To Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank, former GreenPoint Mortgage CEO Steven Abreu, and the Capital One Board Of Directors,

Dear all,

You don’t know me, but your company has had a profound affect on my life. In 2007 you fraudulently foreclosed on my home, ruined my good credit and forced me into debt, something I am still fighting to recover from to this day.

After years spent surviving your company’s crime, with the help of two incredible attorneys, a private investigator and one of the premier forensic fraud examiners in the country, I’ve discovered some extraordinary facts. It turns out that your company didn’t even own my loan when it foreclosed on me, stealing my home, destroying my good credit and forcing me into debt. Even though it had zero legal right to my property your company still took it.

The fraudulent foreclosure that resulted in the theft of my home is a fact. As everything is on record with the Security and Exchange Commission and Oakland County Michigan, where I live, there is no doubt or gray area, so I will continue with my comments here with the understanding that your company’s theft of my home is a matter of fact.

The first question I have is why? Why steal my house? Capital One is a huge company with massive holdings, I can’t believe that any profit made on my small, suburban Detroit home in an aging, working class neighborhood would be of any significance to you at all. What would be pocket change to you was literally the roof over my head. Is it possible that I fell into the web of something much bigger than one foreclosure? Hmm..

Please understand, my home means everything to me. So much so that after it was stolen I actually convinced a friend who invests in real estate to buy my house from you and rent it to me. That situation was only meant to last a year or two while I dug to uncover your fraud, but it turns out the details were so deeply buried it took over 15 years before I could discover the facts. 15 years of renting my OWN home!

Everybody should have a home, or at least an opportunity for one, wouldn’t you agree? I’m sure you guys love yours. Imagine what it would be like if it was suddenly taken from you. I doubt that is a concern of yours, but just close your eyes and imagine it for a minute. Consider what it would be like if you lost not only your home, but your dignity too, and a deep, inescapable sense of failure was unfairly forced upon you, something that would follow you in every waking moment of life. Think hard about the profound stress that resulted from having your security taken from you, your good credit destroyed and being forced into debt. Try to comprehend the magnitude of the violation that would cause all of that. Imagine the deep depression that you’ll experience while watching your friends and family happily going about their normal lives.. advancing careers, falling in love, raising children.. all while your life is stuck in a hellish nightmare. Imagine if you can the intense pain, frustration and sense of hopelessness from all of that.

Now open your eyes, and understand that is EXACTLY what your company did to me.

When you fraudulently foreclosed on me you did much more than just steal a house, you shattered every aspect of my life. Before I lost my home I was a happy, sociable, creative and productive citizen. But since you defrauded me I’ve been become a social hermit, withdrawn from friends and family whose understanding and support I’ve shunned, as it would force me to admit to being the type of failure that loses his house. It doesn’t matter that I KNOW I am not that failure. This is the extreme position that you put me in, a position that has forced me to live in survival mode every day for nearly two decades. Let that sink in. Think of what you were doing 18 years ago, then think about everything that has happened to this point. Did you have children or grandchildren born? They are probably graduating high school soon. How many different cars have you owned in the last 18 years? How many trips have you gone on? Think about all that, and then consider that I had to fight to survive every single one of those days because of what your company did to me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to live for years as a victim of a financial crime, without any kind of security or hope for the future? Let me answer that.. of course you don’t.

Your illegal foreclosure didn’t only affect my present life either. It took me years of hard work to be in a position to even own a home, but that has been erased. And my humble nest egg for my future retirement, including the equity in MY home, has been cleaned out too. So your company has not only devastated my present, but also my past and future as well.

I know that you guys are very rich, which I have absolutely no problem with. None at all. If you worked hard and made your money honestly then I think you deserve every dollar. One hundred percent. But here’s the thing, I’ve worked hard and honestly for years too, and was proud to call myself a homeowner. Your fraudulent foreclosure took that from me.

How would you have reacted if it were me that stole something as valuable as your home from you? I’m certain you would have fought me with everything you had, and considering who you are and who I am I’m sure that I would be in jail. And rightfully so. But the reality is I would never steal anything from any of you, ever. I was raised not to take anything that isn’t mine. And I don’t ever want to profit off of anyones suffering. Full stop. That’s not an option for me.

In closing, there is one last thing that I want to be absolutely clear about; even after what was done to me I don’t hate you guys. It’s very important to me that this is understood. I struggled with it for a long time, but I really don’t want that hostility in my life. Even though I had no control over your theft of my home, I do have complete control over my emotions, and that can’t be taken from me. Hatred has no place in my heart.

But don’t take that to mean I’m a push over either. I am anything but, and I will fight this massive injustice no matter how long it takes. I was not built to break and I REFUSE to be your victim. My message to you is that just because you knock a man down doesn’t mean you’ve knocked him out.

What do I want, you ask?

I want my life back.

Sincerely,