NY AG Sucks Two Investment Firms Holding Interests In Upstate Foreclosure Paperwork-Handling Sweatshop Into Robosigning Probe

The Wall Street Journal reports:

• New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued subpoenas to two investment firms that own stakes in a paperwork-processing firm under investigation regarding questionable foreclosure practices, according to people familiar with the situation.
• Mr. Schneiderman, who took office in January, recently sought information from Tailwind Capital and Ares Capital Corp., these people said. The subpoenas are "very thorough" and "broad-ranging," said one person familiar the matter, who declined to be more specific. Recipients of subpoenas must produce testimony or documents, typically sought as part of an investigation.
• Mr. Schneiderman's move is a sign that investment firms that have sought to profit from the boom in foreclosures could be drawn into various probes by U.S. and state regulators of so-called robo-signing and other foreclose-paperwork problems.
• Ares, with $13 billion under management, holds $31.3 million in debt and $3.8 million in equity in Pillar Holdings Inc., the holding company for Pillar Processing, which does back-office work for the law firm of Steven J. Baum, of Amherst, N.Y., and a Connecticut law firm.

For more, see Firms With Pillar Ties Get Subpoena (requires paid subscription; if no subscription, GO HERE, then click appropriate link for the story).