Robo-signing whistleblower gets awarded millions

Jeffrey Rubin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:59:00 GMT

Check out this video from TBWS Daily about the $18-million payout awarded to Lynn Szymoniak, the Florida homeowner and attorney who exposed the "Linda Green" robo-signing scandal, after she filed a whistle-blower lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act.

Tucked into the landmark $25 billion national foreclosure settlement filed this week in federal court is an $18 million payday for Palm Beach Gardens homeowner Lynn Szymoniak.

The 63-year-old attorney specializes in white collar crime cases and was featured last year on the CBS news show 60 Minutes for her role in uncovering mortgage and foreclosure fraud. She has fought the banks since her own foreclosure saga began in 2008.

On Tuesday, she said the settlement is the culmination of years of work combing through foreclosure documents to piece together how the banks took illegal shortcuts to repossess people's homes.

"The $18 million is real, but it seems so surreal," Szymoniak said. "I've worked very, very hard for this."

Her award is included in a $95 million agreement reached among the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina and Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. The agreement is part of an overall federal recovery written into the $25 billion nationwide settlement between five banks and 49 state attorneys general. The settlement also includes Ally Financial.

Read more at The Palm Beach Post

Do you think the $18-million payout fair or do you think it's excessive?

Jeffrey Rubin : $18-millon payout

Robo-signing whistleblower gets awarded millions