Some news you might have missed today while memorizing the recently circulated bios of the incoming summer associates: SEC to Sue Mozilo? Staff at the SEC have decided to recommend filing civil fraud charges against Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corp. The SEC sent a so-called Wells notice to Mozilo several weeks ago alerting him of the planned charges. The potential... [more]
Some news you might have missed today while memorizing the recently circulated bios of the incoming summer associates:
SEC to Sue Mozilo? Staff at the SEC have decided to recommend filing civil fraud charges against Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corp. The SEC sent a so-called Wells notice to Mozilo several weeks ago alerting him of the planned charges. The potential charges include alleged violations of insider-trading laws as well as failing to disclose material information to shareholders. A Wells notice is a precursor to a civil lawsuit in an SEC investigation. WSJ.
Senators: What to Do with Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury? Senators today debated whether they should investigate John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Stephen Bradbury, former lawyers with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, over their involvement with memos that authorized harsh interrogation practices. David Luban, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who testifed Wednesday, said the trio made “frivolous arguments” merely to get the results they wanted. Robert Turner, associate director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia, said they had legitimate arguments under the Geneva Conventions. BLT Blog.
The Very Latest Scotus Scuttlebutt: A bit of news on this front: A pick isn’t likely to be announced before Memorial Day; the list of potential Souter replacement is longer than has been speculated; and that Obama wants a vote before Congress’s August recess. WSJ. NYT. Meanwhile, the current Intrade forecast shows Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor as the favorite.
Lawyer, Red Raider: Finally, the Bitter Lawyer has a fun Q&A with Texas A&M head football coach Mike Leach. The money excerpt:
Do your players ever ask you if they should go to law school?
Yeah, they do. And I tell them this: If you want to be a lawyer, go. But if you know that you don’t want to be a lawyer, get another type of graduate degree. I don’t regret getting the law degree because I think education is really important, but for those who know they don’t want to be lawyers, they should study something else.
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Response by w67thstreet
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 9003
Member since: Dec 2008
Thxs :) .... MOZILLO of the perma tan..... dude you're gonna die someday... stop it w/ the plastic surgery already... .the VAIN little fairy....
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Response by Riversider
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 13573
Member since: Apr 2009
Anyone remember this and other transgressions....
California Attorney General Jerry Brown discloses the accord with Countrywide Financial that will help about 400,000 US homeowners. (Jakub Mosur/Associated Press)
Bloomberg News / October 7, 2008
CHICAGO - Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender acquired by Bank of America, will offer interest rate and loan principal reductions plus other borrower relief valued at $8.4 billion to settle consumer fraud complaints in 11 states.
The accord, which includes relocation assistance for homeowners whose homes have been or are about to be foreclosed, will affect about 400,000 customers and resolves lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Illinois, California, Connecticut, and Florida and complaints from seven other states, according to attorneys general Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Edmund "Jerry" Brown of California.
Madigan and Brown sued the Calabasas, Calif.-based company on June 25, the same day Bank of America shareholders approved the acquisition. At that point, Countrywide had lost $2.5 billion in the year because of rising defaults and foreclosures. The package made public Sunday will likely become the largest predatory-lending settlement in history, Brown said.
"Countrywide must now bail out homeowners it recklessly misled into mortgages doomed to fail," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said yesterday.
The cases, initially filed in state courts in Chicago and Los Angeles, accused the lender of using deceptive practices, including low introductory or "teaser" rates, to entice borrowers to take loans for which payments grew to unaffordable amounts.
Countrywide agreed not to initiate a new foreclosure, or to advance a pending foreclosure against consumers who are being considered for assistance, Blumenthal said.
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
Did you see the piece I posted about Goldman caving and paying (a paltry, but precedent setting amount that should be causing the wamus and the countrywides to crap in their pants) $60m to settle the Mass AG's action against them for predatory lending? $10m went for penalties to the AG, but $60m went to settle ONLY 741 subprime loans. One might think that GS, the 15th largest subprime lender, was trying to kill the competition. Machiavellian. Or maybe the AG had GS by the shorthairs. Fascinating.
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
$50 million went to the 741 loans.
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Response by Riversider
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 13573
Member since: Apr 2009
what does that work out to $1000 or less for each transgression?
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
but riversider, there was no info on GS, at least as of yet. people are calling it bribery, but i think they may have been undermining their competition, the other banks. think about it. if you are the fifteenth largest generator of subprime loans, and you know that you'll have to pay something in the end, why not pay now, but more importantly, you are screwing the others who have far more at stake.
the conspiracy theorist in me wonders quite a bit on this one. GS got a fabulous deal, that's not the point, they always do, that's the point.
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Response by Riversider
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 13573
Member since: Apr 2009
I did some calculations on the back of a paper napkin. Mass has 6.5 million residents. Figure 5 million adults, 3.5 million households(feel free to challenge this. this is really shooting from the hip. Figure over 3 years 25% of households do something mortgage related. Mass is not a subprime state so most maybe 25% subprime/alt-a which was goldman's gig.. Goldman also wasn't the only investment bank in thie business doing this? So maybe 20% market share...... I was getting numbers of between $300-$1000 per transgression. This was chump change.
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
riversider, i agree. but is the result chump change to the number one subprime lender who may not be offerred settlement? and what precedent does this set for other states? that GS was willing to bend over and pay without batting an eyelash? Don't think of this from an economic standpoint, think of it from a legal one.
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Response by Riversider
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 13573
Member since: Apr 2009
Personally I'm waiting to see what happens to Mozilo. I'm convinced they acted unethically... maybe illegally. Will be interesting to see what transpires. He clearly walked away with a great deal of money and created no value. He almost took BAC down.
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
yes, i'm eagerly awaiting that as well. but...
and he and his and countrywide's its may still do the job. after the criminal always comes the civil.
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Response by 30yrs_RE_20_in_REO
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 9885
Member since: Mar 2009
and exactly how much blood is that stone going to yield?
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Response by aboutready
almost 17 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
nothing net. 30yrs. nothing at all. except perhaps from the taxpayer. but once again, gs doesn't do so badly and scores an opportunity to minimize the competition. i'm not advocating the system (although honesty forces me to admit that the spouse is a commercial litigator, but also a wonderfully humane sort), i'm just trying to put forth the possible causes and results, and something smells stinky here.
Thxs :) .... MOZILLO of the perma tan..... dude you're gonna die someday... stop it w/ the plastic surgery already... .the VAIN little fairy....
Anyone remember this and other transgressions....
California Attorney General Jerry Brown discloses the accord with Countrywide Financial that will help about 400,000 US homeowners. (Jakub Mosur/Associated Press)
Bloomberg News / October 7, 2008
CHICAGO - Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender acquired by Bank of America, will offer interest rate and loan principal reductions plus other borrower relief valued at $8.4 billion to settle consumer fraud complaints in 11 states.
The accord, which includes relocation assistance for homeowners whose homes have been or are about to be foreclosed, will affect about 400,000 customers and resolves lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Illinois, California, Connecticut, and Florida and complaints from seven other states, according to attorneys general Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Edmund "Jerry" Brown of California.
Madigan and Brown sued the Calabasas, Calif.-based company on June 25, the same day Bank of America shareholders approved the acquisition. At that point, Countrywide had lost $2.5 billion in the year because of rising defaults and foreclosures. The package made public Sunday will likely become the largest predatory-lending settlement in history, Brown said.
"Countrywide must now bail out homeowners it recklessly misled into mortgages doomed to fail," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said yesterday.
The cases, initially filed in state courts in Chicago and Los Angeles, accused the lender of using deceptive practices, including low introductory or "teaser" rates, to entice borrowers to take loans for which payments grew to unaffordable amounts.
Countrywide agreed not to initiate a new foreclosure, or to advance a pending foreclosure against consumers who are being considered for assistance, Blumenthal said.
Did you see the piece I posted about Goldman caving and paying (a paltry, but precedent setting amount that should be causing the wamus and the countrywides to crap in their pants) $60m to settle the Mass AG's action against them for predatory lending? $10m went for penalties to the AG, but $60m went to settle ONLY 741 subprime loans. One might think that GS, the 15th largest subprime lender, was trying to kill the competition. Machiavellian. Or maybe the AG had GS by the shorthairs. Fascinating.
$50 million went to the 741 loans.
what does that work out to $1000 or less for each transgression?
but riversider, there was no info on GS, at least as of yet. people are calling it bribery, but i think they may have been undermining their competition, the other banks. think about it. if you are the fifteenth largest generator of subprime loans, and you know that you'll have to pay something in the end, why not pay now, but more importantly, you are screwing the others who have far more at stake.
the conspiracy theorist in me wonders quite a bit on this one. GS got a fabulous deal, that's not the point, they always do, that's the point.
I did some calculations on the back of a paper napkin. Mass has 6.5 million residents. Figure 5 million adults, 3.5 million households(feel free to challenge this. this is really shooting from the hip. Figure over 3 years 25% of households do something mortgage related. Mass is not a subprime state so most maybe 25% subprime/alt-a which was goldman's gig.. Goldman also wasn't the only investment bank in thie business doing this? So maybe 20% market share...... I was getting numbers of between $300-$1000 per transgression. This was chump change.
riversider, i agree. but is the result chump change to the number one subprime lender who may not be offerred settlement? and what precedent does this set for other states? that GS was willing to bend over and pay without batting an eyelash? Don't think of this from an economic standpoint, think of it from a legal one.
Personally I'm waiting to see what happens to Mozilo. I'm convinced they acted unethically... maybe illegally. Will be interesting to see what transpires. He clearly walked away with a great deal of money and created no value. He almost took BAC down.
yes, i'm eagerly awaiting that as well. but...
and he and his and countrywide's its may still do the job. after the criminal always comes the civil.
and exactly how much blood is that stone going to yield?
nothing net. 30yrs. nothing at all. except perhaps from the taxpayer. but once again, gs doesn't do so badly and scores an opportunity to minimize the competition. i'm not advocating the system (although honesty forces me to admit that the spouse is a commercial litigator, but also a wonderfully humane sort), i'm just trying to put forth the possible causes and results, and something smells stinky here.
maybe he's innoceent..
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/business/25mortgage.html?scp=1&sq=countrywide+mortgage+brokers+inflated+income&st=nyt