SEC announced Tuesday that it has charged Wells Fargo's brokerage firm and former VP Shawn McMurtry for selling investments tied to mortgage-backed securities without fully understanding them or disclosing the risks involved. SEC said the firm's representatives did not understand the true nature, risks, and volatility behind such products and recommended them to investors with ""conservative investment objectives.""
Read More »Debate on Eminent Domain Continues to Spread
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he does not support the use of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages at a committee hearing Tuesday, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Read More »Fitch: Impact of Proposed CFPB Rules
Clearer monthly mortgage statements, warnigns before interest rates adjust, quick correction of errors - these are among the proposed rules for mortgage servicers from the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau. According to a commentary from Fitch Ratings, these new rules, if implemented, would set consistent standards for residential servicers, but the rules ""will also further increase compliance costs for the industry and potentially drive further consolidation within mid to smaller servicers.""
Read More »People with Disabilities Lack Affordable Housing: Report
Lack of affordable, accessible housing is a significant problem for people with disabilities, according to a release from the California State Independent Living Council.
Read More »Former Fannie Mae CEO Facing SEC Charges
A former Fannie Mae executive now finds himself facing charges from the SEC of misleading investors about the GSE's loans. According to a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ex-CEO Dan Mudd, along with two other defendants, allegedly misled investors into thinking the company had far less exposure risky loans than it actually had. SEC accuses Mudd, Enrico Dallavecchia, and Thomas Lund of creating ""materially false and misleading statements regarding Fannie Mae's exposure to subprime and Alt-A loans"" between 2006 and 2008.
Read More »Goldman Investigations End for Justice Department and SEC
Following efforts led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan) to have Goldman Sachs investigated, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Justice Department have decided not to take further actions against the investment bank.
Read More »FDIC Sues Institutions Over Securities Sold to Colonial
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.(FDIC) is going after a list of financial institutions over mortgage securities sold to the now defunct Colonial Bank. According to the complaint, the defendants - which include JPMorgan Chase, CitiMortgage, and Wells Fargo - made untrue statements or omitted important information when selling securities to Colonial. The suit is over $388 million in securities Colonial purchased from the defendants.
Read More »Three Industry Organizations to Host Legislative Day in D.C.
Three industry organizations are coming together to host a legislative event in Washington D.C.
Read More »Former FirstCity Bank President Receives 12-Year Sentence
The former president of FirstCity Bank of Georgia, Mark A. Conner, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for bank fraud conspiracy and perjury, SIGTARP and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates jointly announced Friday in a release. Conner, 46, was charged for his role in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud FirstCity Bank and for hiding and lying about assets in his personal bankruptcy case.
Read More »CFPB Proposes Stricter Mortgage Servicing Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed two notices with rules designed to protect homeowners from surprises or mistakes made by their mortgage servicers. CFPB first announced in April that it was considering several proposals to implement requirements laid out in the Dodd-Frank Act, the bill that created the bureau.
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