Will Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette do the right thing and call for an independent investigation of possible illegal mortgage foreclosure operations by a Republican campaign contributor?
Linda Orlans and her daughter reportedly gave $7,200 to Johnson’s 2010 campaign for Secretary of State and the Troy-based Orlans and Associates is now at the center of questionable mortgage transactions that one expert says could put as many as 15,000 foreclosures in legal limbo.
This is a national story, reported today by Michigan Messenger and the MFI-Miami blog.
Mortgage fraud investigator and blogger Steve Dibert, based out of Miami and Traverse City, was instrumental in surfacing a robo-signing operation involving Orlans that caused Massachusetts to put the firm on a special watch list. Dibert also surfaced the link between Orlans and the Michigan Secretary of State whose office is responsible for investigating notary fraud.
Writes Dibert:
According to Johnson’s campaign finance reports, Both Linda and Alison Orlans gave Johnson, who was still Clerk during her Secretary of State campaign, a total of $7200 for her campaign. Linda Orlans gave $3400 on 7/30/2010 and Alison Orlans gave $3400 on 10/29/2010. From the files I’ve reviewed from the Oakland County Register of Deeds, it appears Orlans Associates had been filing bogus documents during Johnson’s entire tenure as Oakland County Clerk.