In another setback for troubled bank, Attorneys look into possibly false claims<\/i><\/p>\n
by Brian Leubitz<\/p>\n
It’s not easy being Bank of America these days. Oh sure, you get to have the pride of advertising on Hulu and well, everywhere, but are there people out there that don’t hate you? You have those Occupy Wall Street folks, the people who hate you over the ridiculously greedy $5 debit card charge, and, oh right, their sketchy dealings in the foreclosure crisis.<\/p>\n
Add a different (but related) worry onto the pile:<\/p>\n
Investigators with the state attorney general’s office have subpoenaed Bank of America Corp. in connection with the sale and marketing of troubled mortgage-backed securities to California investors, according to a person familiar with the probe.<\/p>\n
The state is trying to determine whether the bank and its Countrywide Financial subsidiary sold investments backed by risky mortgages to institutional and private investors in California under false pretenses…<\/p>\n
Harris has created a mortgage fraud strike force with a mandate of looking into all aspects of mortgage fraud, including securitization. Many of these investments plunged in value as the housing market collapsed. Under California’s False Claims Act, which makes it a crime to defraud the state, damages of up to three times the amount of the claim can be awarded if the victim was an institutional investor, such as one of the state’s pension funds.(LA Times<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is possible this is part of the 3-dimensional chess being played with the foreclosure mess, but if the AG’s office can prove that BofA made the false claims, we are talking about a lot of money for a bank that already has capitilization issues.<\/p>\n
But don’t worry Brian Moynihan<\/a> is still doing a-ok!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In another setback for troubled bank, Attorneys look into possibly false claims<\/i><\/p>\n
by Brian Leubitz<\/p>\n
It’s not easy being Bank of America these days. Oh sure, you get to have the pride of advertising on Hulu and well, everywhere, but are there people out there that don’t hate you? You have those Occupy Wall Street folks, the people who hate you over the ridiculously greedy $5 debit card charge, and, oh right, their sketchy dealings in the foreclosure crisis.<\/p>\n
Add a different (but related) worry onto the pile:<\/p>\n
Investigators with the state attorney general’s office have subpoenaed Bank of America Corp. in connection with the sale and marketing of troubled mortgage-backed securities to California investors, according to a person familiar with the probe.<\/p>\n
The state is trying to determine whether the bank and its Countrywide Financial subsidiary sold investments backed by risky mortgages to institutional and private investors in California under false pretenses…<\/p>\n
Harris has created a mortgage fraud strike force with a mandate of looking into all aspects of mortgage fraud, including securitization. Many of these investments plunged in value as the housing market collapsed. Under California’s False Claims Act, which makes it a crime to defraud the state, damages of up to three times the amount of the claim can be awarded if the victim was an institutional investor, such as one of the state’s pension funds.(LA Times<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is possible this is part of the 3-dimensional chess being played with the foreclosure mess, but if the AG’s office can prove that BofA made the false claims, we are talking about a lot of money for a bank that already has capitilization issues.<\/p>\n