Kamala Harris - For California Attorney General 2010

DA Gets $1M Grant for Mortgage Cases

The Recorder
By Kate Moser
October 21, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Flanked by the San Mateo County and Santa Clara County
district attorneys, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris on
Tuesday announced a $1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant her
office won to take on mortgage and investment fraud.

Harris said the grant would help her office educate the public as well
as uncover and prosecute more financial fraud. She cited a 723 percent
increase in the foreclosure rate in San Francisco over the past two
years.
"We had been experiencing overload and also frustration because we
knew there's more out there, but we haven't been able to go get it,"
she said.

The grant will allow for the hiring of one prosecutor and two
investigators to create a Mortgage and Investment Fraud Unit.
At a press conference where the DAs showcased their support for
creating a new federal consumer protection agency to fight mortgage
and investment scams, San Mateo County District Attorney James Fox
said other district attorneys' offices aren't necessarily in such good
shape as they try to tackle financial fraud. "San Francisco is in a
unique position to have received that," he said.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr urged the federal
government to "take a more active role" in protecting consumers and
touted her office last year securing convictions of two mortgage
business owners in a case involving $8 million in fraudulent subprime
loans.

Source: The Recorder

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