Recently-Released Transcripts Of Grand Jury Hearing Sheds Light In Nevada Robosigning Probe

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KSNV-TV MyNews Channel 3 reports:

• The massive robo-signing scandal that throws into question tens of thousands of Las Vegas foreclosures is unfolding. Newly-released transcripts(1) from last month's Grand Jury hearing shed light on how the foreclosure fraud went down.



• The transcripts include last month's testimonies from investigators, homeowners, temp workers and four notaries. The workers, who were employed at Lender Processing Services (LPS) under Gary Trafford and Geraldine Sheppard, admitted to forging signatures on tens of thousands of notices of default.



• Most blamed fear of unemployment for their decision to forge signatures and break the law. One notary said she needed to keep her job while getting through graduate school, another said he had a family to support.



• Trafford and Sheppard are accused of running the scam by advising their employees to forge signatures on notices of default between 2005 and 2008. Those documents got the ball rolling on many Las Vegas foreclosures.



• Notary Tracy Lawrence struck a plea deal with the state's Attorney General's Office for one count of notary fraud. She admitted to notarizing about 25,000 false documents. Lawrence was found dead in her home the day of her sentencing hearing a few weeks ago.

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• Todd Grosz, a criminal investigator for the Nevada Attorney General’s office, said that out of tens of thousands of documents from LPS that his investigation of the fraud examined, an overwhelming majority seemed suspicious.

For more, see Massive foreclosure fraud's scope revealed by transcripts.

(1) For the transcripts, see:

• Trafford Sheppard GJ Trascript Day 1 (5.9MB).
• Trafford Sheppard GJ Trascript Day 2 (4.3MB).