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FIRREA

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to FIRREA, or the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act. You may also be interested in the following pages:

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Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2021

Posted  01/21/22
Money with Gavel and Handcuffs
While 2021 may have felt like more of the same as the pandemic dragged on, it marked some new trends in federal financial fraud recoveries. As we predicted last year, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 has heralded some large recoveries against banks. The Act also established an Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program, so that whistleblowers who report financial institutions engaging in money laundering –...

Tagged in: Antitrust General, Bribery and Bid-Rigging, Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud, FIRREA, Foreign Exchange, Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, Money Laundering, Price Fixing, Top 10,

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Catch of the Week: In hot water again, now for fleecing customers in foreign currency transactions, Wells Fargo pays $72m in fines and restitution

Posted  09/29/21
Wells Fargo Bank Banners on Side of Building
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice settled an important case in which Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay over $70 million in penalties and restitution to defrauded bank customers. Wells Fargo admitted that it defrauded 771 customers, mostly small businesses, who used the bank’s foreign exchange services when they needed to send money overseas or receive money from abroad. Rather than charging standard fees for...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, FIRREA,

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September 27, 2021

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. will pay $72.6 million to resolve claims that it violated the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”) by overcharging commercial customers from 2010 to 2017 for foreign exchange (“FX”) service. The government alleged that the bank fraudulently marked up the prices on currency it was selling and marked down the prices on currency it was buying, and concealed those markups from customers through various misrepresentations and deceptive practices. The total settlement includes a $37.3 million civil penalty and forfeiture, as well as $35.3 million in restitution to customers.  USAO SDNY

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, FIRREA, Foreign Exchange, Misrepresentations,

Catch of the Week – Sour Grapes: Fruit-Broker Squashed for Role in Defrauding Federal Crop Insurance

Posted  08/13/21
Grapes
The manager of a California fruit broker learned the hard way that it doesn’t pay to assist in defrauding the Federal Crop Insurance Program.  The manager, at the behest of a grape farmer who sold crops through the broker, altered the farmer’s records to reflect lower-than-actual sales.  The falsified records assisted the farmer to claim crop-losses falsely and receive insurance-reimbursements funded by the...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, Crop Insurance, FCA Federal, FIRREA, Flood Insurance, Private Insurance Whistleblower Reward Programs,

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August 9, 2021

Ralph Hackett, a fruit broker in California’s Central Valley, will pay $1.255 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims arising from his role in a crop insurance fraud scheme.  In a guilty plea, Hackett acknowledged that he authorized alterations to business records and misstatements to underreport the table grapes sold by another individual, so that the individual could submit fraudulent crop insurance claims between 2012 and 2015.  Hackett agreed to pay criminal restitution of $650,000 and a civil penalty of $605,000; his prison sentence is yet to be determined.  USAO ED Cal

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Crop Insurance, FCA Federal, FIRREA,

As COVID-19 Stimulus Funds Flow, DOJ Puts Fraudsters on Notice and Calls Whistleblowers “Essential”

Posted  04/2/21
On March 11th, President Biden signed The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), a sweeping economic stimulus plan that will pump $1.9 trillion into the US economy. In addition to direct relief to Americans, ARPA includes record-setting government spending in numerous areas to speed recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. As we have previously written,...

Tagged in: COVID-19, FCA Federal, FIRREA, Government Loan Programs, Government Procurement Fraud, Government Programs Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers,

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Eastern District of CA Announces First Civil Settlement Related to CARES Act Fraud

Posted  01/22/21
typing of word bankruptcy on typewriter
The Eastern District of California announced the very first civil settlement to resolve allegations of fraud against the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program. The agreement was entered into with SlideBelts, Inc., and its President, CFO and CEO, Brigham Taylor, for falsely certifying on its PPP applications to three financial institutions that they were not in bankruptcy when, in fact, they had been in the bankruptcy...

Tagged in: COVID-19, FCA Federal, Financial and Investment Fraud, FIRREA, Government Programs Fraud,

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Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2020

Posted  01/14/21
man pocketing cash in suit
The U.S. government has many enforcement options for financial and investment fraud, including those that provide for whistleblower rewards such as the SEC Whistleblower Program, the CFTC Whistleblower Program, and the IRS Whistleblower Program.  These programs, along with a new one under the Anti-Money-Laundering Act of 2020, are open for business and promise to pay millions of dollars in whistleblower awards in...

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging, Customs Fraud, Education Fraud, Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, FIRREA, Government Loan Programs, Housing and Mortgage Fraud, Top 10,

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January 6, 2021

Utah-based smart home monitoring service provider Vivint Smart Home Inc. has agreed to pay $3.2 million to resolve allegations of making false and misleading statements to federally funded institutions, in violation of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA).  In order to sell Vivant products, certain door-to-door sales representatives allegedly used their own funds to cover initial payments for customers who needed financing from federally funded institutions, while representing to those institutions that the borrowers themselves had made the payments.  The fraudulent conduct, which occurred between 2017 and 2020, was eventually revealed by a declarant, who will be eligible for an award under the Financial Institutions Anti-Fraud Enforcement Act.  DOJ; USAO UT

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, FIRREA,

Catch of the Week: Guild Mortgage

Posted  10/30/20
stack of mortgage papers with gavel and money
We’re in the midst of a recession, 13 million Americans are out of work, GDP growth is slowing, and stock market volatility is approaching record-breaking levels. This recession is largely driven by the emergence of a mostly natural and random phenomenon, COVD-19, though there is plenty of blame to go around in how humans have reacted to the spread of the virus. This week’s catch of the week, however, harkens back...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, COVID-19, FCA Federal, Financial and Investment Fraud, FIRREA, Housing and Mortgage Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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