Pass the Popcorn, Mortgage Fraud Edition

And another shoe drops, as California leaving the 50 state mortgage deal, claiming that it's too bank friendly, joining New York, Delaware, Minnesota, and Massachusetts (link) in objecting to the blanket grants of immunity proposed:

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will no longer take part in a national foreclosure probe of some of the nation's biggest banks, which are accused of pervasive misconduct in dealing with troubled homeowners.

Harris removed herself from talks by a coalition of state attorneys general and federal agencies investigating abusive foreclosure practices because the nation's five largest mortgage servicers were not offering California homeowners relief commensurate to what people in the state had suffered, Harris told The Times on Friday.

The big banks were also demanding to be granted overly broad immunity from legal claims that could potentially derail further investigations into Wall Street's role in the mortgage meltdown, Harris said.

“It has been  a process of negotiating and sitting at a table in good faith, but ultimately I have decided that we have to go our own course and take an independent path. And that decision is because we need to bring relief to Californians that is equal to the pain California experienced, and what is being negotiated now is insufficient," Harris told The Times in an interview.

Harris delivered the news in a letter sent Friday to Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, who has been leading the 50-state coalition.

Here are some other interesting bits:

The removal of California from the discussions is a major blow to fraying efforts by the coalition, which has been trying to strike a settlement deal with the big banks for months. The move by Harris to reject the settlement talks is also a key departure from efforts by the Obama administration, which has been pushing for a fast resolution to the so-called robo-signing scandal that erupted last year.

Just so you know, "Pushing for a fast resolution," translates to, "Throwing lawbreakers another get out of jail free card," because the Banksters are Obama's real base.

“This whole concept of a settlement on foreclosure abuse is probably dead,” said Christopher Whalen, the founder of Institutional Risk Analytics. “Nobody in their right mind is going to opt into a settlement right now.”

So one would hope.  Neither the Obama administration, nor their corrupt lackey Iowa Attorney Gen. Tom Miller have had the slightest interest in pursuing any allegations or real wrongdoing against big banks.

I'm not sure what is motivating the AGs to bail on what would be a win-win for them, they get to "wave the bloody shirt" of some sort of settlement payments while insuring their own access to Wall Street campaign donations, but it appears that either they think that the political calculus is changing, or they just want to do the right thing.