Compliance

Investigators keep finding skeletons in the closets of companies that participated in the mortgage boom. In a case the government filed against Deutsche Bank AG on Tuesday, the “closet” part is literally true.

As fictional character Gordon Gekko once said, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

Frost National Bank recently won a District Court case in Dallas where it claimed more than $9.5 million in a commercial lending dispute.

By participating in two separate mortgage schemes, Stephen Kottage has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court of Connecticut to two counts of conspiracy relating to these fraud cases.

Under sections 202 and 536 of the National Housing Act, HUD may impose sanctions, including civil money penalties, for misuse of the terms “Federal Housing Administration,” “Department of Housing and Urban Development,” “Government National Mortgage Association,” “Ginnie Mae,” the acronyms “HUD,” “FHA,” or “GNMA,” or any official seal or logo of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Federal Trade Commission has mailed $1.5 million worth of refund checks to over 3,100 Hispanic borrowers who received mortgage loans from Golden Empire Mortgage.

A class-action complaint has been filed by Berger & Montague PC on behalf of all Pennsylvania homeowners whose mortgage loans have been serviced by CitiMortgage Inc.

MFI-Miami has filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against three attorneys from the law firm of Orlans Associates for attorney misconduct by committing conspiracy and fraud against a cancer victim.

The verdict was against PHH Mortgage Corp. which does business as Coldwell Banker Mortgage. The jury awarded Staff Sgt. David Brash over $21 million in damages consisting of $1 million in emotional distress damages and $20 MILLION IN PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

Lee Farkas isn’t exactly a household name in America, but this week he became the first mortgage executive of a once top ranked lender to be found guilty of a fraud with its roots in the housing bust.

The Federal Reserve Board this week began soliciting public comments on a proposed rule that would give mortgage lenders two ways to show they have sufficiently vetted a consumer's "ability to repay" a mortgage.

The Federal Trade Commission has mailed 1,410 refund checks totaling an estimated $2.3 million to consumers allegedly defrauded by Home Assure LLC, a so-called mortgage foreclosure rescue service.

A developer is suing Bank of Utah for allegedly participating in a fraudulent scheme relating to a $5 million construction loan.

A Hartford, Conn., jury has found four more individuals guilty of multiple federal offenses related to their participation in an extensive mortgage conspiracy that defrauded lenders of more than $3.2 million.

On April 8, FIRST AMERICAN MORTGAGE TRUST OF BROOKLINE, MASS., and the Federal Housing Administration's Mortgagee Review Board announced a settlement agreement for failing to fully verify whether borrowers could sustain their mortgage payments prior to refinancing their loans.

The mortgage insurance industry hopes that banking regulators recognize the value of their product when finalizing their ‘qualified residential mortgage’ test -- but so far their pleas have fallen on deaf years.

For the first time in 13 years, Georgia won't be among the top ten states for mortgage fraud when LexisNexis releases its annual MARI fraud index on May 2.

CoreLogic’s FinalCheck suite of quality control software is now accessible from the Ellie Mae loan origination system.

A year-long undercover investigation by four housing organizations revealed that fraud practices are prevalent within the servicing industry as one in nine homeowners nationwide are more than 90 days behind in their mortgage payments.

CoreLogic is allowing lenders and credit grantors a free 30-day trial to use its IncomeAdvisor tool that detects income fraud during the origination process.According to CoreLogic data, income fraud accounts for 23% of mortgage fraud.