Curtis Hertel, Jr., the Ingham County Register of Deeds, and Branch County Registrar Nancy Hutchins filed the suit, which alleges that the company and numerous banks failed to pay property transfer taxes when the title to the company was transferred to another owner in the MERS system.

“MERS created a shadow registry system that has made it very difficult for the public and for government offices like mine to keep track of who owns what mortgage,” Hertel said. “They have also stated they were created to avoid fees in my office. When we began the investigation into robo-signing I asked my attorneys to research MERS foreclosures to see if there were patterns of irregularity. This lawsuit is a direct result of that investigation. I believe there has been a systematic attempt to avoid paying taxes by MERS and the banks that use MERS.”

Hertel alleges the company has created a “shell game” designed to dodge taxes.

“MERS has transformed the entire mortgage industry into a giant shell game”, said Hertel. “The current servicer of a mortgage is no longer a matter of public record, and once a property is foreclosed, the real games begin, as deeds and other paperwork are filed in such a way to avoid transfer taxes at every step. Property ownership is clouded, and the simple task of collecting transfer tax has been turned into this legal battle, largely because of the involvement of MERS.”

The lawsuit also targets three foreclosure attorneys — Marshall Isaacs from Orlans Associations and Ellen Coon and Jeanne Kivi of Trott and Trott. Both Orlans and Trott and Trott have come under fire in recent months for participating in robo-signing. Both organizations are also significant Republican donors in Michigan.

Also of interest, David Trott’s Attorney’s Title company is named as a defendant. Trott owns what is considered the largerst foreclosure law firm in the state. Linda Orlans’ title agency eTitle is also named. Orlans’ runs Orlans Associates.

“I am seeking repayment of both state and county transfer tax. Without discovery it’s hard to tell you an exact number,” Hertel said. “I am positive its in the millions of dollars for both of them.”

This is not the first lawsuit Hertel has filed in relation to recovering millions of dollars of unpaid taxes arising from the title transfers. Earlier this year he sued Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and numerous banks over what he alleges is an improper claim to an exemption thus requiring the entities to pay millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

“I hope everything we are doing gives the banks, MERS and foreclosure firms pause,” Hertel said. “We could avoid a lot of these situations if they just worked with individual citizens instead of pushing people into the foreclosure process.”

Organizers with Occupy Minnesota deny that any protesters were connected to the box, saying it was the action of a “provocateur.”

“It seems like the motivation is either to make us look bad, or he doesn’t seem to be entirely like he knows exactly what he’s doing,” Occupy Minnesota spokesperson April Lukes-Streich told the Minnesota Independent. ”We’ve informed the Sheriff’s Department that we know they’re not part of our group, so far they haven’t reacted much to that, and we will be keeping an eye out and we absolutely don’t condone that kind of behavior.”

Occupy Minnesota organizers stressed that the movement has been non-violent since its inception.

A spokesperson from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department sent out a press release with photos of the box Monday night: ”The Sheriff’s Office is investigating. This incident is a concern for the safety of all citizens at the Government Center, those who work at the Government Center, and law enforcement officers.”

The press release also listed more than a dozen incidents that the Sheriff’s Department said were “related to the demonstration,” ranging from medical assistance for a man who was extremely intoxicated to three people running around the plaza “wearing underwear.”

An Occupy Minnesota organizer said many of the incidents were unrelated to the protest.

“These are things that happen downtown late at night, regardless of whether there’s an occupation occurring,” Lukes-Streich said. “Since the majority of these incidents can not be attributed to members of Occupy Minnesota, I do think it’s unfair.”

Seven Occupy protesters were voluntarily arrested after blocking traffic outside the U.S. Bank building last week during a protest against foreclosures.

Members of Occupy Minnesota have been meeting daily with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department. Occupiers have asked Hennepin County to allow them to erect tents as winter approaches, but authorities are standing firm on the tent ban.

A number of events are taking place at the Hennepin County Government Plaza in coming days, including a Wednesday march on U.S. Bank to demand the bank negotiate with a homeowner who is facing foreclosure.

In an interview with Michigan Messenger, Ciccone explained why so many homeless people from throughout the region have flocked to the northern town of about 14,000.

“This is a unique system with the churches here,” Ciccone, 55, said over a roast beef dinner served by volunteers at the Faith Reform Church on Front St. “You won’t find this in too many places.”

The churches in town have collaborated to put on a meal each night that is free and open to anyone in the community. There is a church-run house that provides warmth, showers, laundry, food, computers, telephone and other services for four hours most days, and in the winter the churches take turns hosting people who need a place to sleep. They also provide breakfast.

“This is one of the only places where there is a meal every night,” said Richard Tomey, a street outreach worker for Goodwill Industries. His mission is to help the homeless survive.

In late September, he said, there were several dozen, if not a hundred, homeless people sleeping outdoors in Traverse City.

“The word getting out about Traverse City attracts a lot of people … [from] Ypsilanti, Detroit, Grand Rapids, where they are getting hit real hard and there’s only two type of people on the street, the predators and the victims.”

“They’re coming up here,” Tomey said, “and we are trying to do the best we can.”

Ciccone said he’s been among the city’s homeless for a year and a half since losing a job at his father’s vineyard and winery in Suttons Bay. He said that it annoys him that some people are amused that a person from such a high profile family would end up sleeping, as he does, under the Union St. bridge.

“My family turned their back on me, basically, when I was having a hard time,” he said. “You think I haven’t answered this kind of question a bazillion times — why my sister is a multibazillionarie, and I’m homeless on the street?”

“Never say never,” he said. “This could happen to anybody.”

“I don’t have any income, I’ve got to go collect bottles and cans, do odd jobs.”

Despite the uncommon community effort to help the homeless here, there are gaps, and Ciccone was among several locals who got cold-related injuries last winter.

“They can’t do everything all the time for everybody, they just don’t have the resources,” he said. “These people that run these things are all volunteers, they don’t get paid to to do these things.”

In the cold seasons the church shelters usher people out at 8 am and city rules against camping and camp fires make staying warm difficult.

“Where do you go at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning and you have no money in your pocket?”

If you spend enough time on frozen concrete without proper insulation you will get frostbite, he said. “You have no idea how gruesome it is.”

“You get nerve damage. That’s the milder stage, in the severe stage you have tissue damage, that is when you lose parts of your body.”

“I got frostbite on my feet last winter, Ciccone said. “A friend of mine lost all ten toes. Several have died of hypothermia.”

“You go and find a place to stay warm like the lobby at the jail, or you take a walk to get your feet warm and go to Meijer’s and sit in the lobby there.”

This situation has developed at a time when Gov. Snyder and the Republican-led state legislature have slashed funding for social services and reduced the number of people eligible to continue receiving public assistance. Cuts in local revenue sharing have also forced local municipalities to make deep budget cuts.

As more and more people become ineligible under new rules government unemployment benefits, food stamps, cash aid and heating assistance, the number of people struggling to stay off the streets is only likely to increase.

Their arrests occurred after about 100 protesters took control of 2nd Avenue South and 6th Street South in downtown Minneapolis after rallying at the U.S. Bank building for more than an hour.

The protest was partly a bid to set up tents at the occupation at Hennepin County Government Center Plaza, a request that the Hennepin Count Sheriff’s Department, which controls their plaza, has denied. A medic said he hasn’t yet seen injury from the cold, but that hypothermia was becoming more of a risk as temperatures plummet.

Protesters carried three wooden-framed structures dressed in transparent plastic from plaza to the sidewalk of U.S. Bank building across the street, then to the intersection on the other side of the building.

In the building, it was business as usual as office workers lunched, but outside U.S. Bank set up a security cordon to control who entered the building, initially denying media access. All private areas of the plaza were also fenced off.

Despite the security, protesters willing to be arrested said they were able to sneak inside and almost set up a tent on the 12th floor before being escorted out, but not arrested, by security.

Protester Katrina Plotze said she was willing to be arrested to stand against the influence of corporations and banks.

“I think it is interesting we have not been arrested and that we’ve been occupying this intersection,” Plotze told protesters as she stood near a tent set up in the intersection early in the occupation. “That shows that police and the city know about the 99 percent of this country is on our side.”

When protesters initially took the intersection, police destroyed one of the see-through tents, smashing it into pieces. Protesters occupied the intersection peacefully, with police blocking off traffic on all four sides.

After almost one and a half hours, police announced that protesters who didn’t leave would be arrested. The seven who chose to go to jail sat in tents in the middle of the street until they were led away by police. Don Gerten, 65, wasn’t involved in the civil disobedience. Instead he was standing near the plaza with a sign reading “We were promised a future. Where is it?”

Gerten described himself as a “basically conservative veteran.”

“If you asked if I’d be doing this six months ago, I’d say you were crazy, but this country is in such bad shape you’ve got to do something,” he said. “Things get so bad you got to do something.”

But Bachmann’s voting record in the U.S. House of Representatives has not reflected her rhetoric at last night’s debate. From the transcript:

ANDERSON COOPER: Congresswoman Bachmann, does the federal government have a role in keeping people in their homes, saving people from foreclosure, in the state of Nevada?

MICHELE BACHMANN: That was the question that was initially asked. And what I want to say is this — every day I’m out somewhere in the United States of America, and most of the time I’m talking to moms across this country. When you talk about housing, when you talk about foreclosures, you’re talking about women who are at the end of their rope because they’re losing their nest for their children and for their family. And there are women right now all across this country and moms across this country whose husbands, through no fault of their own, are losing their job, and they can’t keep that house. And there are women who are losing that house.

I’m a mom. I talk to these moms. I just want to say one thing to moms all across America tonight. This is a real issue. It’s got to be solved. President Obama has failed you on this issue of housing and foreclosures. I will not fail you on this issue. I will turn this country around. We will turn the economy around. We will create jobs. That’s how you hold on to your house.

Hold on, moms out there. It’s not too late.

As The American Independent’s sister site The Minnesota Independent previously reported, in March, Bachmann voted to defund the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in a bill titled the “FHA Refinance Program Termination Act.” Within that same bill, Bachmann voted against an amendment that would have saved a portion of HAMP for senior citizens whose mortgages are in negative equity, or “underwater.”

The Minnesota Independent has also reported that Minnesota’s 6th District, which Bachmann represents, suffered the highest foreclosure rates in the state in 2008 (estimated at 5,227) and 2009. Nevertheless, the congresswoman has voted against all but one measure aimed at foreclosure relief during her time in office, including: the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which included provisions to help struggling homeowners, signed into law by former President George W. Bush; the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act; the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, intended to provide funds to communities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes; and the Expand and Preserve Home Ownership Through Counseling Act, the goal of which was to improve homeowners’ financial literacy.

In February 2009, Bachmann talked about the national foreclosure crisis on her blog in a way that did not reflect the sympathy she was trying to convey to women during Tuesday’s presidential debate:

When President Obama released his plan this week to prevent home foreclosures, the point he wanted to get across to everyone watching was that money from folks who have been making their payments on time will not just be handed over to those folks who got in over their heads and bought a house they knew they couldn’t afford.

It’s estimated that around four million homeowners are in danger of foreclosure, and in order to help them out, part of the President’s plan creates a $75 billion program that would go towards reducing a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment. That breaks down to about $18,750 per home.

Now, we can debate whether this is the right thing to do as it may seem that you’re rewarding the irresponsible while punishing those who have been playing by the rules.

Watch snippets from last night’s debate, including Bachmann’s statements on foreclosures and her promise to moms, produced by HuffPost Politics:

“Chase Bank is one of the abusive lending institutions responsible for the sputtering economy,” said Ian Eberhart, one of the Oct. 18 spokespersons. “The company took $25 billion in tax payer bail out cash, yet they continue to refuse to issue payroll credit to small businesses in Michigan. On top of that, they have avoided paying tens of millions of dollars in state and local title transfer taxes, robbing local communities of vital fire, police and other services.”

Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr. filed suit earlier this year against Chase and other banking institutions to recoup title transfer taxes. Those taxes, Hertel argues in his filings, were avoided by transferring titles through the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS). MERS facilitated transfers which in turn allowed banks to sell mortgages on the market. Many of those mortgages and titles were transferred hundreds of times.

But that is not all the protesters are upset about.

“In addition to the bail outs and tax dodging, Chase manipulates accounts in order to cause excessive overdraft fees for customers,” said Nick Cooper, the other Oct. 18 spokesperson, who is a former Chase account holder. “Then to add insult to injury, this tax evading company is cavorting with mortgage foreclosure companies who have knowingly filed fraudulent foreclosure documents in order to steal the homes of hard working men and women in this country and state.”

Protesters also noted that Linda Orlans, the owner of Orlans Associates, recently held a fundraiser for Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. Marshall Isaacs, an attorney at Orlans, has been accused in a national robo-signing scandal.

In addition to the protest from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., protesters say Hertel will join them at Reutter Park to educate them on the foreclosure process and abuses.

The event was touted as a “special reception to honor Secretary of State Ruth Johnson” according to a copy of the invitation. Former Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser was also in attendance. Attendees at the event, held in Orlans’ home, were asked to pay $250 to $3,400 to Johnson’s campaign fund.

Michigan Messenger reported earlier this year that Orlans’ attorney Marshall Isaacs had been placed on a robo-signing list by a county clerk in Massachusetts.

Kevin Harvey, first assistant clerk for the Southern Essex District Register of Deeds in Massachusetts, says a private mortgage fraud investigator brought the robo-signing to the attention of his boss, John O’Brien. That investigator, Steve Dibert, runs MFI-Miami, which has offices in Florida as well as Traverse City.

“Steve [Diberts]’s work on Marshall Isaacs was confirmed by our certified mortgage fraud examiner Marie McDonnell here in Massachusetts and his name is on our registry’s robo-signers list,” Harvey told the Michigan Messenger.

Those revelations resulted in lawmakers and activists alike calling on Johnson to conduct an investigation of Orlans Associates.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics shows that in the 2010 cycle, Linda Orlans gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans. She donated $25,000 to the state party, as well as maxing out in donations to Secretary of State Ruth Johnson with a $3,400 donation. She gave Gov. Rick Snyder’s campaign $2,600 and Attorney General Bill Schuette’s campaign $2,100.

The group’s records also show that between 2006 and 2010, other officials with the company also gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates.

Steve Dibert, of MFI-Miami, slammed Johnson for her relationship with Orlans.

Last year, when she ran for Michigan Secretary of State, Ruth Johnson vigorously campaigned for opening up government and for more government integrity. Yet, Ruth Johnson pals around with and has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a woman whose law firm is currently under criminal investigation in two states for filing fraudulent documents on the public record. Recently, Orlans Associates was sued for illegally foreclosing on a Michigan National Guardsman while he was fighting in Iraq. Orlans Associates has also been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by several Michigan counties because their clients failed to pay millions of dollars in unpaid Michigan Real Estate Transfer Taxes.”

During Ruth Johnson’s tenure as Oakland County Register of Deeds, Linda Orlans’ firm filed hundreds of documents with fraudulent attorney and notary signatures in Oakland County. Yet, when approached about these signatures in December of 2009 and again in the Spring of 2010 by me and other people, Ruth Johnson did nothing. Even now my staff has alerted the Michigan Secretary of State’s office to the fraudulent notary signatures on mortgage assignments filed by Orlans Associates in dozens of counties in Michigan and Massachusetts. Ruth Johnson responds by raking in an estimated $25,000 of dirty money from Linda Orlans and her friends who are hell bent on committing financial genocide against middle class families across America.”

Shortly after that story appeared, Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr. referred Isaacs to Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette for criminal investigation in a series of robo-signed documents he had discovered in county records.

Orlans issued a blanket denial against the allegations two weeks after the stories about Isaacs first broke.

This news comes on the heels of a revelation last week that robo-signed documents have now been linked to Trott and Trott, the state’s largest foreclosure law firm. Dibert writes on his blog that Trott attorney Kenneth Kurel is alleged to have robo-signed at least eight deeds on file with Register of Deeds offices across the state. Two days later, Dibert reported that Ellen Coon, another Trott attorney, was allegedly involved in robo-signing at least four such documents.

Trott is another GOP donor with deep pockets. David Trott, owner of Trott and Trott, came under fire in 2008 when he leased space to the presidential campaign of Republican candidate John McCain.

“What they are basically saying is they can forge an assignment and there is nothing the citizen or court can do about it. It is a brazen attempt to legalize robosigning,” says Hertel. “It’s just another example of Fannie Mae thumbing its nose at the American people, and unfortunately while they are under federal bailout we are paying for it.”

This is happening in the case of a Haslett man who suffered a stroke and fell behind on his mortgage payments. As a result, Flagstar Bank and Fannie Mae foreclosed on him and are now in the final stages of evicting him from his Haslett home, says Hertel.

Lawyers representing Flagstar and Fannie Mae put the issue this way in a court filing:

“In this case, Flagstar was and always has been the foreclosing party. MERS assigned its interest in the mortgage to the note holder. The defendant lacks standing to challenge the assignment as the defendant was not party to the assignment. The only party that may object to the language of the assignment is MERS or Flagstar Bank. Because defendant is not a party to the assignment, the defendant cannot challenge the assignment. Further, the Defendant expressly allows MERS to assign the mortgage at any time without notice per the mortgage itself.”

By this reasoning, Hertel says that he has no way to assist homeowners who are being victimized by fraudulent filings, such as robosigned documents his office has been uncovering since April. He has turned dozens of such robosigned documents over to Attorney General Bill Schuette and the FBI. Hertel has also been holding foreclosure town hall meetings across Ingham County, including one Wednesday evening in Webberville

Hertel has filed a formal statement with the court in the Haslett case challenging these arguments.

“Without the ability to challenge in court the validity of documents that appear facially valid, but which are actually fraudulent, our land records system will degrade into an unreliable and meaningless stack of paper in which wrong-doers can commit fraud upon the people of this state with impunity.”

“Basically they are saying I have no choice but to accept documents I know are criminal,” says Hertel. “I believe this is arrogance beyond belief and is them basically saying we can commit fraud and you can’t challenge it. In other words robosigning is fine.”

Highland Park is a small city that is surrounded by the city of Detroit.

Detroit News reports that 14,000 light poles have been removed and locals are complaining that schools and businesses have been targeted by burglars since the city went dark.

[DTE Spokesman Len Singer] said the utility is under no obligation to maintain service to communities that don’t pay their bills. “But obviously, we wanted to work with the city to provide some lighting for their residents and businesses,” he said.

DTE began removing the light poles in August, rather than just cutting off the power, to avoid lawsuits and confusion, he said.

“Mostly, it was a liability issue; we didn’t want to have poles there that were de-energized, and likely won’t ever be energized again,” Singer said. “Also, we wanted to avoid the confusion of having lights up that don’t work. In the end, we figured it was better to just take them out.”

Some cities own their street poles and pay DTE for the electricity. “But we own the lights in Highland Park,” Singer said.

Highland Park is having a hard time paying for other services, too.

The state Treasury Department recently ordered a review of the finances of the city’s school system, a step that could lead to a takeover of the schools, as has already happened in Detroit.

Under Michigan’s contested Emergency Manager law the governor can appoint people to take over financially-troubled local governments and schools and fire elected officials, break contracts, privatize services or even dissolve municipalities.

By assets, Wells Fargo is the second largest in the country, trailing Bank of America, which will roll out a $5 a month usage fee that will affect most accounts, save a student program and two premium accounts Premium and Platinum Privileges that require $20,000 and $50,000 in holdings, respectively.

While Citibank announced it’ll hold off on adding new charges to its customers, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and SunTrust Banks have rolled out their set of fees this past year.

Bloomberg explains the impetus for the new charges:

The [Federal Reserve] capped debit-card swipe fees at 21 cents starting Oct. 1. It will let issuers tack on five basis points, or 0.05 percent, of each transaction, or almost 2 cents based on the average debit purchase of $38, and a conditional 1-cent adjustment for lenders that follow fraud-prevention standards.

[…]

The cap, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, replaces a formula that averages 1.14 percent of the purchase price, or about 44 cents. The limit may reduce annual revenue at the biggest U.S. banks by $8 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg Government show.

In general, banks are finding new methods of warding off low-value customers who use savings accounts but avoid higher yield financial services. With economists stoking fears of a second dip into recession throughout the summer months, commercial bank holdings have increased at blistering rates due to individuals in search of a safe place to park their money.

However, with every new dollar under a bank’s management, that’s additional federal fees the bank has to pay, like deposit insurance premiums, also known as FDIC. And with interest rates near zero, and a dearth of expensive loans being issued, the financial firms have little to gain from the additional holdings. During the financial boom years preceding the economic collapse, banks were hungry for cash holdings to better leverage the high number of mortgages issued.

But, it’s not all bad news: Earlier in September of this year, the magazine Working Mother identified Bank of America, the second largest bank in New Mexico, as one of the top employers for working mothers.