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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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April 29, 2020

Lender Guaranteed Rate, Inc. will pay $15.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly failed to adhere to material program requirements in originating and underwriting mortgages insured by FHA or guaranteed by the VA, resulting in mortgages that did not meet credit and underwriting requirements for the government-sponsored guarantees and insurance.  The case was initiated by a whistleblower complaint filed under the False Claims Act by an unnamed former Guaranteed Rate employee, who will receive $2.4 million of the settlement proceeds.  The settlement also resolved claims under FIRREA.  DOJ; USAO NDNY

Catch of the Week: Wells Fargo Pays $3 Billion, and another $35 Million, in Latest in Long Line of Government Enforcement Actions against the Bank

Posted  02/28/20
wells-fargo-bank
On February 21, 2020 the Department of Justice announced that Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve civil and criminal allegations that Wells Fargo’s “cross-selling” practices led to millions of accounts being opened for customers under false pretenses and without consent. These practices allegedly led to Wells Fargo collecting millions of dollars in fees. Less than one week later, two of...

February 21, 2020

Wells Fargo & Co. will pay a total of $3 billion in a federal settlement resolving criminal, civil, and administrative liability with respect to its “cross-selling” sales practices between 2002 and 2016 that led to the opening of millions of checking, savings, credit card, and other accounts on behalf of individual customers under false pretenses or without the customers’ consent.  As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo admitted that it collected millions of dollars in fees and interest to which the Company was not entitled, harmed customer credit ratings, and unlawfully misused customers’ personal information.  Wells Fargo entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement requiring the bank to take certain compliance steps and cooperate with ongoing investigations.  Of the $3 billion settlement, $500 million resolves SEC claims that the bank, knowing about the underlying violations, mislead investors about the success of its business; the SEC settlement will be distributed to harmed investors.  The federal settlement is in addition to a $575 million 2018 settlement Wells Fargo entered into with 50 states and the District of Columbia and a $100 million 2016 fine from the CFPB arising from the same conduct.  DOJ; SEC; WD NC; CD Cal

Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2019

Posted  01/17/20
top ten in letters
The U.S. government has a range on 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, each of which are very much open for business and continuing to pay millions of dollars in whistleblower awards in exchange for their assistance in exposing...

Catch of the Week — General Electric to Pay $1.5 Billion under FIRREA in Subprime Loan Scheme

Posted  04/12/19
general electric company logo on building
The Department of Justice today announced that General Electric will pay a civil penalty of $1.5 billion under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) to resolve claims of fraud involving the marketing of subprime residential mortgage loans.  The loans at issue originated by a GE subsidiary, WMC Mortgage.  The government alleged that WMC, GE, and their affiliates allegedly...

Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2018

Posted  01/25/19
Wooden gavel and handcuffs on top of U.S. currency
While 2018 has been a banner year for FCPA, Tax, and SEC & CFTC recoveries, in the bottomless pit of financial frauds that hurt taxpayers, the government, consumers, investors, and the American economy, 2018 brought us additional stunning recoveries for violations related to residential-mortgage backed securities, international economic sanctions, consumer protection, anti-money-laundering, EB-5 investment fraud, and...

November 8, 2018

The United States has brought charges against UBS AG and several of its affiliates, alleging that UBS defrauded investors in connection with its sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in 2006 and 2007.  The complaint accuses UBS of affirmatively misleading investors and withholding crucial information from them about the quality of billions of dollars in subprime and Alt-A mortgage loans backing 40 RMBS deals. USAO EDNY; DOJ

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.

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