The latest revelation from Dayen is that the Consumer Law Section of California’s attorney general office actually recommended filing a massive civil suit against OneWest. The office didn’t have jurisdiction to subpoena OneWest because it’s a national bank, and OneWest blocked their other efforts to obtain documents. But the evidence the office did amass led them to suspect OneWest put fraudulent dates on nearly all the California foreclosures, so it could clear legal hurdles and finish out the process more quickly. The extent of its behavior in the other 49 states is anyone’s guess.
Unfortunately, California’s then-Attorney General Kamala Harris didn’t go through with the suit.
Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are eager to nail Mnuchin to the wall for all this. They’re inviting people to share their personal stories of being foreclosed on by OneWest, and there are plans for some of the victims to testify at Mnuchin’s Senate hearing. It’s not clear how Mnuchin could respond, other than by saying he wasn’t personally aware of or involved in OneWest’s practices — an argument that didn’t go so well for Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf.
The problem for Democrats is their own history shows how these sorts of stories can do lasting damage to a major Cabinet nominee.
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