Fla AG Bondi "Cleared" But Guilty?

Theresa Edwards (left) and June Clarkson, who led Florida’s foreclosure fraud investigations, were routinely praised in performance reviews before losing their jobs.

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The Nevada attorney general calls signing another person’s name on documents used to repossess a home “forgery” and a “scheme.”

Michigan’s attorney general launched a criminal investigation that includes whether “falsified signatures” were used in foreclosure cases.

But Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson were forced to resign their jobs as foreclosure fraud investigators for the Florida Attorney General’s Office, in part, for referring to so-called “surrogate signing” as forgery.

According to a Florida Inspector General report that cleared Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office of wrongdoing in the firings, the duo repeatedly used the word “forgery” in a 2010 presentation that included documents from the Jacksonville-based Lender Processing Services. The company complained and drew the attention of economic crimes boss Richard Lawson.

Lawson says in the inspector general’s Jan. 6 report that surrogate signing as it relates to Lender Processing Services, also called LPS, is not forgery, which requires an intent to defraud. The practice was authorized by the company, more evidence, Lawson said, that no forgery occurred.

Homeowner advocates who support Edwards and Clarkson are now questioning portions of the 83-page report. They point to the LPS signature issue as an example of what they say is Florida’s resistance to go after foreclosure fraud.

Big paperwork processor

“Theresa Edwards and June Clarkson were fired for aggressively investigating these practices,” said Palm Beach County home­owner Lynn Szymoniak, who is in foreclosure. ” Are these practices really OK in the opinion of the chief financial officer and the attorney general?”

LPS processes paperwork for more than 50 percent of the nation’s foreclosures, according to a December lawsuit filed by the Nevada attorney general. The company has said it stopped surrogate signing after its own investigation uncovered it at a now-closed subsidiary company called DocX.

Still, tens of thousands of documents are affected nationwide and the forgery debate contributes to the foreclosure logjam that has stalled Florida’s economic recovery.

While at least one Florida law professor agrees with Lawson, others maintain the issue transcends surrogate signing. Most of the signed foreclosure documents are also notarized, said Royal Palm Beach-based foreclosure defense attorney Tom Ice, meaning someone is swearing that the person signing is who they say they are.

“So, at the very least, surrogate signers are a species of notary fraud, which the courts take very seriously,” Ice said. “Why require notarizations at all if we don’t care who actually signs them?”

Edwards and Clarkson, who led Florida’s foreclosure fraud investigations, were routinely praised in performance reviews by their direct supervisor, Robert Julian, and lauded for netting a $2 million foreclosure-related settlement from the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson.

But the inspector general report details complaints about the duo’s work made by Lawson, some of their colleagues, and LPS.

Those complaints include disorganized paperwork, the lack of independent investigation, relying too heavily on two Palm Beach County homeowner advocates for evidence (including Szymoniak), being unprofessional, and using incorrect legal theory.

Their work was so slipshod, Lawson said, that the investigations didn’t truly begin until after Edwards and Clarkson left and the files were reassigned.

A major issue raised was a December 2010 PowerPoint presentation Edwards and Clarkson gave at a conference of the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers.

The presentation includes several references to LPS and “forgeries.”

LPS attorney Joan Meyer wrote a letter to Edwards and Clarkson on Jan. 6, 2011, criticizing the PowerPoint, which she said mischaracterized “delegated signing authority” as forgery.

Lawson supports that stance, adding that Meyer gave the information to Edwards and Clarkson prior to the presentation.

Edwards maintains surrogate signing is forgery. If there was no intent to injure or defraud, why wouldn’t the person just sign their own name, she said.