Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is asking a California federal court to dismiss the Justice Department’s complaint alleging the company misled and defrauded investors by inflating ratings on mortgage-backed securities during the housing bubble.
08 May 2013Peter Hamner
S&P says the government’s lawsuit is based on representations made by the agency that are vague and generalized and therefore not actionable as fraud. In addition, the complaint contradicts itself regarding S&P’s motivation to defraud investors, the company says in a memorandum in support of its motion to dismiss.
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Multinational financial services company Allianz fraudulently drained the assets of an insurer that has been placed in a receivership with Florida regulators, a state agency has alleged.
03 Apr 2013Ken Bradley
The defendants, several affiliates of the Zurich-based insurance and assets management company Allianz, depleted “millions of dollars in funds and assets” from Magnolia Insurance Co., the Florida Department of Financial Services said in a lawsuit filed March 21 in the Leon County Circuit Court.
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By Peter H. Hamner, Esq., Senior Legal Correspondent
03 Apr 2013Peter Hamner
Prudential Insurance alleges in a New Jersey federal court lawsuit that Bank of America and Merrill Lynch engaged in racketeering as part of a scheme to defraud and mislead it on sales of $2 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities.
The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of New Jersey says BofA and Merrill Lynch sold the securities to Prudential from 2004 to 2007 based on inflated credit ratings and false information about the quality of the underlying mortgage loans.
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A federal judge has thrown out a complaint alleging that 24 drug manufacturers, distributors and labelers fraudulently misrepresented their products as eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, causing the federal government to pay state programs over $500 million for the drugs.
28 Mar 2013Deborah Nathan
Whistle-blower Constance Conrad could not surmount the False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar, U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel of the District of Massachusetts said.
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27 Mar 2013Robert White
On February 11, 2013 the national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (“HCFAC”) released its annual report for the 2012 fiscal year. The HCFAC program is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Justice joint program created to combat fraud in health care. 2012 was a record breaking year for health care fraud enforcement.
The HCFAC report indicates that in 2012, the federal government:
- recovered $4.2 billion that was improperly obtained from federal health care programs,
- convicted 826 defendants of health care fraud-related crimes,
- opened 1,131 new criminal health care fraud investigations, and
- excluded 3,131 individuals or entities from federal health care programs.
The Justice Department has sued McGraw-Hill and subsidiary Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, alleging the companies’ credit ratings during the housing bubble misled and defrauded investors.
13 Feb 2013Peter Hamner
The Justice Department’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks damages in excess of $5 billion under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, Pub. L. No. 101-73.
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Deutsche Bank’s admissions of tax evasion in a federal criminal investigation are the basis for a $363 million civil lawsuit alleging that the company misrepresented investment calculations used in option deals.
06 Feb 2013Peter Hamner
California investment company GG Capital filed civil claims for fraud-deceit and negligent misrepresentation in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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Global money services business MoneyGram has admitted to money laundering and wire fraud charges and agreed to forfeit $100 million under a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.
03 Dec 2012Catherine Tomasko
According to a criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, MoneyGram International Inc., whose headquarters are in Dallas, operates through a network of 275,000 locations in 190 countries.
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Alison Frankel posted a blog in late October 2012 talking about securitization fraud involving the New York Attorney General and JP Morgan. This is a very interesting perspective on what is going on in this billion dollar fraud case, in case you missed it:
16 Nov 2012Investigative Insights
(October 24, 2012)
What a complaint U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara filed against Countrywide and Bank of America on Wednesday!
Earlier this month, when the New York Attorney General filed accusations of securitization fraud against JPMorgan Chase, I said we should put aside cynicism about the AG’s copycat allegations and be grateful that, at last, a government official was demanding accountability for systemic corruption in the mortgage-bundling business. The new complaint against BofA demands no such nose-holding: It asserts powerfully detailed — and original — accusations of billion-dollar fraud in the way Countrywide approved mortgages destined for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and in Countrywide’s and BofA’s subsequent (alleged) refusal to repurchase defective loans. Read More >>
A man claims in a lawsuit that Capital One Bank allowed his World War II veteran stepfather’s account to be looted of more than $354,000 by cashing forged checks.
08 Oct 2012Catherine Tomasko
Clarence E. Rothkamm says he holds a power of attorney over the affairs of 89-year-old Louis E. Guillory and that the bank did not notify him of a series of large, unusual cash withdrawals from Guillory’s account. (more…)
