In the latest of a flurry of under-the-wire lawsuits that seem to conflict with an imminent foreclosure fraud settlement, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York and a co-chair of the federal task force looking into the residential mortgage-backed securities market, sued three banks for their use of the MERS electronic registry, which resulted in fraudulent foreclosure filings.

At Bank of America, the situation is dire. We’ve been expecting a possible crackup of the big bank, which made some of the worst purchases in business history in acquiring Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Now, Yves Smith notes that BofA may have to pull out of key areas of the country in order to survive

Now here’s one of those tanigble victories for the Occupy movement. In Atlanta, protesters saved the house of an Iraq war veteran from foreclosure. There are thousands of potential stories just like Brigitte Walker’s, and thousands of potential activists ready to act on the situations. It’s time to get to work.

Simply put, Coakley seeks penalties for “unfair and deceptive practices” in violation of state consumer protection laws, in particular the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

The problem for the United States is that there’s no understanding of how much exposure US financial firms have to the expected fallout, especially if there’s a default event. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs announced their overall derivatives risk from sovereigns today, but wouldn’t pinpoint how much of that comes from Italy or Spain.

Meanwhile, the banks are preparing as well. I’ve obtained some email correspondence from a branch manager at a Chase bank in Manhattan. They’re apparently experimenting with some rebranding: “Our branch partners need our awareness & support – let’s help make sure Bank Transfer Day becomes Chase Pride Day!”

Bank of America has a right to dump risks onto other people if it helps exercise its right to make a profit.

Both of the provisions quoted will most likely be removed long before the Jobs bill gets anywhere near a vote, thanks to the captive legislators from both parties which makes the whining about it that much more irritating and ludicrous.

We don’t really have real debates on much of anything in America anymore, so it’s worth questioning whether this will be the effect. But for what it’s worth, Bernie Sanders’ office has released the major investigation coming out of that amendment – a GAO audit of the emergency lending programs carried out by the Fed in the wake of the financial crisis. These programs – not TARP, which mostly put the Congress on the hook for the bailout politically – represented the bulk of the federal government’s support for the banking sector. And they were carried out largely in secret. This GAO audit provides a window into just what the Fed did.

With more rumblings of a foreclosure fraud settlement in the air (you’ll notice that the New York Post’s not-believable figure of a $60 billion settlement has been revised down to $25 billion, and that none of the AGs who have repudiated the deal are quoted here), the more significant actions are happening, paradoxically, at the federal regulatory level.