Archive

Judge Determines that PricewaterhouseCoopers was Negligent in Colonial Bank Auditing Case

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Late last week, a federal judge determined that accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was negligent in its auditing of Colonial Bank, the Alabama institution that failed in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. Colonial failed as a result of a $2 billion fraud orchestrated by Florida-based mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker, a major Colonial customer, which was...

IBERIABANK to Pay Over $11.6 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The Department of Justice announced Friday that IBERIABANK Corporation agreed to pay $11,692,149 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act. The allegations centered on certifications of compliance with Federal requirements to obtain insurance on mortgage loans from the Federal Housing Administration. IBERIABANK is a Louisiana corporation that has branches all...

Question of the Week -- Will Banks Ever Be Held Accountable for the Mortgage Crisis?

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The 2008 mortgage crisis is still not behind us.  Last week, The Nation reported that JP Morgan Chase paid off its criminal fine for fraudulent mortgage practices with—amazingly—fraudulent mortgages.  Chase’s negotiated settlement with the Justice Department required the company to forgive billions in mortgage payments.  To make it look like the company had met its...

Texas Mortgage Companies Face $296.3M Judgment Related to Mortgage Fraud

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Allied Home Mortgage, and several other Allied companies, are facing a judgment over fraudulent conduct while participating in the FHA program. In a trial last November, a jury in Houston found that the companies and their CEO violated both the FCA and FIRREA, causing over $92M in single damages to the government. Now a judgment has been ordered by the court which trebled the...

Fraudster of the Week -- Deutsche Bank's Paul Mangione

On Monday, the Department of Justice filed a civil suit against Paul Mangione, the former Deutsche Bank head of subprime mortgage trading, alleging that he “systematically and intentionally” lied about the quality of subprime mortgages underlying nearly $1.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.  Although DOJ has aggressively pursued financial institutions for their...

Mortgage Fraud Whistleblower Gets Over $9 Million

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a nearly $75 million settlement with PHH Mortgage Corporation regarding the company’s failure to meet origination, underwriting, and quality-control regulations promulgated by Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal...

Royal Bank of Scotland to Pay $5.5 Billion Over Shoddy U.S. Mortgage Practices

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Wednesday that it had reached a multibillion dollar settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) over its subprime mortgage lending practices leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. In 2011, the FHFA sued eighteen different financial institutions, including RBS, for misrepresenting the quality of mortgage-backed...

DOJ Catch of The Week -- Deutsche Bank And Credit Suisse

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" is shared between Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.  On Tuesday, the two European-based banking giants agreed to pay more than $12 billion between them to resolve charges they misled investors in the packaging, securitization, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in the years leading...

Top-10 DOJ Mortgage Fraud Recoveries For 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Here is our look-back at the top-10 Department of Justice mortgage fraud recoveries for 2016.

10. United Shore Financial Services -- The company agreed to pay $48 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing...

In Their Own Words -- McQuade

-- “When lenders breach their duty of due diligence and make risky loans that go bad, taxpayers pay the bill.”

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, commenting on a recent FCA settlement involving the knowing origination and underwriting of FHA-insured mortgage loans that failed to meet applicable requirements. Read more here.