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NEWS ABOUT: subprime mortgages

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Feds to Charge Crooked Bond Traders

Ex-Credit Suisse traders accused of bonus-boosting fraud

(Newser) - Looks like it's payback week: Federal prosecutors are planning to file fraud charges against four former Credit Suisse traders accused of overstating the value of mortgage securities in order to boost their bonuses, the Wall Street Journal reports. The alleged fraud happened in early 2008 as problems with complex... More »

This Woman's Job: to Make You Like BofA

Anne Finucane juggles politicians, shareholders, and customers

(Newser) - Anne Finucane has one of the hardest jobs in the country: to make us like Bank of America. The high-powered image-maker juggles politicians, interest groups, and her own boss—BofA President Brian Moynihan—in an ongoing effort to resuscitate the bank's flailing reputation and lowly stock price since the... More »

Ex-Banker: Yeah, Collapse Was Our Fault

So why haven't homeowners been bailed out?

(Newser) - If you were trying to get a loan in southern Florida in 2007, bankers like James Theckston were there to help. "If you had some old bag lady walking down the street and she had a decent credit score, she got a loan," Chase's then-regional VP of... More »

Perry Gave Huge Tax Grants to Subprime Lenders

Countrywide, WaMu got $35M as they upped risky loans

(Newser) - Rick Perry handed mortgage lenders millions to draw them to Texas—right when their risky lending practices surged. The governor gave Countrywide $20 million and Washington Mutual $15 million in what he called an exemplary job-creation move; in effect, that $35 million subsidized dangerous subprime lending, an AP analysis of... More »

Feds Sue Big Banks Over Mortgages

US accuses them of dodging due diligence as crisis fallout spreads

(Newser) - The Federal Housing Finance Agency—the agency behind Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac—has filed suit against more than a dozen big banks for their role in the mortgage meltdown mess. The feds, seeking billions in compensation, accuse the banks of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities, reports the New ... More »

Fed Hits Wells Fargo With Record $85M Fine

Bank accused of mortgage abuses

(Newser) - Wells Fargo has agreed to cough up $85 million to settle allegations that it steered borrowers with good credit towards expensive subprime mortgages and falsified information on borrowers' income on loan documents. The Federal Reserve says the fine, the first levied in relation to the predatory big-bank practices blamed for... More »

Goldman Preps Counterattack on Senate Report

Subcommittee's numbers are wrong, firm says

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs is ready to take a stand against a Senate subcommittee report that slammed the firm for allegedly misleading clients . Goldman will argue that the report exaggerates the firm’s 2007 bets against the housing market; it may release documents that support its belief that the subcommittee’s investigation... More »

SEC Poised to Charge Fannie, Freddie Execs

But regulatory agency disagrees, and nothing has yet been filed

(Newser) - The SEC is making moves toward charging current and former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives, sources tell the Washington Post , but the Federal Housing Finance Agency disagrees with the move. The SEC has sent notices to at least four senior executives over the past eight weeks warning them they... More »

Taxpayers Footed Fannie, Freddie's $160M Legal Bill

Americans spend $24.2 million to defend executives

(Newser) - Taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in fraud lawsuits since the government took over the companies in 2008. The closely guarded cost was released last week after Rep. Randy Neugebauer requested the figures last year. Some $132 million of the total went to... More »

FBI Plans Massive Sweep of Mortgage Fraudsters

Hundreds of arrests expected next week

(Newser) - FBI agents will fan out across the country next week and arrest hundreds of shady lenders who duped people into taking mortgages they couldn't afford, reports the Financial Times . The crackdown on mortgage fraud will go after companies that misled people about their loans and potential rescue programs, or that... More »

Capitol Hill's Favorite New Book: The Big Short

Lawmakers love how it explains meltdown

(Newser) - Listen to debate over financial reform on Capitol Hill for any length of time and you might think lawmakers were being paid to plug The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. They're not; they just love the way the book explains the financial meltdown and how a handful of investors made... More »

Billionaire Jeff Greene to Run for Senate

So what if Mike Tyson was his best man, and Heidi Fleiss his galpal

(Newser) - Billionaire investor Jeff Greene launched what promises to be a rather colorful campaign for Florida's Democratic Senate nomination today, depicting himself as an outsider who isn't beholden to anyone. “I won’t take a penny of special interest money in this campaign or after I am elected—never!”... More »

Fabulous Fab: 'I Regret the Emails'

Goldman Sachs exec Fabrice Tourre faces Senate panel

(AP) - Fabrice Tourre, the 31-year-old trader who is the only company official directly accused in the SEC suit against Goldman Sachs, testified today that he does not recall telling investors a Goldman hedge fund client had bought into an investment that soured. "I deny categorically the SEC's allegation," Tourre... More »

Blankfein Will Deny Goldman Bet Against Clients

Goldman Sachs CEO plans to strike apologetic tone in Senate testimony

(Newser) - The CEO of Goldman Sachs will tell a Senate panel tomorrow he understands Americans' distrust of the bank, but its "functions are important to economic growth and job creation." Lloyd Blankfein's remarks, released ahead of the eagerly awaited hearing, are his most accommodating yet, reports the New York ... More »

Real Subprime Scandal Is Ratings Firms, not Goldman

99% of AAA-rated subprime securities now junk

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs won't come out of the Senate financial reform hearings smelling of roses, but it's the much bigger stink coming from credit ratings firms that lawmakers should focus on, warns Paul Krugman. Emails released by the Senate subcommittee probing the financial crisis show how corrupt the system of credit... More »

Germany May Go After Goldman Sachs

One of the nation's big lenders nearly collapsed

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs may soon have another government on its back: Germany will ask the SEC for information about its fraud case against the Wall Street giant. One of Germany's big lenders, IKB, got caught up in Goldman's mortgage investment scheme and required a bailout to avoid collapse, explains the Wall ... More »

Goldman Withers in SEC Spotlight

Fraud charges kneecap stock price; observers play wait-and-see

(Newser) - The SEC's civil suit against Goldman Sachs is hardly a slam-dunk, experts agree, but the scrutiny is certainly not doing the firm any good . Some reactions:
  • This "is explosive stuff," Felix Salmon blogs for Reuters . "Goldman Sachs has lost more than $10 billion in market capitalization today,
... More »

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud

Says firm misled investors on subprime mortgages

(AP) - The government is accusing Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering. The SEC today announced civil fraud charges against Goldman and one of its vice presidents. The agency alleges Goldman failed... More »

WaMu 'Poisoned' Financial System: Senate Report

Senate panel says lender knowingly built 'mortgage time bomb'

(Newser) - Washington Mutual made subprime loans it knew would go bad, then packaged them into risky securities, creating a “mortgage time bomb,” according to a Senate report. The permanent investigations subcommittee is grilling former WaMu execs this morning. The report also says the bank packaged and sold loans it... More »

Goldman Seizes Homes as Securities Sour

Just getting them to admit they hold your mortgage can be an ordeal

(Newser) - Imagine finding yourself in a foreclosure battle and discovering that your opponent isn't the obscure lender who wrote your insane mortgage, but the formidable Goldman Sachs. It seems that after years of buying subprime mortgages and packaging them into bonds, at a handsome profit, Goldman is now in the business... More »

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