Meanwhile, over on the New York Attorney General's site, Andrew Cuomo is impersonating a pitbull, if pitbulls knew how to file subpoenas:

“In order to fulfill their duty to consumers and investors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must ensure that Washington Mutual’s mortgages have not been corrupted by inflated appraisals,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Our expanding investigation into the mortgage industry has uncovered that Washington Mutual improperly pressured appraisers to provide inflated values that best served the lender’s interest. Knowing this, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot afford to continue buying Washington Mutual mortgages unless they are sure these loans are based on reliable and independent appraisals.”

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims a subsidiary of First American Corp., eAppraiseIT, has been generating inflated appraisals for First American and Seattle mortgage-lender WAMU. This would represent collusion and would be what's technically known as "illegal." Unfortunately for everyone involved who wanted to keep their job, Cuomo has emails that say things like:

eAppraiseIT's president told First American: "We view this as a violation of the OCC, OTS, FDIC and USPAP influencing regulation."

eAppraiseIT's president told senior executives at First American: "We have agreed to roll over and just do it ..."