Deutsche Bank allowing foreclosed US properties to rot – literally

Recently I wrote about how the city of Milwaukee – settled by German immigrants – was being ruined by the actions, or inactions, of Germany's biggest bank.  A local professor and community activist, Susan Giaimo, even traveled to Frankfurt to confront Deutsche Bank's  Vorstand (board of managing directors) at the annual shareholders meeting.  That finally caught the attention of the German media, including Deutsche Welle:  

Giaimo works with the community organization named Common Ground of
Wisconsin. Deutsche Bank is much more involved in the housing crisis
than it likes to admit, according to the group. The company bought up
large packages of mortgages and resold them for a profit, and it serves
as trustee for thousands of Milwaukee homes – many of which have been
foreclosed on or are considered at-risk.

But still Deutsche Bank has done nothing to maintain any of the empty, foreclosed properties it now controls in Milwaukee.  The bank's gross negligence has led to a crisis situation in the city: 

Milwaukee could lose to demolition hundreds of houses if damaging
mold infects them as a result of flooding from the recent heavy rains.

Vacant houses, of which Milwaukee has between 5,000 and 6,000, are
most likely to fall victim to mold infiltration; the majority of those
structures are vacant because of foreclosure.

If that worst-case demolition scenario happens, the city would lose
millions of dollars from it tax levy rolls, said Ald. Michael Murphy.

(…)“If you are a bank, you have the responsibility to get in and
inspect these basements,” Murphy said. Up until now, he added, “the
banks have been doing the bare minimum.”

Murphy said he has asked Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works to
send letters to the three institutions involved — Wells Fargo, U.S.
Bank and Deutsche Bank — asking them to get workers into these homes to
inspect them for mold and take corrective action if necessary.

FInally there are some positive signs that the US government is turning up the heat on Deutsche Bank and the other major players in the subprime loan securitizaion scams.  Last week the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and other institutions, seeking documents relating to hundreds of $billions in mortgage securities they sold to Freddia Mac and Fannie Mae, underwritten by the US taxpayers.  Once the government can prove fraud, Deutsche Bank and its Wall Street peers may be forced to buy back these toxic assets.