and declined to pay them until they answered -- as is my right under the

law.”

After b

h

Madzimoyo, things really sped up after that. Loan servicing changed from Homecomings

Financial to GMAC; the purported lenders changed three times between June 10th to July 3

3



The Madzimoyos concluded that since the lenders hadn’t verified themselves as his secured

creditors, he didn’t owe what he called the “pretender-lenders” a dime and that they had been

collecting money from him illegally.

On July 3rd, 2009, debt collectors, McCurdy and Candler, LLC, acting as lawyers, initiated

foreclosure proceedings for GMAC and a new lender – Bank of New York Mellon Trust

(BNYMT). They advertised in the Champion newspaper that his home was to be sold at a

public auction on the first Tuesday in July.

GA is a non-judicial foreclosure state. All lenders - or those who

purport to be lenders - have to do is to say you’re in default on your

mortgage, send you a letter asking you to pay the entire amount of theloan, advertise the sale for four weeks, and then proceed to auction

your home from the County Courthouse steps. You get no day in

o stop them.court, unless you file suit t

ounty Superior

and their lawyers.

ore determined than scared, I showed the Court that we had been trying to get them to

o.”

Mr. Madzimoyo, who is an educator, not a lawyer began to research and talk to other

homeowners in similar situations. He called lawyers who asked for $10,000 to take his case;

others wouldn’t even touch it. Afiya tells of the lawyers who said, “Call me after

they foreclose; we’ll sue for wrongful foreclosure.” Afiya, the gardener and tax

professional, frowned at the idea of letting them foreclose on their home. She

and Wekesa called a family meeting with all of the children and decided to

mount a legal counter-attack by themselves. They would join an increasing

number of pro se litigants around the country fighting to keep their homes.

A week before the scheduled foreclosure, the Madzimoyos went to DeKalb C

Court to get a Temporary Restraining Order and to sue the pretender-lenders

“M

validate their standing as servicers, lenders, etc. for nearly four months,” says Mr. Madzimoy

He continued: “We had return receipts showing they had received our requests for verification

4



and the paper work to show that there was no valid assignment recorded in the DeKalb County

real estate records since my wife and I purchased our home in 1999. My petition stated that the

so-called lenders had broken Georgia Law to commence foreclosure without recording, or

otherwise validating themselves as the secured creditors.”

5

uperior Court Judge Tangela Barrie agreed and issued an order halting the foreclosure and

ain

fter Judge Barrie’s order, he thought that he would finally get his questions answered; that he

owever, one day before the hearing, his calm was interrupted by a legal lightning bolt. He was

Questions raced through his mind – “How could they do that?

g

It had been an exhausting five months. While his wife and children supported this stand, they

didn’t want to lose their home. W told

many people in the community

t

e battle, the Madzimoyos’ suspicion of

nder/servicer deceit grew. “If they had the proper evidence, why didn’t they just bring it to

S

ordering the Defendants – the lenders and their lawyers – to bring “proper evidence of the ch

of title” to an August 29th, 2009 hearing - 30 days from the date of the order.

A

would finally know the secured creditor - the proper party with which to negotiate and pay. He

would also be reassured that he was not a party to a predatory lending scheme.

H

notified that the Defendants – the purported lenders- had “removed” the case to Federal Court.”

Was that legal? What can I do?” He pressed for answers in the

DeKalb County Courthouse. According to Mr. Madzimoyo,

“The clerks would only say: “Once it’s removed, there’s nothin

we can do here. You’ll have to go over to Federal Court.”

ekesa recalls - “Many times I thought of just dropping it. I

about our fight; they were kind enough, but most either

suggested programs that would help me get a loan modification or either they said that I ough

to just pay what I’ve been asked to pay and shut up. I wasn’t about to do either.”

As they researched and prepared for the next stage of th

le



Robo-signers are the staff used by US banks to sign off on foreclosures. They are dubbed “robo-

gners" for the speed with which they rubber-stamped mortgage documents without checking

asserted in the

atement are true and has been personally verified by the signer . The signature is sworn to

t in

the

n

00 and 1000 documents per day. Only this time, Mr. Stephan may have signed a bit too

d

efendants submitted

Court stating that the assignment to NYBMT took place in 2006!

ence

rt. They moved for a “Judgment on the Pleadings” against the

ing order by State Judge Barrie fell on the deaf ears

of Chief US Magistrate Judge, Gerrilyn Brill and District Judge, CharlesPa

si

their accuracy. They have also been dubbed "Burger King kids" – walk-in hires who barely knew

what a mortgage was. Tens of thousands of American families have been evicted in this way. US

banks have submitted affidavits attesting to the accuracy of these documents.

A quick reminder - an affidavit is a sworn statement under oath that the facts

st

before a notary public, who verifies that the signature was made under oath. Filing an affidavi

court where you actually have no such personal knowledge, or putting a false notarization on

affidavit, is perjury, pure and simple. If employers encourage the practice, they too are liable.

According to Florida and Maine court depositions, Stephan has testified that he signs betwee

4

quickly. The date on his assignment proves that the foreclosing bank wasn’t the secured creditor

when they commenced foreclosing which violates Georgia law OCGA 44-14-162.2 (b) an

common sense – you can’t lay claim to something that isn’t yours.

Also, during the flurry of motions over the preceding months, the D

documents in Federal

Federal District Cou

The pretender lenders were determined to stop the Madzimoyos from presenting that evid

in

Madzimoyos. Wekesa and Afiya objected.

Unfortunately, their objections and the stand

rnell. They ruled for the Defendants saying that the:

Madzimoyos had no case that deserved to be heard in the courts .

7



case, they just made our pro se movement stronger,” says D. Aaquil, an active Justice@Home

supporter. Aaquil is a younger college graduate who supports the group. He says, “M

9 9

any before

e, who couldn’t read, worked, marched and sacrificed, so that I could get the education that

ce; the

at extend back to 1667.

Contact: Justice@Home

404-201-2356

www.justiceathome.com

m

would allow me to read these important laws and court rules. Many of them died for justi

least I can do is to read and write for justice.” Others in the group, like Abena Ajanaku, are also

pro se litigants working with supportive senior and youth volunteers, like Aaquil, who research

GA law and case law. They all, litigants and supporters, are also sharpening their legal axes.

They also hope that Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson and other legislators, lawyers, and the

courts will follow other states like Massachusetts, Florida, Ohio, NY, to protect their citizens

from the latest part of the predatory lending schemes – the unnecessary and often fraudulent

foreclosures that trample citizens, municipalities, and 333 years of land title and transfer lawsth

In the Bible, David wins, and Davies goes to hell; in

Georgia – we’ll have to see.

[email protected]

master robo signer, jeffrey stephan vs. georgia homeowners

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