Archive

October 6, 2015

Fifth Third Bank agreed to pay $85 million to resolve civil fraud claims arising from the bank’s origination of residential mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.  FTB made a voluntary disclosure of approximately 1,400 mortgage loans it had certified as eligible for FHA insurance, later determined were materially defective and thus ineligible for FHA insurance, but never self-reported to HUD, resulting in millions of dollars in HUD losses.  This matter arose, in part, from the filing of a whistleblower complaint under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  DOJ (NY)

September 30, 2015

Former chief financial officer of Siemens S.A. – Argentina Andres Truppel pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Argentine government officials to secure, implement and enforce a $1 billion contract to create national identity cards.  In connection with his guilty plea, Truppel admitted he engaged in the decade-long scheme which involved concealing the illicit payments through various means, including using shell companies associated with intermediaries to disguise and launder the funds and by paying $7.4 million as part of a hedging contract with a foreign currency company incorporated in the Bahamas.  Truppel also admitted he used a $27 million contract between a Siemens entity and a company called MFast Consulting AG that purported to be for consulting services to conceal bribes to Argentine officials.  DOJ.

September 4, 2015

Walter Investment Management Corp. agreed to pay $29.63 million to resolve allegations that, through its subsidiaries, Reverse Mortgage Solution Inc., REO Management Solutions LLC and RMS Asset Management Solutions LLC, it violated the False Claims Act in connection with the subsidiaries’ participation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgages program, which insures “reverse” mortgage loans.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed former RMS executive Matthew McDonald under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  McDonald will receive a whistleblower award of $5.15 million.  DOJ

August 28, 2015

EDF Resource Capital Inc. and its CEO, Frank Dinsmore, agreed to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act and otherwise failed to remit payments owed to the Small Business Administration under the 504 loan program.  Under the settlement agreement, EDF and Dinsmore agreed to make payments and turn over certain assets to the US for a total settlement of approximately $6 million.  DOJ

August 13, 2015

Florida investment advisor Gignesh Movalia pleaded guilty to perpetrating a $9 million investment fraud scheme involving Facebook stock.  Specifically, Movalia, who was the founder and manager of OM Global Investment Fund LLC, solicited investments by falsely touting access to pre-IPO shares of Facebook which he then used for and lost in other investments that he concealed from investors.  DOJ

July 16, 2015

Neil Godfrey, owner and operator of payment processing company Check Site Inc., pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with the unauthorized withdrawal of millions of dollars from consumers’ bank accounts.  Specifically, Godfrey admitted he used Check Site Inc. to assist at least two merchants that operated websites purportedly offering payday loans but that instead simply stole money from the consumers’ bank accounts.  DOJ

June 26, 2015

Jim Wang, the former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations for Qualcomm Inc. was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and fined $500,000 for his role in a three-year insider trading scheme.  DOJ

June 1, 2015

Memphis-based First Tennessee Bank agreed to pay $212.5 million to resolve allegations it — through its subsidiary First Horizon Home Loans Corporation — violated the False Claims Act by originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements.  Whistleblower Insider

May 20, 2015

Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to manipulate the price of US dollars and euros exchanged in the foreign currency exchange (FX) spot market and the banks have agreed to pay criminal fines totaling more than $2.5 billion.  A fifth bank, UBS AG, agreed to plead guilty to manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other benchmark interest rates and pay a $203 million criminal penalty.  DOJ

May 12, 2015

Garfield M. Taylor was sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay over $28.6 million in restitution for operating a Ponzi scheme that resulted in investors losing money they invested with Taylor and companies he controlled.  In a parallel action, the SEC obtained a civil judgment against Taylor for his fraudulent conduct.  DOJ