Yesterday the New York Post ran a story claiming that December's Occupy Foreclosure event was a misguided sham. The paper quoted the former owner of the vacant home in East New York as being "pissed" that he'd been frozen out of the reoccupation process, and insinuated that the home was being inhabited by protesters, not the family for whom it was intended. VOCAL-NY, the organization that coordinated Occupy Foreclosure, has given us a statement that attempts to blunt some of the Post's accusations. more ›

Though Occupy Wall Street has spent much of their time amidst the canyons of the Financial District's "heroes," tomorrow's efforts are focused in East New York, as part of a nationwide day of action to call attention to the housing crisis that continues to plague much of the country. Occupy Our Homes will meet at the Pennsylvania Avenue subway stop in Brownsville at 1 p.m. for a tour of foreclosed homes, ending with a housewarming party for the families who are "taking these homes back for the community," despite impending foreclosure, and according to a release, volunteers from the many organizations involved will begin fixing up abandoned property. more ›

One of the unintended consequences of kicking people out of their homes that they bought with subprime mortgages is that it makes the community less safe. There are so many empty homes that the federal government is considering renting them out. This couldn't happen soon enough in Jamaica Queens, where many vacant homes are rife with drugs, prostitution, and gang members. "They're becoming a magnet for criminal activity," the commanding officer of the 113th Precinct tells the Times. "They hang out in these abandoned homes that may be foreclosed, or the owners walked away. Every day we respond to something of that effect." more ›

While President Obama has recently tried taking a more populist, "left-leaning" bent with his new tax proposals, one New York politician has rarely strayed from those roots: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Thanks to his refusal to back down on his investigation of a $20 billion dollar bank settlement, Schneiderman has been the subject of a raft of articles hailing him as one of the few leaders who practice their professed affinity with the left, along with Massachusetts senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. "Honestly, my day-to-day life hasn't changed," he tells the Times. "I'm doing my job as a prosecutor." more ›

Like a truffle hog rooting for delicious evil, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been ordering thorough investigations of the five largest mortgage services in the US robo-signing and forging documents to kick Americans out of their homes. Bank of America (among others) and even the Obama administration are pushing for a settlement deal that they say would help homeowners, but would preclude any further litigation related to robo-signing and other odious aspects of the toxic mortgage-backed securities business. Now, because they mean business, Schneiderman's opponents have removed him from the group of Attorneys General charged with negotiating the foreclosure settlement. more ›

Christmas yachts this year may lack a 4th wet bar at Goldman Sachs, as shares of the firm fell 5 percent, erasing $2.7 billion off of the company's value. They've since recovered slightly, but investors are skittish because Lloyd Blankfein has hired criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten due to the ongoing DOJ investigation of Goldman related to toxic mortgage-backed securities, the Times reports. Gee, why does everybody seem to think there's wrongdoing related to the propagation and sale of these securities? more ›

You may remember the "Fabulous" Fabrice Tourre, the mid-level Goldman Sachs trader who the SEC cherry-picked last year to make an example of. Goldman scrounged around in their manatee-leather couches and found $500 million to settle charges of fraud and gee they were really sorry. An article in today's Times seems to confirm what most people knew all along: Tourre was a scapegoat and his superiors should have been targeted for investigation, but weren't. more ›