Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, released the following statement in response to a memo leak documenting widespread misconduct at OneWest, a bank that was headed by President-elect Trump’s Treasury nominee, Steve Mnuchin. The leaked memo exposes the bank’s violation of notice and waiting period statues, which subsequently forced struggling homeowners out of their homes, resulting in tens of thousands of foreclosures in California at the height of the financial crisis. The memo also discloses that the bank illegally backdated and falsified documents, gamed and manipulated foreclosure auctions, and engaged in other illegal acts during the foreclosure process:

“Given the breadth and scope of the subprime crisis that displaced millions of families across the country and brought the country to the brink of a Depression, it shocks the conscience that the President-elect, who promised to ‘drain the swamp,’ would give the keys to the Treasury to a man whose bank engaged in massive fraud and profited off the backs of Americans that his company threw out on the street.

“As the head of OneWest Bank, Mnuchin oversaw the foreclosures of over 36,000 homes in California at the height of the financial crisis. Many of those foreclosures took place because of the fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal mortgage lending and servicing practices of Mnuchin’s company. To add insult to injury, Mnuchin is promising to lead Trump’s crusade to dismantle Wall Street reform, including weakening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established to protect consumers from the very kinds of predatory actions in which OneWest engaged.

“With a cabinet that already includes several billionaires and Wall Street insiders, the newest revelations about Mnuchin raise significant questions about whether President-elect Trump’s administration will actually be on the side of working Americans. OneWest’s predatory actions, reckless disregard for the law, and mistreatment of America’s homeowners while under Mnuchin’s leadership clearly disqualifies him from serving as our nation’s Treasury Secretary.

“I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject his nomination.”

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