Harris Refused to Prosecute the "Foreclosure King"
Although many of Harris's prosecutorial actions harmed people of color, a notable one helped the white "foreclosure king" Steve Mnuchin, now Trump's Treasury secretary.
Mnuchin was CEO of OneWest Bank from 2009-2015. A 2013 memo obtained by The Interceptalleges that "OneWest rushed delinquent homeowners out of their homes by violating notice and waiting period statutes, illegally backdated key documents, and effectively gamed foreclosure auctions."
After a yearlong investigation, the California attorney general's Consumer Law Section "uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct." In 2013, they recommended that Harris prosecute a civil enforcement lawsuit against the bank.
"Without any explanation," Harris's office declined to initiate litigation in the case.
Mnuchin donated $2,000 to Harris's Senate campaign in February 2016. It was his only donation to a Democratic candidate.
In January 2017, the Campaign for Accountability claimed that Mnuchin and OneWest Bank used "potentially illegal tactics to foreclose on as many as 80,000 California homes," and called for a federal investigation.
Harris wrote in her memoir, The Truths We Hold, "America has a deep and dark history of people using the power of the prosecutor as an instrument of injustice." She added, "I know this history well of innocent men framed, of charges brought against people without sufficient evidence, of prosecutors hiding information that would exonerate defendants, of the disproportionate application of the law."
Indeed, the public record indicates that as district attorney and later as attorney general of California, Harris has contributed to the injustice she claims to abhor.
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