Enforcement

A Lexington, Ky., man was sentenced Monday to five months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements to a federal agency after he was paid for home appraisals he didn't do.

Zillow Group and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will attempt to negotiate a settlement to resolve an investigation into whether its co-marketing advertising for real estate and mortgage companies violates the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Critics of recent False Claims Act enforcement argue the Justice Department is too heavy-handed toward lenders and servicers. But in an industry reputed for shoddy processes during the crisis, perhaps stringent oversight is warranted.

Apparently, the finance department of the San Francisco Housing Authority can't balance its own checkbook.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency promoted Andre Galeano to oversee its regulation and supervision of the 11 Federal Home Loan banks.

Wells Fargo & Co. settled an 11-year-old lawsuit with the U.S. government that claimed the lender overcharged veterans under a federal mortgage-refinancing program.

Getting rundown or blighted properties renovated to meet safety codes and restored to the tax rolls is the goal of a program known as receivership, a report about which was presented to the Holyoke, Mass., City Council.

Over the past 20 years, 395 code violation cases with $4.46 million in unpaid fines have piled up at City Hall.

A Muskogee, Okla., woman charged with embezzling more than $10,000 from a local church also is a federal mortgage loan originator licensed to represent a local bank, according to national registry records.

Three California men who previously operated Star Reliable Mortgage were ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution and are facing multiyear prison terms related to a foreclosure rescue scheme.

The U.S. population is aging, and one of the well-established components of the American dream — buying and owning a home — appears poised to aid in the baby boomers' next phase of life.

A Pierce County judge says a notorious Seattle landlord — not thieves — tried to profit from cutting wires throughout a vacant Tacoma apartment building and ordered him to pay $1.1 million.

Ocwen Financial Corp. agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit for a cash payment of $49 million, plus 2.5 million shares of the company's stock.

A former California mortgage lender agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle civil fraud allegations that its lending practices in the Southeast caused taxpayers to lose millions of dollars when homeowners defaulted on their loans after the Great Recession.

Two West Virginia law firms have won a federal case against Quicken Loans that stemmed from allegations the lender suggested home values to appraisers who are supposed to be objective.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group agreed to pay $5.5 billion to settle the second of three major U.S. mortgage-backed securities probes the government-owned lender must overcome before it can fully return to the private sector.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Mortgagee Review Board has suspended Seckel Capital from originating and underwriting FHA-insured mortgages.

The Trump administration's Justice Department was expected to be less aggressive in its pursuit of False Claims Act cases against the mortgage industry. Instead, its focus has shifted to Federal Housing Administration-insured reverse mortgages.

Morgan Stanley received credit for $30 million of consumer relief, completing 85% of the obligations required by its February 2016 settlement with New York State.

Affordable housing shortages and declining loan volumes are making it difficult for banks to originate enough mortgages to meet their Community Reinvestment Act obligations, which could make filling shortfalls with loans from nonbanks more expensive.