Register: State usurped my authority

SALEM – Southern Essex Register of Deeds John O?Brien on Tuesday claimed authority he has long had as an independently elected official to move the deposit account for revenue that comes into his registry to different banks has wrongfully been usurped by Secretary of State William Galvin?s office.O?Brien said he is upset that a request he made back in April, which he said state Treasurer Steven Grossman?s office initially approved, to move the Registry?s deposit account out of Bank of America, has been blocked by Galvin.O?Brien wants the deposit account moved to a bank not affiliated with the Virginia-based Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., which he claims has cheated public deeds registries in Massachusetts and across the country out of tens of millions in mortgage transfer recording fees.MERS was established by some of the nation?s biggest banks, including Bank of America in 1995, as a privately held electronic deeds registry, tracking the sale of mortgages between its member banks. When a MERS affiliate sells a mortgage to another affiliate, MERS technically continues as the mortgage holder and as such, MERS maintains there?s no need for the filing of a mortgage transfer assignment with a public deeds registry.O?Brien maintains MERS was established solely for big banks to sidestep payment of mortgage assignment transfer filing fees, and that it has led to a break in the chain of title to tens of thousands properties recorded at his registry alone.Last month, Attorney General Martha Coakley informed O?Brien she intends to sue some of the nation?s largest banks for alleged fraudulent foreclosure practices based on the filing of so-called robo-signed documents, or those with signatures purporting to be of someone they are not, in order to establish ownership of mortgage. In July Coakley informed O?Brien that one focus of the investigation by her office would be “on creditors? reliance on MERS and whether MERS conforms to the requirements of Massachusetts law.”MERS has repeatedly told The Daily Item that its business practices comply with all Massachusetts law. And, on the MERS website, it notes that on Oct. 25, U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel, at U.S. District Court in Boston, rejected a borrower?s claim against MERS that challenged the mortgage assignment.O?Brien has long sought to transfer all of the Southern Essex Registry?s revenue out of Bank of America and into a non-MERS affiliate institution. He expressed frustration Tuesday that his effort has been thwarted by Secretary of State Galvin.?What?s happened historically is that I have always had the fiduciary responsibility (to transfer funds),” O?Brien said. He said as a courtesy he requested permission from Grossman, the state treasurer. “He agreed and said no problem.”But since, he said, that effort has been thwarted.?The Secretary of State?s office said I do not have the authority, that my authority has been revoked,” O?Brien said. “I didn?t know one elected official could revoke the authority of another elected official.”O?Brien, a Lynn native and former Lynn city councilor, said, as register, he routinely moved revenue in the days of the county government system, before 2000, based on interest rate changes.When Essex County government was dissolved the Southern Essex Registry came under the umbrella of the Secretary of State. Even then, O?Brien said, he had power to transfer funds.?I got a call in July of 2000 from (then-state treasurer) Shannon O?Brien who asked me to move the money into the Bank of Boston and I did that on my own. (The account) had been with Eastern Bank, but the Treasurer wanted to keep everything consistent. She asked me to put it in Bank of Boston, so I put it there.Eleven years and several major bank mergers later, and the account today is now with Bank of America.?We?ve deposited about $15 million since April, and we average about $30 million a year,” O?Brien said. “The reason I want the account out of Bank of America is beca