Virginia Organizing Leaders to Attend Bank of America Shareholders Meeting
Charlottesville, VA – On Tuesday, May 8, leaders of the statewide group Virginia Organizing will leave their main office at 11:00 a.m. en route to Bank of America’s shareholders meeting on May 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Virginia Organizing is working with numerous other groups, many under the banner of “The New Bottom Line,” to challenge Bank of America’s corporate practices regarding foreclosures, predatory lending, tax reform and more.
May 8 Send off event
WHO: Virginia Organizing
WHAT: Send off to Bank of America Shareholders Meeting
WHEN: Tuesday, May 8, 11:00 a.m.
WHERE: Virginia Organizing office, 703 Concord Avenue
Charlottesville, Virginia
NOTES:
$0 in Federal Income Taxes. Bank of America has not owed any federal income taxes for the past three years. On the contrary, since 2009, the bank actually reported a net tax benefit of $5.0 billion.[1] One of the ways Bank of America is able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes is by using offshore subsidiaries that are registered in tax havens, like the Cayman Islands. As of 2008, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Countrywide had 143 subsidiaries in known tax havens.[2]
Foreclosure Leader. As of June 2010, Bank of America had $88 billion worth of foreclosed homes in its servicing portfolio—more than any other mortgage servicer in the country. The bank also owned $18.7 billion worth of foreclosed homes, the second highest in the nation.[3]
Foreclosure Fraud. Bank of America is at the heart of the foreclosure fraud scandal. An executive at the bank admitted to robo-signing up to 8,000 foreclosure documents per month without reviewing the information in each file to ensure that the bank had a legal right to proceed with foreclosure.[4] There have been numerous reports of Bank of America foreclosing on the wrong home.[5]
Exploiting Military Members. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against a Bank of America subsidiary for wrongfully foreclosing on approximately 160 military service members. According to the DOJ, the bank was “knowingly and repeatedly violating the Service members Civil Relief Act.” Bank of America paid $20 million to settle the charges.[6]
Predatory Lending. Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America now owns, was investigated in 2008 for predatory lending and securities fraud. In December 2011, Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million to settle charges of discriminatory lending. It is the largest discrimination settlement to date.[7]
Virginia Organizing is a statewide grassroots organization that brings people together
to create a more just Virginia.
www.virginia-organizing.org
[1]Bank of America 2012 10-K, http://www.sec.gov/cgi–bin/viewer?action=view&cik=70858&accession_number=0000070858-12-000155&xbrl_type=v#
[2]GAO-09-157, INTERNATIONAL TAXATION: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions, Government Accountability Office, Dec 2008. Includes 115 Bank of America subsidiaries, 21 Merrill Lynch subsidiaries and 7 Countrywide subsidiaries.
[3]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548403873382036.html?KEYWORDS=%22home+loans+in+foreclosure%22
[5]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/retired–florida–foreclosure_n_885477.html; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/bank–of–america–breaking–into–homes_n_800111.html; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/homeowners–wrongfully–foreclosed–upon_n_794194.html; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/banks–foreclosure–break–in_n_752613.html; http://articles.sun–sentinel.com/2010-09-23/business/fl–wrongful–foreclosure-0922-20100921_1_foreclosure–defense–attorney–foreclosure–case–jumana–bauwens
