Financial Institution Fraud

February 11, 2015

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced Advance America will pay Pennsylvania consumers $8M in restitution as part of a settlement to resolve claims the company illegally provided payday loans, some with interest rates as high as 368 percent. PA

January 21, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman joined the SEC and the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General in announcing a settlement with Standard and Poor’s Financial Services LLC regarding false and misleading statements made by S&P in connection with its rating of certain Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS). According to the government, from February 2011 to July 2011, S&P loosened the criteria it applied to rate eight CMBS, failed to disclose this fact to investors, and misled market participants into thinking the ratings for their investments were based on more conservative assumptions than was actually the case. Under the settlement, New York will receive $12M in penalties, Massachussetts will receive $7M in penalties, and the SEC will receive $35M in penalties as well as $7M in disgorgement and interest. The SEC also resolved two other matters related to S&P bringing the total government recovery to nearly $80M. NY

January 16, 2015

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Citi, and Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $2.7M million and undertake obligations to facilitate the repair of defective property titles, resolving claims they violated Massachusetts foreclosure law and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by illegally foreclosing upon Massachusetts residents’ homes when the banks lacked the legal authority to do so. MA

December 24, 2014

MF Global Holdings Ltd. must pay $1.212 billion in restitution (or such amount as necessary to ensure that claims of customers of its subsidiary, MF Global Inc. are paid in full). The CFTC previously filed and settled charges against MFGI for misuse of customer funds and related supervisory failures in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations. CFTC

December 22, 2014

The CFTC ordered Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. to pay a $3 million penalty on charges of failing to properly invest customer segregated funds, failing to prepare and file accurate financial reports, failing to maintain required books and records, and for related supervisory failures. CFTC

December 18, 2014

A federal district court for the Southern District of New York has ordered Royal Bank of Canada to pay civil monetary penalties of $35 million for engaging in more than 1,000 illegal wash sales, fictitious sales, and noncompetitive transactions over a three-year period.  CFTC