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January 19, 2017

Homeowners Facing Foreclosure by Mnuchin's Bank Urge Lawmakers to Reject His Nomination
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Former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin will also have his
confirmation hearing for treasury secretary today. Mnuchin has faced
criticism for his role at One West, a bank which has been called a
"foreclosure machine" that profited from the collapse of the housing
market. On Wednesday, homeowners who face foreclosure by One West or its
subsidiaries testified at a meeting held by Massachusetts Senator
Elizabeth Warren. This is 84-year-old Colleen Ison-Hodroff, who took out
a reverse loan with the One West subsidiary Financial Freedom in 2006 on
the home she and her husband, Monroe, had been living in since 1963.

Colleen Ison-Hodroff: "My husband Monroe passed on September 12th, 2014.
A mere 10 days later, despite what we had been told, Financial Freedom
contacted me and told me that I needed to pay off the loan immediately.
This was news to me. I was in no financial position to do so. Since
then, Financial Freedom has been trying to foreclose on me. I think this
is an injustice, in that an elderly woman was deceived and now Financial
Freedom is trying to take my home. I hear that Steve Mnuchin was a
leader of the bank that is doing this to me and other seniors. I do not
think a man like that should be the treasury secretary and in charge of
our economy."

That's Colleen Ison-Hodroff speaking about her fight to save her home
from foreclosure by a subsidiary of One West, Steven Mnuchin's bank. Two
organizations have filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and
Urban Development accusing One West of discriminating against people of
color by refusing to make loans to African Americans, Asian Americans
and Latinos while Mnuchin was in charge of the bank. Ahead of today's
hearing, Mnuchin submitted a revised questionnaire, which reveals he is
the director of investment fund Dune Capital International Ltd., which
is incorporated in the tax haven the Cayman Islands. He also admitted he
has management posts in seven other funds, which he claims he
"inadvertently" failed to include on his first questionnaire. Fortune
magazine recently reviewed financial disclosures by Mnuchin and reported
that he's worth as much as 10 times richer than previously thought,
worth as much as $400 million.


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