Judge blasts bad bank, erases couple’s $525,000 debt

A New York couple is home free after an outraged judge gave them an amazing Thanksgiving present—canceling their debt to ruthless bankers trying to toss them out on the street, the New York Post reports. Suffolk Judge Jeffrey Spinner wiped out $525,000 in mortgage payments demanded by a California bank, blasting its “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” acts. The bombshell decision leaves Diane Yano-Horoski and her husband, Greg Horoski, owing absolutely no money on their ranch house. Spinner pulled no punches as he smacked down the bankers at OneWest—who took an $814.2 million federal bailout but have a record of cold-bloodedly foreclosing on any homeowner owing money. The bank is owned by a private equity group that purchased the failed IndyMac bank. The judge’s ruling erased up to $291,000 in principal and $235,000 in interest and penalties. Horoski, who had begged the bankers to let him restructure the loan, said, “I think the judge felt it was almost a personal vendetta.” Dealing with the bank, he said, was “like dealing with organized crime.” OneWest said, “We respectfully disagree with the lower court’s unprecedented ruling and we expect that it will be overturned on appeal.”