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Financial Institution Fraud

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to fraud by or involving financial institutions. You may also be interested in the following pages:

Page 18 of 36

Catch of the Week — Universal American Mortgage Company

Posted  10/19/18
Universal American Mortgage Company (UAMC), a Miami-based mortgage company, agreed on October 19 to a $13.2 million settlement to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by falsely certifying that it complied with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage-insurance requirements in connection with certain loans. UAMC is part of Lennar, one of America’s leading homebuilders. The...

October 9, 2018

HSBC will pay a $765 million civil penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) to settle claims that it misrepresented the quality of assets in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) that HSBC packaged and sold to investors between 2005 and 2007.  HSBC was also alleged to have misrepresented the due diligence procedures it followed in reviewing loans for securitization, claiming to follow more stringent procedures than it actually did follow.  USAO Colorado.

September 26, 2018

Two brokerage firms, UK-based TFS-ICAP LIMITED and New York-based TFS-ICAP LLC, pled guilty to securities fraud under New York's Martin Act for their roles in posting fake trades, bids, and offers by inter-dealer brokers for emerging market foreign exchange currency options.  The fake trades were intended to create a false appearance of liquidity in the emerging markets FX options market and encourage traders to buy and sell FX options via TFS-ICAP rather than other brokers.  In addition to the criminal pleas by the companies, a civil settlement requires them to implement remedial procedures, retain an independent monitor, pay $1.5 million, and cooperate in ongoing investigations.  NY AG.

September 26, 2018

Registered broker-dealer and investment advisor Voya Financial Advisors Inc. will pay $1 million to resolve SEC allegations that it failed to comply with the Safeguards Rule, Identity Theft Red Flags Rule, and related regulations in its response to a computer systems intrusion that compromised personal information of thousands of customers. SEC

August 20, 2018

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith has agreed to pay $8.9 million to resolve claims that it violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act by failing to disclose its conflicts of interests to clients. According to the SEC, the violation occurred when Merrill Lynch failed to go through with a planned vote on whether to stop offering certain products managed by a third party, and then failed to disclose to clients that this decision was due to its own business interests. SEC

Catch of the Week: RBS Agrees to Pay $4.9 Billion

Posted  08/17/18
This week’s Department of Justice “Catch of the Week” goes to The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS), who agreed to pay $4.9 billion to settle claims that RBS misled investors in the underwriting and issuing of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2008.   See DOJ Press Release. The settlement’s statement of facts details how RBS routinely made misrepresentations and omissions...

August 14, 2018

In the largest civil penalty imposed by the Justice Department for FIRREA violations leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) will pay $4.9 billion to resolve claims that it knowingly misled investors of its residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to a statement of facts included with settlement details, RBS knew from its own reviews that its loans carried a high risk of default but failed to disclose that to investors. Furthermore, it allowed its due diligence process to become a total sham by not requiring that loan originators correct errors, instructing due diligence vendors to waive defects, and self-imposing caps on the number of faulty loans it removed from a RMBS. DOJ; USAO MA

August 2, 2018

Aurora Loan Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $41 million to settle allegations of FIRREA violations in the loans it sold between 2004 and 2008. The mortgage originator gave preferential treatment to five "Platinum" lenders by allowing them to underwrite their own loans and freeing them from quality control standards that were imposed on other lenders. The resulting decline in loan quality was linked to a higher rate of default, hurting investors who bought residential-based mortgage securities from Lehman Brothers. USAO CO

August 1, 2018

Wells Fargo Bank has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2.09 billion to settle allegations that it knowingly misrepresented the quality of its mortgage loans to investors, in violation of FIRREA, in order to double its production of subprime and Alt-A loans. Nearly half of those loans subsequently defaulted, leading to billions of dollars in losses for investors, including federally insured financial institutions. DOJ; USAO NDCA

July 20, 2018

The CFPB announced a proposed settlement with TCF National Bank regarding the bank’s marketing and sale of overdraft services. TCF allegedly obscured the overdraft fees it charged and made consenting to overdraft fees seem mandatory for new customers to open an account. TCF has agreed to pay $25 million in restitution to customers who were charged overdraft fees and has agreed to an injunction to prevent future violations. CFPB
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