WNYC News - Investigation Shows Politicians Profit off Foreclosure Sales

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2013/jun/17/court-appointments-go-political-insiders/

When New York State Senator John Sampson was arrested last month for allegedly embezzling $440,000 from foreclosure sales, the curtain pulled back on a little known corner of the state’s justice system – the job of foreclosure referee.

These are the private attorneys state court judges appoint to figure out how much is owed on a mortgage and to oversee any sale at a foreclosure auction.

WNYC spent weeks trying to understand how these court appointees operate -- reviewing property records, real estate data and hundreds of court files – and found a system with little oversight, rife with irregularities and dominated by political insiders.

(More at the link. Via Carlos of Occupy Fights Foreclosures.)