Trump's Treasury Secretary Pick Steven Mnuchin: 5 Things You Should Know

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, November 30, 2016

5. The 'Foreclosure King'

A screen displays the final numbers for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, August 8, 2011. Panicked selling on heavy volume resulted in the S&P 500's worst day since December 2008, with every stock in the benchmark index ending in negative territory. | (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Steve Mnuchin is controversial in some circles for his apparent profiting from the bursting of the housing bubble years ago.

"Mnuchin's resume also includes a stint as chairman and CEO of a California bank that's been called a foreclosure machine," reported NPR, referring to his purchase of a failed California bank called IndyMac.

"[Mnuchin and his partners] renamed the bank OneWest Bank and, after running it for six years, they sold it last year for a profit, estimated at close to $1.5 billion. Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition, a housing advocacy group, says that profit was made on the backs of suffering California homeowners."

A column in The Daily Beast published Tuesday referred to Mnuchin as the "foreclosure king" due in large part to his time at OneWest Bank.

"During his tenure at OneWest, the bank was responsible for attempting to remove families from their homes against the families' wills," read the column.

"A New York judge erased $525,000 in mortgage debt owed by a Long Island couple to OneWest Bank in 2009 because the institution was harassing them. Suffolk County Judge Jeffrey Spinner blasted the bank's 'harsh, repugnant and repulsive' acts as they attempted to toss the family out on the street around Thanksgiving."