Category Archives: Attorneys General

My Take On Newly Filed AG Foreclosure Settlement: As Bad As We Thought It Was

“They are who we THOUGHT they were — and we let ’em off the hook!” This famous postgame rant from former Arizona Cardinals coach Denny Green after his team’s epic meltdown on Monday Night Football against the Bears could just … Continue reading

Posted in allocation of loss, Ally Bank, Attorneys General, bailout, bankruptcy, banks, Bloomberg, BofA, broader credit crisis, chain of title, Citigroup, Complaints, contract rights, costs of the crisis, damages, foreclosure crisis, global settlement, Government bailout, homeowner relief, Hope For Homeowners, impact of the crisis, improper documentation, incentives, interest rates, investigations, investors, JPMorgan, Judge Jed Rakoff, judicial momentum, junior liens, lawsuits, liabilities, litigation, loan modifications, loss causation, LTV, MBS, misrespresentation, mortgage fraud, negative equity, oversight, Regulators, Residential Capital, RMBS, robo-signers, SEC, securities, securitization, servicer defaults, servicers, settlements, stipulated judgments, waiver of rights to sue | 7 Comments

BREAKING: BoNY-BofA Settlement to Return to State Court After Second Circuit Reverses Pauley

Some rare good news for Bank of America: the Second Circuit just reversed the ruling of District Court Judge William Pauley in the highly-publicized $8.5 billion settlement between BofA, Bank of New York (BoNY), and Kathy Patrick’s institutional investors over … Continue reading

Posted in appeals, Attorneys General, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, bondholder actions, CAFA, class actions, contract rights, discovery, fiduciary duties, global settlement, investors, Judicial Opinions, jurisdiction, lawsuits, liabilities, litigation, MBS, pooling agreements, private label MBS, procedural hurdles, putbacks, remand, removability, rep and warranty, repurchase, RMBS, securities, securitization, settlements, Trustees | 3 Comments

The Inside Story on PIMCO’s Defection from ASF

As first reported by Bloomberg yesterday, bond king Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) has quit the American Securitization Forum (ASF) after the trade group refused to issue a statement reflecting investors’ views of the announced settlement between the five largest … Continue reading

Posted in allocation of loss, ASF, Attorneys General, banks, Bloomberg, conflicts of interest, contract rights, global settlement, incentives, investors, junior liens, loan modifications, lobbying, mark-to-market accounting, MBS, PIMCO, pooling agreements, private label MBS, securitization, servicers, The Subprime Shakeout, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | 1 Comment

Is Foreclosure Settlement Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Today, the Attorneys General of 49 states (with Oklahoma being the lone holdout) announced a record $26 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest servicers over false and fraudulent foreclosure practices like robosigning.  That big number looks great on paper, … Continue reading

Posted in allocation of loss, Attorneys General, bailout, banks, BofA, consitutionality, contract rights, costs of the crisis, Countrywide, education, foreclosure crisis, global settlement, Government bailout, Greenwich Financial Services, Helping Families Save Homes, homeowner relief, improper documentation, incentives, investigations, investors, irresponsible lending, junior liens, lenders, liabilities, loan modifications, lobbying, MBS, media coverage, moral hazard, mortgage market, predatory lending, press, private label MBS, probes, public perceptions, Regulators, RMBS, robo-signers, securitization, Servicer Safe Harbor, servicers, settlements, sophistication, subprime, Takings Clause, The Subprime Shakeout, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey, workouts | 13 Comments

BlackRock Attorney to Face Stiffer Challenges to Next Set of MBS Settlements

(Updated version, including new 6th paragraph on subsequent announcement of larger probe into Morgan Stanley bonds) Having received copious kudos for engineering an $8.5 billion investor settlement with Bank of America over soured Countrywide residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS), “pitbull” … Continue reading

Posted in Allstate, appeals, Attorneys General, Bank of New York, banks, BlackRock, BofA, bondholder actions, conflicts of interest, contract rights, Countrywide, emc, Event of Default, Federal Home Loan Banks, FHFA, global settlement, hedge funds, Investor Syndicate, investors, JPMorgan, jurisdiction, Kathy Patrick, lawsuits, lenders, liabilities, litigation, MBIA, MBS, Morgan Stanley, Philippe Selendy, press, private label MBS, putbacks, quinn emanuel, Regulators, remand, removability, rep and warranty, repurchase, RMBS, securities, securitization, settlements, standing, toxic assets, Wall St., Wells Fargo | 7 Comments

Book Tour Day 1: Pessimism, Hope and Note Cards

My first day in New York City to promote the release of Way Too Big to Fail was a whirlwind, as expected.  I arrived into JFK at 6:00 AM and headed into Manhattan for my first stop at the Cornell … Continue reading

Posted in Attorneys General, bailout, Dan Rather, due diligence firms, Government bailout, hedge funds, mortgage market, Neil Barofsky, putbacks, re-underwriting, Regulators, RMBS, securities, securities laws, securitization, TARP, The Subprime Shakeout, Timothy Geithner, too big to fail, Treasury, Wall St., Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

RMBS Legal Roundup: The Top Five Developments You Might Have Missed While Obsessing Over the BoNY/BofA Settlement

With interesting developments occurring almost daily in the proposed Bofa/Countrywide settlement with Bank of New York, it has been hard to focus on anything else.  Indeed, since the last time I posted on the settlement (discussing New York AG Eric … Continue reading

Posted in AIG, Attorneys General, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, bondholder actions, CDOs, class actions, Complaints, contract rights, costs of the crisis, Credit Unions, damages, Deutsche Bank, Fannie Mae, FHFA, Freddie Mac, global settlement, Goldman Sachs, investigations, investors, JPMorgan, lawsuits, litigation, loss causation, MBS, misrespresentation, mortgage market, motions to dismiss, NCUA, Paulson and Co., private label MBS, probes, procedural hurdles, research, reserve reporting, responsibility, RMBS, SEC, securities fraud, securitization, settlements, sophistication, standing, subpoenas, subprime, too big to fail, Treasury, Trustees, Uncategorized, Wall St. | 2 Comments

New York AG Schneiderman Comes out Swinging at BofA, BoNY

This is big.  Though we’ve seen leading indicators over the last few weeks that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman might get involved in the proposed Bank of America settlement over Countrywide bonds, few expected a response that might dynamite … Continue reading

Posted in Attorneys General, bad faith, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, chain of title, conflicts of interest, contract rights, Countrywide, discovery, fiduciary duties, global settlement, improper documentation, investigations, investors, litigation, loan files, LPS, MBS, mortgage fraud, private label MBS, RMBS, robo-signers, servicer defaults, servicers, settlements, standing, successor liability, Trustees, Uncategorized, underwriting practices, Wall St. | 11 Comments

Six Challenges to Countrywide RMBS Settlement Already; Rundown Shows Pact Will Be No Easy Sell for BofA

The BofA settlement blowback has already begun.  If you’ve been following my recent posts (here and here) about the proposed Bank of America (“BofA”) settlement involving the Bank of New York (“BoNY”) and the Kathy Patrick-led investor group (the “Investor … Continue reading

Posted in Attorneys General, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, bondholder actions, conflicts of interest, contract rights, Countrywide, Federal Home Loan Banks, FHFA, global settlement, Grais and Ellsworth, improper documentation, incentives, investigations, investors, lawsuits, lenders, liabilities, litigation, MBS, oversight, pooling agreements, private label MBS, procedural hurdles, putbacks, rep and warranty, repurchase, RMBS, securities fraud, servicers, settlements, standing, statutes of limitations, subpoenas, toxic assets, Trustees | 9 Comments

Bank of America Fires Off Response to BlackRock and PIMCO Demand Letter, Accuses Lawyer of “Ulterior Agenda”

In a response that can only be described as indignant, Bank of America fired back on November 4 at the group of investors that demanded that Countrywide/BofA repurchase loans in connection with $47 billion worth of private-label mortgage backed securities.  … Continue reading

Posted in Attorneys General, BlackRock, BofA, Countrywide, Event of Default, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Kathy Patrick, MBS, PIMCO, procedural hurdles, rep and warranty, repurchase, servicers, specificity | Leave a comment