The Boy Who Cried Force-Placed Insurance 2012

“You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go…” Theodor Seuss Geisel

 

Q1 2012 – I’m feeling stronger. Living with my parents isn’t an ideal situation, but I’m alive and safe for the time being. Although they don’t agree with my decisions, my parents begrudgingly provide me with room and board. Regulators are finally using the inside information I provided to uncover the truth, the media is finally beginning to cover the story, and I finally have the shot I’ve been waiting for…

 

I begin contacting journalists again. It’s much different than last year when I was doing the same thing. This time around I’m more experienced. Force Placed Insurance is beginning to garner the attention of both regulators and the media. More journalists are beginning to understand the terminology I’m using. I sound less like a fringe lunatic speaking in a made up Sigur Ros language and more like an expert in a dark, shadowy corner of the mortgage & insurance industries. I’m able to secure meetings with organizations that laughed me out of their offices a year prior. While I appreciate the sudden shift in attitude, I still remember the pain of last year. I’m no longer an amateur with the media. I know how to handle them like a pro now.

 

Ben Lawsky – Head of the NY Dept of Financial Services

With the inquiry in New York pending, I have a lot of studying to do. Who is Benjamin Lawsky? What is Andrew Cuomo’s goal? What can these guys do to the banks anyway? I’ve already seen my deposition get hidden away under the table by white collar criminal investigators. I watched as so-called regulators chose to watch out for their own best interests rather than those of their constituents. What makes Lawsky any different?

 

February 2012 – While I’m gaining traction in my journey, Wall Street strikes another blow to Main Street. This month the Department of Justice and most of the 50 State Attorneys General will give the Wall Street banks a “Get Out of Jail Free” Card. The foreclosure settlement is essentially a joke. Homeowners will consider themselves lucky to pull $1000 each out of it. Losing your home is devastating. Having it stolen from you by the banks adds insult to injury. When those who are supposed to be protecting and defending your interests blow you off with such a minute sum, it becomes almost unbearable…

 

On February 9, 2012 the State Attorneys General Coalition announces their $25 billion foreclosure settlement, which is by far the largest bank payout since the housing crisis began. On the surface it sounds great, but underneath the sparkling marquees, we all know it means nothing to the consumers who have been struggling the most. The only good news I can find in the settlement is that media outlets are finally finished chasing this carrot and are looking for new stories related to the housing crisis. With over a year to prepare, I have it on a silver platter for them.

 

 

I spend my days training financial journalists from every news outlet I can think of on the inner workings of the banks and the implementation of Force Placed Insurance. Many of them still have ridiculous requests. I’m asked to do very questionable and immoral things by the mainstream media outlets. They all want to be the one to break the story of the century, but they aren’t listening when I give them all the information they need to do so. They think the kickback scheme is going to be easy to see. They fail to realize how easy it is to see if they’d just think and stop looking for an easy answer. I find myself wondering how these people are considered professionals in the first place.

 

This is when I lose what’s left of my faith in mainstream society and start believing more and more in the Anonymous ideals. None of the followers of Anonymous ever uses my situation for personal or professional gain. It was the politicians and regulators who tried that. No follower of the Anonymous ideals ever attempts to convince me to do anything illegal or immoral. It’s the members of the mainstream media who are requesting that.* It becomes more and more evident with every step I take that the only people I can ever trust are those who support transparency…

 

…and as the one year anniversary of my document leak with Anonymous approaches, Benjamin Lawsky and his New York Department of Finance put the banksters on the hot seat in a live public webcast…and I watched as the same fraud I spoke about for over a year is admitted in sworn testimony…and I caught the banksters lying on the stand about their fraud…and I called them out…and I watched them react to it live…

 

Now I know the banks are watching me. I know they’re afraid of me…and I know why…

 

*Note – The journalists for The Huffington Post and American Banker were not among the members of the media who asked me to do anything illegal. I included them in my blog because they acted with the high level of journalistic integrity one would expect from a respectable news outlet. I refuse to mention the names of “journalists” or publications who acted immorally or unethically. As far as I’m concerned, those unscrupulous outlets no longer exist.

My Meeting with the FHFA

Three years ago, I would’ve given anything for someone in the media or government to listen to me. I figured out how the banks were fixing the system to make money off innocent American citizens, and I wanted someone to know. I thought if I let the media know, they’d be excited to report the fraud. I assumed telling the government would fix things. Then I became the media…

Now I’m a veteran blogger, syndicated throughout the web. Friday I officially became a very unique and high-level expert within the housing industry. After a long journey that forever changed who I am, how I view the world, and what matters to me, this morning, I finally had the ears of a room full of senior officials from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Behind closed curtains, I told these people everything they needed to hear and I wanted so bad to tell someone who actually understood and could affect change. I feel like the weight of the world just fell off my shoulders.

Overnight Success

Pacing back and forth on the gf’s porch, I spoke to these people from the heart. It took 3 minutes to breeze through my credentials. This sounds like a lot of time, but for a whistleblower, there are easy trappings to fall into. I didn’t just wake up one day with the right answer for the right ears — I consorted with hackers, activists, journalists, and other assorted “deadbeats” to face cultists, drones, incarceration, death, being committed, and more trouble than it could possibly be worth. I walked through the fires of hell holding on to nothing more than my own sense of morality. I earned this call… and I played my position for every ounce it’s worth.

I outlined for them the problems with mismatched technology – how allowing the banks to consolidate and buy each other out the way they did created a work environment where a regulator would have to study, practice, and dig through dozens of computer software systems training manuals to even begin working on the financial transactions contained within them. I illustrated to them that when financial health inspectors came to check out the banks, they were served freshly prepared information… and never bothered to check the kitchen.

Too Big Not To Fail

The officials were very interested in what I had to say. They tested my knowledge in every way possible, but they talked to me as an equal — they showed me respect. I’ve talked to a lot of state and federal regulators; I’m no unknown in civil law circles either. A lot of these people think it’s OK to talk down to me, but the FHFA guys (and broads) were good. They understood and made it very clear they want to help. I naturally question anyone’s intentions, but I know I can’t control the outcome. Yoga, meditation, and conversations with my loved ones remind me to detach from the outcome. Whatever the government does with the information I gave them, I know I gave it my all, and I know I gave them the right answers.

I wish I could sit here today and tell you that I just affected a major change in the world — I solved the housing crisis, gave a fair way to punish those involved, and threw the banks (and with any luck, every corporation) under the same bus the average citizen is. I explained to them that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac are responsible for maintaining the house the banks are gambling in. I detailed for them why force-placed insurance should be a service and not a product; how consumers deserve the same slap on the wrist for missing a payment that the banks get. I delved into every subject I wanted to say to the people I was saying it to if I ever had a chance to talk to them.

My at-bat may never be televised. I have no idea where the ball will land, and whether I’ll round the bases. All I know is I got a pitch right over the plate, so I closed my eyes, swung for the fences, and ran with it…

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Gonzo 2.0: Citizen Journos on Patroll

“Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

Bill Murray played me better than Johnny Depp…

 

Gonzo…and Other Muppet Journos…

The mainstream media may be as progressive and liberal as it’s ever been these days, but it’s still a far cry from reality. Each talking head in Media-World serves someone at one point or another; even “cool” mainstream media brands like MTV, Rolling Stone, etc, are pushing an agenda for whoever pays them. This is the beauty of citizen journalism;  it’s the only way that we find truly independent news sources online

The same technology that allows for government programs like PRISM, Domain Awareness, and the Hemisphere Project have spawned something more powerful than any sword, pen, firearm, or amendment…we have instant access to video recording and streaming in the palm of our hands – no longer can the loser’s history be silenced. As a new generation born, raised, and weened online makes their way into the reigns of power in this world, how do we determine what is legitimate citizen journalism?

Speed of delivery, solidity of mechanics, popularity, reputation, and relevance of content are all important considerations when determining which records among the pile of citizen journalism we handpick among the vast amounts of government-monitored data to preserve in our digital and analog memory-filling systems as facts and/or valid and entertaining thoughts and opinions.

I am of the opinion that a citizen journalist is considered a true journalist so long as they report the facts as they were presented to them, and properly validate their sources. One form of journalism once considered legitimate is a barely-remembered autobiographical (which, even on Wikipedia, is thin ice on which to tread, I assure you) form of journalism known as Gonzo journalism…invented and popularized by Hunter S Thompson, who later took it with him to his grave…

Gonzo Citizen Journalism Anonymous…

 

Hunted S. Thompson…

So, in one of my wackier moments in life I discovered a concept that finally appeased the trail of thought that drives most people to fill their lives with so many possessions, obligations, and memories. Basically, in order to discover inner peace, I needed to answer some very difficult questions in regards to my core human beliefs, values, and perceptions. I reached the fabled state of nirvana and discovered my inner peace, but the process of doing so put me at odds with the banks, Scientology, and the government; I reached a point of no return and stepped on some powerful toes in the process. In order to stay alive,  I reported my situation to the new media: Anonymous

Go #AnonymousArmy…

Anonymous is a brilliant avenue in which to resurrect Gonzo. With YourAnonNews and other social media accounts, I can become both the journalist and confidential source – a valuable tool in these desperate times in which we all live. The open-sourced nature of Anonymous leads to a fast-paced gonzo hydra, in which independent citizen source/journos can submit their work directly to the Anon hive, allowing it to be promoted and gain traction organically. Anon is an ideal that answers to no one – the bias is pro-transparency.

Fear and Loafing…

 

Fear and Loathing w/ Lost Gazes…

With the hivemind unleashed, the true democracy of the internet will soon topple the old money on the East Coast. I spent the last few years recovering from the trauma of facing Bank of America’s retaliation machines while guiding government regulators on every front through my shadowy corner of the foreclosure crisis. After finally saying my piece to the FHFA, it’s time to walk away from the housing crisis to focus on something much more important…

Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks have made a lot of realities public knowledge, and there’s a very clear difference of opinion between governments, corporate media, and the general public. While Occupy flopped in many regards, it did a lot to evolve the US government’s crowd response tactics in the wake of the internet. Big brother has arrived, and the only way to deal with a bully is to find someone bigger to fight back.

Instead of watching the news, average citizens should participate by going Gonzo 2.0 and participating in Anonymous like I have. Everyone who contributes news of what’s happening around them becomes a contributor to the global citizen journalist movement designed to give each of us as individuals the same opportunities to write and rewrite history as any organization or regime. We live in a powerful time, my friends, and it’s time we utilized that power for something…

It’s time to usher in the Age of Anonymous…

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.