Justice
Remember the landmark $25 billion federal foreclosure settlement from February? The one which has provisions to help prevent foreclosure on homeowners, provisions most states are ignoring? Which doesn’t yet seem to be doing much for foreclosure victims at all? Well, at least one person has benefited from the settlement: the whistleblower who drew the curtains back on the wizards at Countrywide Financial to kick off the case in the first place. Kyle Lagow, who was fired for pointing out illegalities in Countrywide’s foreclosure appraisal business, first brought the situation to the government’s attention with a lawsuit in 2008. That particular lawsuit, which rolled into one huge suit with a bunch of similar ones, was eventually settled for $1 billion. Whistleblower laws entitle a citizen who first brings up a case and turns over evidence to a certain percentage of the money eventually won in that case. In Lagow’s case, that amount is $14.5 million. Not bad for a lowly house appraiser.