AP:

“Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven’t read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures.

County officials in at least three states say they have received thousands of mortgage documents with questionable signatures since last fall, suggesting that the practices, known collectively as “robo-signing,” remain widespread in the industry.

The documents have come from several companies that process mortgage paperwork, and have been filed on behalf of several major banks…Lenders say they are working with regulators to fix the problem but cannot explain why it has persisted.”

It doesn’t take Lieutenant Columbo to solve this mystery. The answer lies further down in the same article. There’s this:

“It is a federal crime to sign someone else’s name to a legal document. It is also illegal to sign your name to an affidavit if you have not verified the information you’re swearing to. Both are punishable by prison.”

And then there’s this:

“In Guilford County, N.C….suspect signatures on the paperwork include 290 signed by Bryan Bly and 155 by Crystal Moore. In the mortgage investigations last fall, both admitted signing their names to mortgage documents without having read them. Neither was charged with a crime.

[…]

So far, no individuals, lenders or paperwork processors have been charged with a crime over the robo-signed signatures found on documents last year.”

Case closed.