Politics

Documents: Plaintiffs in 1995 Obama-led Citibank lawsuit submitted class action claims

David Martosko Executive Editor
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The Daily Caller obtained the previously unpublished records for all of Barack Obama’s clients in the 1995 lawsuit “Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank.” Obama was named as the lead attorney for two of the three named plaintiffs in the case.

TheDC verified the real estate history of all clients using public databases provided by the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, the Cook County Assessor’s Office, the Illinois bankruptcy court, the federal court system and Zillow, a real estate firm.

These documents are “proof of claim” records for more than 100 of the class-action plaintiffs based in or near Chicago. The paperwork shows their assertion that Citibank had denied them mortgages, an outcome they believed was related to their race. [RELATED: With landmark lawsuit, Barack Obama pushed banks to give subprime loans to Chicago’s African-Americans]

The case was settled out of court with Citibank agreeing to change its standards for lending in urban areas and to applicants who would not otherwise qualify.

The case is emblematic of the subprime mortgage crisis, caused in large part by lenders extending credit to borrowers who, like many of the “Buycks” plaintiffs, were not creditworthy. As a result, countless homes were foreclosed and property values have plummeted in many metropolitan areas of the United States.

At least 46 of Obama’s 186 clients have declared bankruptcy since 1996, often multiple times. [RELATED: Obama’s Citibank plaintiffs hit hard when housing bubble burst]

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Read the “Buycks” lawsuit plaintiffs’ claim forms