Photos from the NYTimes by a former employee of the law firm of Steven J. Baum: Two Steven J. Baum employees mocking homeowners who have been foreclosed on.
Very revealing Halloween party
Steven J. Baum is a top law firm representing Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and other major banks as a “foreclosure mill” that is now subject of a federal investigation and multiple class-action law suits. Their corporate culture has come into question before as former employees whistleblow, but this most recent round of information leaked about the firm is simply appalling.
A former Baum employee has just leaked photos of Baum’s 2010 Halloween party that was foreclosure-themed and featured employees dressed as unkempt homeless people holding cardboard signs, making fun of the very people they have put on the streets. The company is already known for being cut throat, and their party is horribly offensive and the echoes of disgust by the media will likely be imposed across the entire real estate chain of practice from lenders to Realtors, thanks to this unforgivable fiesta.
Not only did the firm throw the party where employees dressed up as homeless people, the homeless people are drinking beer in a paper bag sleeve and can’t spell (one sign says “will worke for food”). Foreclosure is no joke, and many law firms have taken homes away from people that they shouldn’t have, and even for the rightful foreclosures of people who just couldn’t keep up, it is no laughing matter. Foreclosures hurt families, the neighborhood, and the economy, and mocking anyone who has become homeless of your own doing is sickening.
Joe Nacera at the NYTimes.com said, “When I called a press spokesman for Steven J. Baum to ask about the photographs, he sent me a statement a few hours later. ‘It has been suggested that some employees dress in … attire that mocks or attempts to belittle the plight of those who have lost their homes,” the statement read. “Nothing could be further from the truth.’ It described this column as ‘another attempt by The New York Times to attack our firm and our work.’ ”
We’ll let you look at more of the photos and judge for yourself:
This photo is a depiction of Susan Chana Lask, who posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm. From the NYTimes.
