Inmate sought to intervene in Wells Fargo suit

December 2, 2008

Baltimore made national headlines in January when it sued megabank Wells Fargo for allegedly targeting poor blacks for sub-prime mortgage loans in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The city claims the practice, known as reverse-redlining, has, in addition to subjecting many of its residents to financial ruin, cost the municipality itself tens of millions of dollars in diminished tax revenue and extra police and fire department resources needed to manage the blight that has flowed from the foreclosure crisis.

However, after the initial splash — the case was thought to be the first of its kind — there has not been much subsequent activity this year: Wells Fargo asked Chief U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg to dismiss the case in March, and a hearing on that motion has been scheduled for early next year.

But an interesting wrinkle came in May when one David M. Kissi and his wife filed papers requesting permission to participate in the case on behalf of the city as a friend of the court. Kissi claimed the couple had owned several properties in Baltimore, had borrowed from Wells Fargo and had “20 years of first hand valuable information” to support the city’s case.

“The Kissis would also like to testify in their role as African-American borrowers of Wells Fargo and they are voluntarily willing to round up other minority borrowers of Wells Fargo if needed,” he wrote. “And for the Kissi’s to risk their personal safety and to help Baltimore to win, they plead that they should be awarded 10-30% of all fines, penalties and assessments that will come out of this litigation.”

Kissi’s wife’s supporting affidavit made another request of Judge Legg: to let her husband out of federal prison.

Here’s a brief account of Kissi’s long history with the legal system, courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to court records, Kissi went through a dozen defense lawyers during his criminal case and at one point sought to indict an FBI agent for suborning perjury. And the “countless” lawsuits the press release says Kissi filed? I counted over two dozen in Maryland’s federal court alone. Kissi is projected to be released at the end of August 2009.

Judge Legg denied Kissi’s motion to participate in the case against Wells Fargo shortly after Kissi filed it. And after Kissi, writing from his Lisbon, Ohio cell, asked the judge to order the federal government pay for the photocopies of transcripts he claims he needs for his appeal of Legg’s first ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Legg summarily denied that motion, too.

No wonder when I asked City Solicitor George A. Nilson a couple months ago about Kissi’s aspiring amicus, his response was, “I haven’t a clue.”

BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer

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Posted by Jackie Sauter, Web Editor | Filed Under Baltimore, law 

Comments

One Response to “Inmate sought to intervene in Wells Fargo suit”

  1. Brendan Kearney on December 11th, 2008 10:14 am

    Update: The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected Kissi’s appeal of his criminal conviction: http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/057138.U.pdf. Kissi claimed his trial attorney should have recruited an expert witness to testify about Kissi’s mental disorders…

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