The Steven J. Baum law firm, the New York foreclosure mill whose employees threw that appalling homeless-themed Halloween party, is shutting down just a month after pictures of the party were published by the New York Times.
November 21, 2011

Baum1

[Photo credit: NYT]

The Steven J. Baum law firm, the New York foreclosure mill whose employees threw that appalling homeless-themed Halloween party, is shutting down just a month after pictures of the party were published by the New York Times.

"The firm has been under fire from federal agencies and the public, including members of the local “Occupy” movement, for its alleged business practices," reports BusinessFirst.

The firm's apparent history of cruel indifference towards homeowners seeking to work out repayment or obtain a modification to save their homes, had previously earned the firm nothing more than the proverbial "hand slap" in the way of a fine not large enough to make the firm blink as they sign the check for "operating in a parallel mortgage universe, unrelated to the real universe,” according to one New York State Supreme Court judge.

Last week, Steven J. Baum himself sent Joe Nocera, the Times columnist who first published the pictures, an email claiming that Nocera's column destroyed his firm: "There is blood on your hands for this one, Joe… I will never, ever forgive you for this."

Nocera's column certainly couldn't have helped bring the downfall of Baum's foreclosure mill firm without the questionable actions of Baum himself. The filing of "robo-signed" documents, and use of practices that one Long Island judge likened to something out of the "Twilight Zone." Baum paid a $2 million fine in October to settle a Federal case accusing the firm of filing misleading papers to rush through foreclosures. These things combined with the reputation those photographs revealing the soul-less beings that comprised Baum's foreclosure mill earned them brought on the firm's karmic end.

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