Business - Florida Newsmakers of the Year

Mike Vogel | 1/1/2011

• FORECLOSURE FIGHTERS

Lisa Epstein and blogger Michael Redman uncovered fraudulent practices by mortgage holders. [Photo: Steve Mitchell/Newscom]

Forcing the Issue

For many, the bottom line in any mortgage dispute is whether the payments are being made. But Lisa Epstein, a West Palm Beach nurse turned foreclosure activist, focuses on fraudulent practices, backdated documents and robo-signers. Epstein and fellow Florida foreclosure-fighters — blogger Michael Redman in West Palm Beach, attorneys Lynn Szymoniak in Palm Beach Gardens, Matthew Weidner in St. Petersburg and Thomas Ice in Royal Palm Beach — lit the firestorm that pressured major mortgage holders to a brief, self-imposed moratorium on foreclosures until they say they sorted out their paperwork. Attorneys general launched investigations as did the federal government. Epstein, who says she was instructed by her mortgage servicer to stop paying her mortgage in 2008 so she could qualify for hardship assistance, wants a national moratorium, criminal investigations, lots of indictments, breaking up the big banks and more regulation and reform. Some argue slowing foreclosures only slows recovery. To Epstein, that's saying, "keep the criminals in charge and we'll have a recovery."

Lynn Szymoniak

Matthew Weidner

Thomas Ice

Business
• Mark Wilson
• Wilbur Ross Jr.
• Lola Gonzalez
• John Textor
• Robert Clements
• Thomas Gaffney
• Hugh Green
• R.J. Scaringe
• Foreclosure Fighters
• Julian MacQueen

Politics
• Mel Martinez & The Dominoes

Military
• Florida's Fallen Soldiers

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