Justice’s top negotiator trying to navigate the mortgage debacle and strike a deal

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The number of issues that cross Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli’s desk on any given day run the gamut from civil rights to the environment, from antitrust cases to questions about law on Native American lands.

But recently, the man who oversees the civil side of the Justice Department — an operation that includes thousands of federal lawyers — has spent a sizeable chunk of his time trying to forge a deal that could affect homeowners throughout the country.

Perrelli, the department’s No. 3 official and one of the Obama administration’s top negotiators, is the government’s point person in talks with the country’s largest banks over a massive settlement stemming from widespread problems within the mortgage-servicing industry.

Those problems surfaced nationally last fall. The scandal, which included instances of forged foreclosure documents, flawed paperwork and woeful customer service, prompted nearly a dozen federal agencies and 50 state attorneys general to join forces against the industry’s largest players.

Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/justices-top-negotiator-trying-to-navigate-the-mortgage-debacle-and-strike-a-deal/2011/05/17/AFtIdn6G_singlePage.html