Millberg Weiss Investigates First American Corporation

I note with interest that your firm is investigating possible illegal conduct relating to The First American Corporation 401(k) Savings Plan. Specifically, whether certain fiduciaries of the plan may have violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") in at least two ways: (1) by allowing employee participants to invest in First American common stock when it was not prudent to do so, and (2) by failing to disclose First American’s problems.

Would your firm further consider investigating what did Parker Kennedy and Frank McMahon of the First American Corporation disclose or failed to disclose to investors when they held a conference at Lehman’s Brothers' Tenth Annual London Financial Services Conference on May 17, 2007, at 11:40 a.m. EDT.
I hereto attach a post on the Yahoo/Finance/FAF/Message board. It is rather revealing!

At the time some other posts forewarned that Lehman in conjunction with FAF was setting up a scenario to make millions of dollars by shorting the stock. Shortly after the stock reached an all time high following the FAF presentation at Lehman, Lehman downgraded the stock and FAF announced losses for the quarter! Of course the stock imploded on unprecedented volumes. It would be interesting to find out who cashed in the most on ‘short’ positions then?

Note that although they have consistently gotten away with it up to now, senior executives at FAF are not novices at manipulating the FAF stock.

On April 22, 1999 at a stock holders’ meeting Parker Kennedy guaranteed that FAF would increase its dividend some time before year end. That remark sent the stock up some $4 the next day when trading volumes increased significantly.

By the end of 1999, FAF had not increased its dividend and had been forced to review the creative accounting practices that had caused its stock to trade at inflated values. That ‘dividend increase guarantee’ remark by Kennedy and other false statements by FAF senior executives at the time were all recorded on tape and are still available to date. At the time, the audio had also been published on the web but FAF saw to it that it got removed just like some of the messages forewarning the ‘short’ strategy allegedly set up by FAF/Lehman were recently removed from the Yahoo message board!

Incidentally, a transcript of the remarks can be read in my book: ‘First American Title To Injustice’.

As a FAF stockholder I would be glad to be a signatory to any class action you may decide to bring against those rogues! They deserve to be put out of business for ever!

First American Corporation - Fraud & Plunder...

Fraud & Plunder! An enduring way of doing business at First American for far too long!

I suppose First American views law suits, fines and penalties as part of the cost of doing business!

How about the lives that have been marred by First American along the way? How do those people view First American?

In February 1996 First American engaged in a fraudulent deal. To quote the First American lawyer: “The considerable risk First American took for reasons of its own…” ended up costing me and my family millions of dollars.

When I sued First American, Bill Heslington, the First American national accounts manager at the time told me: “Mr. Leclezio if you were to prevail in your suit, we could lose our license. We could never let that happen.”

At the time Jim Hopkins, of the Washington State Insurance department told me: “Mr. Leclezio, John P. Dahl (FAF WA. Manager) made a special trip from Seattle to Olympia to come and try and explain away your case against them. He knew that you had given me Mr. Lasky’s letter from Moses Singer New York. Dahl had ‘guilt’ written all across his forehead.”

I said to Mr. Hopkins: “Why don’t you sue First American and yank away their license?” Sadly Mr. Hopkins replied: “That is the problem with white collar crime. These people can steal millions from you and simply get away with it because they will have a battery of lawyers to defend them. We do not have the necessary funds to assign to going after them!”

I pray and hope that at long last Mr. Andrew Cuomo will have the staying power, the will it takes and the necessary funds to put First American out of business once and for all the good of the nation. Indeed the whole international financial world will be a much healthier place.

But just in case Mr. Cuomo does not have the muscle by himself to put First American out of business, I am actively and earnestly seeking a large enough reliable law firm to launch a major class action suit against First American. I pray and hope that justice will finally prevail.

Had First American lost its license back in 1996 how many American home owners and investors would have been a lot better off today?

I for one would not have been forced to live in poverty away from my dearly loved family and friends just because First American decided to engage in a fraudulent case they could not afford to lose and paying fines, penalties and law suits are just part of the cost of doing business at First American!

But! After all First American is a multi armed bandit machine, a soulless corporation without a face or feelings. Why should they care about the endless sufferings they inflict upon those they plunder, disfigure and damage for life!

New York Attorney General vs. First American Corporation

What has changed in the systemic fraudulent nature of FAF’s senior management?

It has predictably gone from bad to worse.

On June 2, 1998 Mr. Jerome Lasky of Moses & Singer, New York wrote:

“On analysis, we regard the recordation of the Deed of Trust by First American as particularly egregious conduct and, indeed a breach of its responsibilities as a licensed title company.

“Indeed we view First American’s conduct as so outrageous as to justify seeking the imposition of punitive damages as against it in any action based on its conduct.”

“In fact despite having been actively involved in title claims litigation for some thirty-five years, and having represented numerous title companies in claims litigation, the undersigned has never been presented with a comparable situation.”

“While we are addressing our letter of opinion to you personally, please be advised that we have no objection to your furnishing a copy of this letter to other counsel who are representing you in this matter or to First American, nor do we have any objection to your furnishing a copy of this letter to appropriate State Insurance Departments.

On November 1, 2007, nine years later Reuters reports that in yet another case alleging fraud by First American Corporation, New York’s Attorney General, Mr. Andrew Cuomo said: “Through this, First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion.”

"The independence of the appraiser is essential to maintaining the integrity of the mortgage industry," Cuomo said. "First American and eAppraiseIT violated that independence when Washington Mutual strong-armed them into a system designed to rip off homeowners and investors alike."

Should Mr. Cuomo seek help from Mr. Lasky or the offices of Moses & Singer? IMHO, a drastic meaningful action against those FAF rogues is long overdue!

Profile of Jerome Lasky, Esquire.

Mr. Lasky, joined Moses & Singer in 1948. In the course of his brilliant career, Mr. Lasky served as a Judge for the Nassau County District Court and has been an Adjunct Professor at the New York Univeristy Real Estate Institute. Mr. J. M. Lasky has also been a member of the Committee to Prepare a Code of Ethics for Nassau County.

In 1998, Mr. Lasky was a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York County Lawyers Association. Mr. J. M. Lasky has been a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at the Columbia University School of Law from where he graduated in 1948. During his College years Mr. Lasky has been the Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review.

More recently Mr. Lasky has published articles in the New York Law Journal. In 1998 Mr. Lasky was affiliated to various legal entities such as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Faculty, City Bar Center Continuing Legal Education Program), The New York County Lawyers Association, The New York State Bar Association and The American Bar Association.

First American Corporation Sued For Fraud...

First American involved in fraud…

This is nothing new!!!

In 1996 First American engaged in fraud and defrauded our family of millions of dollars.

At the time, FAF’s senior exec, Ad Zetz was deposed. He was asked why had First American engaged in fraud and violated its company manuals. Under oath, Zetz callously answered: “We had a chance to make a couple of thousand bucks!”

Highly respected attorney. Jerry Lasky Esquire of Moses & Singer, New York, sifted through documents and found a memo stating that the company was prepared to take a “considerable risk for future business.”

Has anything changed at FAF over the last 11 years? Why does FAF senior execs systematically condone at best shady if not fraudulent transactions?

In her post on 11/02/07 on the Yahoo/Finance/FAF/Message board/

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_F/threadview?m=tm&bn=6573&tid=9780&mid=10036&tof=4&rt=2&frt=2&off=1

janekane12 writes: “First American continues to prove that its leadership is ethically challenged.” Speaking from personal experience I confirm that ‘ethics’ is not a priority at FAF!

Janekane12 goes on to explain why ethics is of concern: “Most of the fines levied against title insurance companies are insufficient to deter improper behavior. Obviously, these types of arrangements are profitable. But this case, however, may be different. This one has the potential to be huge!

Now let us review the huge scope of the present case.

Could it generate a few class action suits in addition to civil and criminal proceedings by New York State?

Could investors who attended the Lehman Brothers conferences and invested heavily in FAF file suit? What did they hear from ex Lehman insider Frank McMahon that caused the FAF stock to reach an all time high shortly before it imploded? Did Frank and Parker Kennedy warn investors that FAF was about to turn in a loss for the quarter or was about to face major suits?

Could home buyers file a class action seeking refunds for all the extra payments they had to fork out as a result of their homes being overvalued?

On 10/31/07 nysemarketmaker wrote on this board:

“$12 in cash Hey! Should we be impressed? Please advise how much will be left after FAF settles claims? How much more needs to be set aside for upcoming major claims? Is FAF not also exposed to class actions that could allege that FAF and its execs have defrauded stock holders?”
And how about buyers of overvalued homes?
On 11/01/07 Forbes.com reported Cuomo’s statement: “Cuomo said eAppraiseIT and the parent company, ‘First American’ knew its actions were illegal, citing an April 17, 2007 e-mail from eAppraiseIT's president to First American that said: "We view this as a violation of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice influencing regulation."
On 11/02/07 janekane12 also wrote:

This case has been described as "one of the highest-profile government actions yet to assign blame for the mortgage crisis that is causing havoc in the financial markets." People are looking for someone to blame for the mortgage crisis - here is an excellent opportunity to send a message.”

A few on this board have attempted to opine that neither FAF nor WaMu had much to gain from overvalued real estate!!!

How asinine!

Remember we ‘were’ in a rising market. Remember FAF does not blink an eyelid before screwing a family out of millions of dollars for “to make a couple of thousand bucks” and pursuing the lure of future business!!!

How much more did FAF earn for every $10,000 a house was knowingly overvalued by?

How much more did WaMu get to collect monthly for every $10,000 a house was knowingly overvalued by? Did help WaMu inflate its paper?

Furthermore what was the perceived risk?

In a rising market, a higher valued home could increase the risk of the borrower defaulting through higher monthly payments. So what? So much more for FAF and WaMu! WaMu ends up with higher assets on its books, FAF ends up insuring and closing more deals through WaMu!!!