On July 20, 2017, acting United States Attorney Stephen Muldrow announced a civil settlement with the owner of a Florida condominium complex over fraudulent reverse mortgage transactions. Defendant had been accused of violating the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”). The Federal…
On May 16, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had reached a settlement with a company engaged in reverse mortgage servicing, in connection with the company’s participation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (“HECM”) program, which offers senior citizens reverse mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration…
On April 20, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that the president and chief executive officer of a Buffalo-based debt collection company was sentenced to 100 months in prison for engaging in illegal and abusive debt collection practices. According to the USAO, the defendant…
On January 20, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that it had settled a recently-filed lawsuit against a national bank, resolving allegations of mortgage discrimination. As previously covered by Enforcement Watch, the government alleged that from 2006 to 2009, the bank charged minority borrowers higher rates…
On January 13, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota bank, stemming from allegations that the bank engaged in illegal “redlining” of minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the bank violated the Fair…
On November 18, 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (“USAO”) announced that the co-owner and chief financial officer of a debt collection company, and a company manager, pleaded guilty to engaging in illegal and abusive debt collection practices. The Court also sentenced another company employee to…
On November 21, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced that an individual defendant was sentenced for his participation in an allegedly fraudulent debt relief scheme. The defendant worked for two companies in Orange County, California that offered to settle credit card debts. According to…
On November 14, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced that four California individual defendants were sentenced for their participation in an allegedly fraudulent debt relief scheme. The defendants all worked for two companies in Orange County, California that offered to settle credit card debts. According to the DOJ,…
On October 3, 2016, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two Utah-based Direct Endorsement (DE) lenders agreed to pay $5 million and $4.25 million dollars to settle separate cases relating to their origination and underwriting of mortgage loans insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s…
On September 29, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had secured a settlement from a national lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the False Claims Act, Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 in its underwriting of Federal…
On September 29, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a national bank over allegations that the bank had engaged in unlawful debt collection practices, in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The SCRA extends additional protections from certain debt…
On September 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a bank to resolve allegations that the bank discriminated against Hispanic borrowers. The DOJ’s complaint, filed along with the consent order in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas,…
On September 13, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement agreement with a bank for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by improperly underwriting and originating of FHA-insured mortgage loans. According to the DOJ, from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2011, the lender was improperly underwriting and certifying that mortgage loans…
On August 23, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the filing of a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against several California-based mortgage loan modification service providers. The complaint alleges that defendants violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)…
On August 8, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that an auto financing company agreed to pay $434,500 to settle alleged violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the company illegally repossessed 75 automobiles from service members during their service between 2008…
On August 5, an Alabama bank announced in its quarterly report that it reached an agreement in principal on a settlement amount with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The settlement will resolve an investigation into the bank’s residential mortgage…
On June 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPPB) and Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint enforcement action against a regional bank for alleged discriminatory mortgage lending in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA), filed in the District Court for the…
On May 19, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it filed a lawsuit against a national mortgage company relating to the company’s participation in the Direct Endorsement Lender Program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance program. A qui tam plaintiff…
On May 13, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has reached a $64 million settlement agreement with a national bank relating to the bank’s participation in the Direct Endorsement Lender Program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The agreement resolves claims that were originally brought…
On April 15, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a mortgage company settled claims it violated the False Claims Act by originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that failed to comply with certain requirements for the FHA insurance program. The settlement…