Tag Archives: SEC

Bruce M. Witherell resigned from his position and responsibilities as chief operating officer of Freddie Mac on Wednesday, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The GSE says Witherell is stepping down ""for personal reasons."" His resignation is effective immediately. According to the SEC filing, Witherell will not receive any termination benefits. A former Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers executive, Witherell joined Freddie Mac as COO just 17 months ago.

The call for federal officials to establish industry-wide mortgage servicing and foreclosure standards is getting louder. A group of more than 50 senior economists, academic leaders, and influential investors sent a letter to the heads of federal regulatory agencies Tuesday, urging them to take the lead in setting national standards for mortgage loan servicers. The group argues that widely reported fraud in servicers' dealings with homeowners and foreclosure procedures demands new standards be adopted now.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating lenders' procedures for packaging home mortgages into securities bonds for sale to investors. Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the probe, says the SEC sent subpoenas last week to Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. The subpoenas focus on the earliest stage of the mortgage securitization process, in particular, the role of master servicers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is putting mortgage lenders on alert regarding disclosures about potential losses from foreclosure paperwork defects and loans they may be forced to buy back from investors. In a letter sent to the chief financial officers of publicly traded banking companies, the federal agency reminded lenders that they are obligated to relay to their investors any known trends, commitments or uncertainties that they expect could have an ""unfavorable impact"" on the company's financial results.

The co-founder of what was once the largest, most lucrative subprime lender in the country has agreed to pay a total of $67.5 million to settle allegations of fraud. Former Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo will pay the SEC a $22.5 million penalty to settle charges that he misled investors about the risk associated with Countrywide's business. Mozilo will also pay $45 million to settle insider trading charges. He has been permanently barred from serving as an officer of a publicly traded company.

A federal judge is refusing to sanction an agreement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges that the company misled investors about its exposure to subprime home loans, even as the subprime market began to unravel. Citi agreed to pay a $75 million penalty to settle the charges, but at a hearing this week, a U.S. district judge asked how the parties could expect her to ""find this reasonable and fair.""

Bank of America has agreed to another hefty lawsuit settlement to smooth over charges brought against Countrywide. A U.S. district judge in Los Angeles has approved BofA's payout of $600 million to Countrywide investors who claim the lender wasn't forthcoming with disclosures about its business of making low-quality, high-risk loans. Countrywide's third-party auditor, KPMG, also agreed to pay $24 million. It's the largest shareholder settlement awarded out of the subprime mortgage meltdown.

The two corporate names linked in recent weeks to high-profile settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over questionable practices related to mortgage investments are teaming up to bring to market the year's third multi-borrower bond backed by commercial real estate. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are putting together a $788.5 million commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) offering comprised of debt from 48 retail and office properties.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday charged Citigroup Inc. with misleading investors about the company's exposure to subprime mortgage-related assets. The SEC also charged former CFO Gary Crittenden and Arthur Tildesley, Jr., currently the head of cross marketing at Citigroup, for their roles in causing the company to falsely state in an SEC filing that its subprime exposure was a quarter of what it really was in 2007, just as the mortgage market was rapidly deteriorating.