Compliance

Goldman Sachs & Co. can complete the sale of its mortgage servicing subsidiary to Ocwen Financial Corp. now that the parties have agreed to a settlement with the New York superintendent of banks over alleged abusive services practices, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Appraisers will be following new procedures for gathering and reporting property data starting Thursday, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move forward with the appraisal requirements of their Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

Municipalities are increasingly holding mortgage securitization trustsliable for the upkeep of properties, which could affect investors'cashflows, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

The percentage of early defaults on FHA-insured loans originated by MortgageIT “skyrocketed” after it was acquired by Deutsche Bank in 2007, according to an amended complaint filed by New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Freddie Mac's fraud investigation unit is reaching out to Realtor associations and real estate agents to educate them about how to prevent fraudulent short-sale activities from taking place.

Credit Suisse and the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield are being sued by two resort developers for fraud and RICO conspiracy charges.

A real estate agent from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been indicted for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme where he obtained more than $50 million in loans from several banks and lenders.

A new integration into the Mortgage Builder loan origination system allows users to order CoreLogic income verification services directly from the LOS.

A victim in a foreclosure scam and sale/leaseback transaction cannot state a TILA claim because the victim is not a “consumer” and the transaction is not a "consumer credit transaction" within the meaning of TILA. See Scott v/ Dearcp REO. Inc.TILA ¶¶ 1.04[16]. 1.04[17],U.S.D.C. NJ.

Fannie Mae has agreed to settle multi-million dollar claims brought by several of the biggest victims of the massive CU National Mortgage scandal, more than two years after the fraud brought down the largest independent mortgage wholesale provider to credit unions.

Alex Gambini, the former owner of First Advantage Financial Services, Hamlin, Pa., will spend at least four years in prison for participating in a fraud scheme where he inflated property mortgages.

A U.S. District Court judge in Oregon issued a pair of rulings in favor of Merscorp subsidiary Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., but it remains unclear how those rulings will impact MERS' appeal of a third case where a second federal judge vacated an Oregon borrower's nonjudicial foreclosure.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking Ameritrust Mortgage Bankers Inc. to indemnify the Federal Housing Administration for possible future losses on 10 loans and reimburse the agency $183,327 for actual losses on at least one mortgage.

Accenture announced its acquisition of Dallas-based mortgage outsourcing provider Zenta Monday, in a move that puts the global consulting and outsourcing provider in the thick of the mortgage origination business and the massive loss mitigation efforts ongoing in the mortgage servicing industry.

A Jacksonville title agent who was the owner of Premier Title Group Inc. has pleaded guilty to bank fraud last Friday afternoon for serving as the closing agent during a mortgage fraud scheme.

California attorney general Kamala Harris and the state's Department of Justice have taken legal action against several attorneys and law firms who used a fraudulent scheme to steal millions of dollars from distressed homeowners.

As part of an undercover investigation called “Operation Madhouse” conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, 13 individuals have been arrested in Chicago for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme carrying out three separate transactions involving four homes on the city's south side.

Talal Ashek of Holland pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims to a lending institution for his role in a mortgage fraud conspiracy. Sentencing will take place on Oct.17, before U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake.

The founder, president and CEO of Triton Financial LLC, Kurt Barton, faces a life sentence in prison after a federal jury convicted him of carrying out a Ponzi scheme that victimized more than 300 individuals that resulted in investor losses of over $50 million.

It seems more mortgage brokers are receiving notices from the FDIC that they may be sued for delivering bad loans to failed banks that were major wholesalers.