January 2010

Representative Barney Frank, D/Massachusetts

Chairman, House Financial Services Committee

2129 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

Re: An Open Letter to Chairman Barney Frank

Dear Chairman Frank:

This is the second time I am writing to your office. Despite the fact that your office answered promptly the first time, I could not escape the feeling that I was being put off. You sent me a great deal of information on bank policies on check cashing, but you also pointed out that I did not live in a district you represented, and I was advised to contact my own representatives. You may rest quite assured that I have done so and will continue to. I am writing back however, not because I live in your district, but because you are the Chairman of a Committee that is by law require to serve me, a voting American Citizen. In deference to your original request, a copy of this letter is being sent to all my representatives for their consideration, and I would trust that they in turn will contact your office.

As the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, a committee which oversees Banks, I call your attention to the following website , and the blog An open letter to Brian Moynihan CEO Bank of America. In addition this same entry can be found on , under the same heading.

Mr. Chairman I want to ask you this? If I steal money from a Bank, it is a crime, and in some cases a federal crime, and the Office of the United States Attorney will have no qualms with my arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. Why then is the reverse not true? When a Bank cashes an unendorsed check, which belongs to someone other then the person in front of the teller, why is that not a crime? Why has the office of the United States Attorney in the State of Massachusetts ignored this? Why has the Office of the Attorney General of the United States not opened an investigation? Why has the US Attorney's office gone silent on this matter? Each has received a complaint on this matter. They have been shown copies of the cashed checks. One of the check shows forged endorsement. Has forgery become legal? This scheme envolves three major Banks, a Real Estate Agency, and an Attorney.

I call to your attention that this mentioned check was all the money this woman and her four children had in the world. While Bank of America hands out billions of dollars to their executives, this woman has to borrow in order for her and her kids to eat. While they live in mansions, she has had to live in her car. What scars will these kids bear for the rest of their lives? How is it possible for Bank of America's lawyers to keep delaying this matter from being put before a jury? How can such action possibly be explained. What is even more disturbing is how many others has this happened too? In doing all within it's power to delay, WHAT IS THE BANK REALLY TRYING TO HIDE? Certainly one would think that they would wan to settle this and clear their good name. Yet in papers filed in the United States Courthouse in Massachusetts, Bank of America claims that because the amount is under $75,000.00 the Court has no jurisdiction. What is even more appalling is that this woman has been told that it is very likely that the Court will dismiss her case. Mr. Chairman, is this to mean that if a person walks into any Bank in the United States and steals less then $75,000.00 the Federal Government has no jurisdiction to prosecute? Has the words EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW been removed from the entrance to the Supreme Court of the United States? Where is the protection for this poor woman and her four kids?

Chairman Frank, I was recently overdrawn on my checking account by $1.00. The Bank charged me $35.00 for the overdraft, and of course I was charged the $1.00. That was a 3500% charge. In addition I also received a letter asking me to promptly cover the $1.00 loss to the Bank. Failure to do so will result in a cancellation of my account. Very well these are their rules, and we the American People have to live with it, because we need to have a checking account. Please Mr. Chairman explain to me where the American People agreed that when the Bank makes a mistake they can take every avenue possible to delay making the situation right? The woman in the letter to Bank of America has been waiting for four years. Please Mr. Chairman if you can explain this, I and my fellow Americans want to hear what you have to say.

Mr. Chairman, the time for pleasantries are over. As President Obama has come to realize, now is the time for action. Now is the time for the Attorney General to open a full scale investigation. Now is the time for a Special Prosecutor. It is no longer enough for these Bank Presidents to arrive in Washington in private jets and occupy penthouse suites while they wait to sit in from of your committee. If you really want to send a message, hold your next committee hearing at the main dining hall of the Fort Leavenworth Federal Prison. I can assure you that these Bank Presidents will need several packages of Depends just to get them through the hearing, and they will have gotten the message.

Washington is wondering why the American People are so angry? Well let me tell you. As unemployment reaches 10%, another million families lose their homes to foreclosure, as 30,000 of our sons and daughters are sent to war, as we watch unscrupulous bankers split their booty, and as this woman is robbed of everything she has, we are asked to keep a stiff upper lip. The time for action is now, right now. We want you to do something. We want this to stop. To hell with excuses.

I am not going away. I will not stop until what has happened to this woman is made right. Am I pissed off? You bet I am. Do I want the Bank to hurt over this? Your damn right I do. Will I and my fellow Americans remember this on election day? I will leave you with a quote from the old testament. Daniel, Chapter 5, verse 25. Read and pay heed. I now, as an American Citizen , ask you and your committee to answer the questions posed above. In posting this open letter to the internet, I ask my fellow Americans to join me in this request.

I have always been a fan of yours. I hope that my admiration and good will has not been in vain. I wait to hear form you.

Respectfully submitted

Francisco P. Gomes Jr.

Cc Senator Jack Reed

Congressman Patrick Kennedy

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Congressman James Langevin