Law and legal issues

A Salem, Massachusetts, man was found guilty by a federal jury in Boston of a scheme that led to more than $3.8 million in losses to lenders, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

A former account executive sued the company claiming it did not follow its own "Firm 40" policy.

The misdemeanor plea deals for three co-defendants do not add to troubles for an upstate New York developer facing federal felony charges in what once was called a "wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme."

Wells Fargo won an early round in a lawsuit accusing the bank of running a predatory mortgage lending scheme in the Atlanta area before the 2008 financial crisis and continuing to discriminate against minorities for more than a decade afterward.

The New Jersey-specific case could be a sign of how the combined effect of federal debt-collection rules and state regulations may further complicate a compliance-sensitive environment for the industry.

The U.S. Treasury Department defeated a blue-state challenge to a rule that exempts buyers of high-interest loans from state interest rate caps.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors abandoned a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that had challenged the San Francisco fintech's effort to become a national bank without deposit insurance. The company recently amended its application to drop that controversial element.

The ruling overturns a summary judgment in a class action lawsuit filed by refinance customers between 2004 and 2009 in West Virginia over alleged inflated property values.

Mary Mack testified last week about the cultural problems she encountered after joining the bank's consumer unit in 2016. Recalling small group meetings she held with employees, she said: "People would stand up, and they were fearful."

The Federal Reserve told a judge not to scrap Libor as requested by consumers in a lawsuit because it would pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates.

The bureau said two rules related to communications with debtors will go into effect as originally planned on Nov. 30. The agency had previously proposed an extension to consider consumer advocates' concerns about the regulations.

A three-judge panel determined that a lower-court ruling against two law firms specializing in mortgage repair had used the wrong measure to calculate restitution.

Collectors are mulling a procedural overhaul after a three-judge panel said the practice of using vendors to inform consumers about outstanding debts is illegal. The case may also complicate the CFPB's upcoming rule on electronic messaging.

Less than two years after shutting down its biggest business amid fraud allegations, the Michigan company has sold branches, settled a shareholder lawsuit and returned to profitability under turnaround specialist Thomas O’Brien.

The defendants face 133 felony counts that include allegedly stealing identities to commit mortgage fraud between 2014 and 2020, resulting in the theft of $15 million.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disputes a district court ruling that misconduct claims against the company were already covered by a previous settlement.

The delinquency rate on regional mall commercial mortgage-backed securities was 22.9% in February, the highest of any real estate category, according to Moody’s

Federal Savings Bank, the Chicago bank that lent millions of dollars to Paul Manafort under its founder and former longtime CEO, has now sued the former Trump campaign chairman and his wife, seeking to foreclose upon his mansion in the Hamptons.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

The Federal Reserve warned of significant risks of business bankruptcies and steep drops in commercial real estate prices in a report published on Friday.