Tag Archives: Justice Department

A 10-person panel of jurors is holding Bank of America and a mid-level manager liable for high-risk mortgages originated by Countrywide through a program known as Hustle and then sold off to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After hearing arguments for four weeks in a Manhattan federal court, the jury returned a decision finding BofA liable on one charge of fraud in the civil case and finding Rebecca Mairone, former COO of one of Countrywide's lending divisions, liable on the one civil fraud charge she faced.

SunTrust Banks, Inc., is ponying up millions to resolve mortgage-related legal matters, including claims pertaining to the National Mortgage Settlement, and to settle mortgage repurchase demands from Fannie and Freddie. SunTrust says its third-quarter numbers will be negatively impacted by these resolution actions, resulting in an after-tax earnings reduction of $179 million.

In a speech to the nation, the president described a spirit of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans and between Congress and his administration. He invited leaders of both parties to the White House to discuss an upcoming vote which he acknowledged would be a tough decision for many members of Congress. And he closed with: ""America is a nation that tackles problems head on, where leaders come together to meet great tests."" The words were not those of President Obama but of President Bush.

EverBank came to an agreement with federal regulators to provide $37 million in relief payments to certain borrowers, leading to an end to the Independent Foreclosure Review process for the bank, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said Friday. The payment should cover 32,000 eligible mortgage customers whose homes were in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 and 2010, and checks should range from $1,050 to $125,000.

Turns out, when the Justice Department announced triumphs of the Distressed Homeowner Initiative in October 2012, the numbers were largely overstated. In an updated press release Friday, the Justice Department announced the initiative actually resulted in 107 criminal defendants charged in U.S. District Courts in Fiscal Year 2012 (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012), not the 530 first reported. The corrected release also stated the cases involved more than 17,185 homeowner victims, while the original numbers reported the cases included more than 73,000 homeowner victims.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Justice Department filed separate complaints against Bank of America and certain subsidiaries for allegedly misrepresenting an $855 million offering of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), according to statements Tuesday.

A past president from DocX LLC was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a scheme involving over one million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage-related documents, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Attorneys for Standard & Poor's (S&P) filed Monday a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit from the federal government accusing the ratings agency of inflating ratings and misrepresenting the creditworthiness of certain securities. Led by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice announced in early February a complaint against S&P for allegedly defrauding investors in an attempt to gain more business. At the time, Holder noted that his department had identified more than $5 billion in losses to federally insured financial institutions resulting from collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) rated by S&P between March and December 2007.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder caused a stir Wednesday by voicing the idea that certain financial institutions may be ""too big to jail."" In a testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Justice Department (DoJ) oversight, Holder said he is ""concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to to prosecute when we are hit with indications ... it will have a negative impact on the national economy.""

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) agreed to pay $35 million to resolve criminal fraud violations involving fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage documents, the Justice Department announced Friday. LPS entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. Through the settlement, LPS announced it will pay $20 million to the United States Marshals Service and $15 million to the United States Treasury. In a statement, Hugh Harris, LPS president and CEO, said, ""[t]he conclusion of the Justice Department's inquiry is another positive step for LPS.""