New York AG Booted From Mortgage Talks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been kicked off a panel that is working to negotiate a settlement with the largest U.S. mortgage lenders over questionable foreclosure practices.

"New York has actively worked to undermine the very same multistate group with which it had been working very closely over the previous nine months," read a statement from Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has been leading negotiations on behalf of many of the states.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

Attorneys general from other states, including New York, Massachusetts, Nevada and Delaware, have signaled hesitation about cutting a deal that would grant the banks immunity from ongoing investigations into foreclosure improprieties such as "robosigning" or falsifying documents in exchange for possibly as much as $20 billion that would be used to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. The banks involved in the talks includeBank of America(BAC), Wells Fargo(WFC), Citigroup(C), JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and Ally Financial.

Schneiderman has reportedly been investigating Bank of America(BAC), Goldman Sachs(GS)and Morgan Stanley (MS)and other institutions over mortgage securitization practices. He is also trying to block a settlement between Bank of America and 22 large institutions over mortgage backed securities, arguing the proposed $8.5 billion deal goes too easy on Bank of America.

A call to Scheiderman's office was not returned.

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.

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