Matthew Weidner with the commentary…

The names of the Plaintiffs who are foreclosing on our neighbors across the county, by and large are not names that you recognize as your local banking or lending operations.  They are not, in most cases, the name of the lender that wrote the mortgage or lent the money.  The foreclosing plaintiff is typically a servicing company (Saxon Mortgage Servicing) or US Bank as Trustee For The Ixis Trust.  The Wall Street Journal and major new outlets are now reporting that many of the big names that are foreclosing are under a variety of federal investigations.  When the investigations are concluded, the feds will know what we’ve all learned recently… the loans they’re foreclosing on now were never intended to be paid back or paid on time.

The Lenders that are foreclosing needed “shittier” and “shittier” loans to bundle together so they could sell those loans to institutional investors.   They made money there.

However, in order to make the real money, the Wall Street players needed the homeowners to default on those loans so they could make the much bigger money from the bets they took out against those bundles of loans.

Below is a summary of some of the reported investigations.  There are undoubtedly more and judges across the country, both in circuit court and federal court, are taking notice and beginning to consider the bad conduct of the Plaintiffs who appear in their courtrooms.  The question we must all ask is

SHOULD BANKS THAT CA– USED THE CRISIS BE PERMITTED TO CONTINUE TO PROFIT FROM THE CRISIS THEY CA– USED?

Have a read through the reports of investigations, then be prepared to raise the investigations as affirmative defenses in your cases.

What has been reported What the bank has said

Citigroup		 Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal has reported that Citigroup is under “early-stage criminal scrutiny” by the Department of Justice. Also citing unnamed sources, Fox Business reported on May 12 that the SEC has an active civil investigation into Citigroup and has subpoenaed the firm, but has not issued any Wells notices. A report on May 12th by the Journal cited unnamed sourcessaying that the Department of Justice is scrutinizing a few CDO deals that Morgan Stanley bet against–but which were underwritten by Citigroup and UBS. Neither the SEC nor the Justice Department have confirmed these reports.Citing two anonymous sources, The New York Times has reported that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating eight banks to determine whether they misled rating agencies in order to get higher ratings for their mortgage-related products; Citigroup has been named as one of the banks. Subpoenas were issued on May 12, according to the Times and the Dow Jones Newswires, both of which relied on anonymous sourcing for their reports. Citigroup has declined to comment to us and other outlets.

Credit Agricole		 Credit Agricole has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating separately. Credit Agricole did not immediately respond to the Times’ request for comment and has not yet responded to ours.

Credit Suisse		 Credit Suisse has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating. Credit Suisse declined to comment to the Times about the New York attorney general’s investigation.

Deutsche Bank		 Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal has reported that Deutsche Bank is under “early-stage criminal scrutiny” by the Department of Justice. Also citing unnamed sources, Fox Business reported on May 12 that the SEC has an active civil investigation into Deutsche and has subpoenaed the firm, but has not issued any Wells notices. Neither agency has confirmed these reports.Deutsche Bank has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating separately. Deutsche Bank declined to comment to Fox, the Journal, and the Times about possible investigations.

Goldman Sachs		 The SEC has brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Goldman, alleging that the investment bank made “materially misleading statements and omissions” when it allowed a hedge fund to help create and bet against a CDO, called Abacus, without disclosing the hedge fund’s role to investors.The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the probe,” reported in April that the Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation into Goldman’s CDO dealings following a referral from the SEC. Neither agency has confirmed this, but the AP, citing another unnamed source, has reported the same thing. Since then, many news organizations–including the The New York Times, ABC News and the Washington Post–have also reported on the criminal probe, citing unnamed sources. No charges have been brought.

Goldman Sachs has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating separately.

 Goldman called the SEC’s accusations “unfounded in law and fact.“After the reports of a criminal investigation, a Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to confirm that the bank had been contacted by the DOJ but also told several news outlets that “given the recent focus on the firm, we’re not surprised by the report of an inquiry. We would cooperate fully with any request for information.”

The bank has declined to comment to us on the New York attorney general’s investigation.

JP Morgan Chase		 Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal has also reported that JPMorgan Chase has received civil subpoenas from the SEC and is under “early-stage criminal scrutiny” by the Department of Justice. Neither the SEC nor the Justice Department has confirmed these reports. A JPMorgan spokesman told the Journal that the bank “hasn’t been contacted” by federal prosecutors and isn’t aware of a criminal investigation.

Merrill Lynch (now part of Bank of America)		 Merrill has not been named in any SEC investigations. But as we pointed out, a lawsuit brought by a Dutch bank asserts that Merrill Lynch did a CDO deal that was “precisely” like Goldman’s. The SEC has declined to comment on whether it is investigating the deal.Merrill Lynch has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating. Merrill has said its CDO deal was not like Goldman’s, calling Goldman’s Abacus deal an “entirely different transaction.”The bank did not immediately return the Times’ request for comment about the investigation by Coumo, but when we called and asked, a spokesman from Bank of America, which merged with Merrill, said, “We are cooperating with the attorney general’s office on this matter.”

Morgan Stanley		 Citing “people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported on May 12 that the Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation into Morgan Stanley’s CDO dealings, including its role in helping design and betting against two sets of CDOs from 2006 known as Jackson and Buchanan. The Justice Department declined to comment. No charges have been brought, and according to the Journal, the probe is “at a preliminary stage.” A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said the bank had “no knowledge of a Justice Department investigation into these transactions.” The Journal reported that the SEC has subpoenaed Morgan Stanley on several occasions, but the bank says it has received no Wells notices, which would indicate pending SEC charges.Morgan Stanley has also been named as one of the banks that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating. A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said on May 12that the firm has “not been contacted by the Justice Department about the transactions being raised by The Wall Street Journal, and we have no knowledge of a Justice Department investigation into these transactions.”The investment bank declined to comment to the Times about the Coumo’s investigation.

UBS		 Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported that UBS has received civil subpoenas from the SEC and is under “early-stage criminal scrutiny” by the Department of Justice. In a report on May 12, the Journal reported that the Justice Department is scrutinizing a few CDO deals that Morgan Stanley helped design and bet against–but which were marketed by Citigroup and UBS. Neither the SEC nor the Justice Department has confirmed these reports. The firm has not disclosed that it has gotten any Wells notices.UBS has also been named as one of the banks New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating. A UBS spokesman has declined to comment on any of the investigations.

4closureFraud