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Posts Tagged ‘doj investigations’

Mortgage Fraud And Whistleblowers

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Last week the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office announced a $202.3 million settlement with Deutsche Bank’s AG mortgage unit for reckless mortgage lending practices. This is the third major bank settlement related to mortgage fraud by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office in 2012, having announced a $158.3 million settlement with Citibank in February and a $132.8 million settlement with Flagstar Bank FSB in March.

Both the Citibank and Flagstar settlements were the result of whistleblower claims filed under the False Claims Act.

In February, the Brooklyn U. S. Attorney’s Office announced a $1 billion settlement with Bank of America related to improper mortgage practices. Part of that settlement included a settlement of two whistleblower actions that had been filed against Bank of America for mortgage fraud.

These cases highlight the importance of whistleblowers and the False Claims Act in continuing to combat financial improprieties at the banking institutions. It also suggests that more mortgage fraud cases brought by whistleblowers will be forthcoming given the success that both the Manhattan and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Offices have experienced working with whistleblowers in this arena.

If you have knowledge of Securities Fraud and would like to discuss the possibility of a whistleblower award under the SEC whistleblower program, please contact our whistleblower attorneys today.  Kenney & McCafferty will consult with you about your case, including your ability to remain anonymous in filing for an award, without obligation.  All communications with Kenney & McCafferty attorneys regarding your case are confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege.

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Posted in Bank Fraud, bank whistleblower, corporate fraud, False Claims Act, FHA fraud, HUD fraud, mortgage fraud, Uncategorized | Comments Off

DOJ and SEC Mortgage Investigations Overlap

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Reuters has reported that the eleven bank subpoenas issued in January by DOJ expand upon previous document requests by the SEC in its ongoing investigations into improprieties relating to the packaging of residential mortgage securities.

According to the Reuters report, people who have reviewed the subpoenas state that the civil subpoenas ask for documents related to every residential securities offering between 2006 and 2008, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds.

The SEC investigation that has been ongoing appears to have been limited to private offerings and did not include Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac bonds. The DOJ subpoenas have also apparently broadened the time period beyond the initial period being investigated by the SEC.

The investigations by the DOJ and the SEC appear to be a part of an inter-agency task force the government has organized to coordinate parallel efforts on current and future investigations.  In January,  SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said that his agency had already reviewed 25 million pages of documents as part of ongoing investigations into residential mortgage-backed securities.

Three firms, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, and Wells Fargo & Co, have now disclosed that they have already received Wells notices from the SEC related to the SEC residential mortgage backed securities investigations. A Wells notice alerts putative defendants that the SEC is considering bringing charges and gives them a chance to rebut the allegations.

The Wells notice indicate that the SEC’s investigation against these three banks has matured to point that SEC  charges should be forthcoming. However, the new round of broader DOJ subpoenas indicates that the government  investigations will continue and possibly expand.

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Posted in Bank Fraud, bank whistleblower, corporate fraud, FHA fraud, government fraud, mortgage fraud, SEC Whistleblower Program, Uncategorized | Comments Off

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