Last week H.R.1625 – Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 was enacted. The Act includes a continuation of funding, until September 30, 2018, for the EB-5 Regional Center Program. EB-5 financing has been a low cost financing alternative for real estate developers when compared to other capital sources. EB-5 credit facilities are typically structured as staged funding … Continue Reading
On April 4, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued proposed regulations ostensibly aimed at curbing inversions and earnings stripping, by companies located in the U.S. with overseas ties. If finalized, these regulations would become retroactive to April 4, 2016, and would fundamentally shift the way debt and equity are … Continue Reading
On March 31, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued its much anticipated white paper on the role of financial technology (“FinTech”) in the financial services industry. The paper, titled Supporting Responsible Innovation in the Federal Banking System: An OCC Perspective, opens a two-month window in which banks, FinTech companies and … Continue Reading
On December 23, 2015, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Delaware Chancery Court’s award of $195 million to PharmAthene, Inc. (“PharmAthene”) as compensation for lost profits (a/k/a expectation damages) on account of the failure by its counter-party to a term sheet to negotiate a license agreement in good faith. The judgment was affirmed notwithstanding the … Continue Reading
Citibank, N.A. has asked a federal district court to bless its $23 million settlement in a class action lawsuit alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy among banks to fix yen-denominated London Interbank Offered Rates (LIBOR) interest rates between 2006 and 2010. The settlement is the first of its kind in the case. The lead plaintiff in the … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aggressively demanded Wall Street and big bank aggregators (“aggregators”) repurchase millions of defaulted and distressed loans, due to purported breaches of representations, warranties and covenants. In the past few years, there have been several blockbuster settlements with the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), such as Citigroup’s 2013 … Continue Reading
A recent class action lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of homeowners in New York against Wells Fargo alleges that while the bank received $25 billion in government bailout funds it failed to make a good faith effort to help borrowers avoid foreclosure in compliance with the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The complaint, filed … Continue Reading
The House of Representatives passed legislation that could loosen some of the restrictions imposed by Dodd-Frank on big banks. The bill, Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Businesses Burden Act, passed by a margin of 271-154, and contained the following measures: Delay implementation of the “Volcker Rule” until 2019. Exempt some private equity firms from … Continue Reading
According to Freddie Mac, things are looking up for the South Florida housing market. The August Multi-Indicator Market Index (MIMI) ratings, released last Friday, awarded the Miami Metro Area a score of 69.2. While Miami is still 11 points shy of an “in range” score, this latest score is 11.43% higher than last August’s score, … Continue Reading
The Federal Reserve is expected to require the biggest U.S. banks to increase reserves in an effort to prevent the possibility of another financial crisis. Federal Reserve Governor Daniel K. Tarullo is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Tuesday to introduce new rules, which would impose … Continue Reading
In a regulatory filing filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and released on Monday, August 4, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. announced that it has $4.6 billion in legal reserves. Believe it or not, this massive number is actually an increase in reserves from last quarter, during which the banking giant had $4.5 … Continue Reading
Former Moody’s analyst, Ilya Kolchinsky, has accused the credit rating powerhouse of overstating its ratings for countless toxic mortgage-backed securities that caused the financial meltdown in 2008, misleading investors and costing the U.S. billions in funds spent bailing out Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks. Kolchinsky’s 107-page False Claims Act complaint, filed in 2012, was recently unsealed … Continue Reading
We previously posted about ACE Securities Corp. v. DB Structured Products, Inc., 977 N.Y.S.2d 229, 231 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. Dec. 19, 2013), which is a critical ruling out of New York’s intermediate state appellate court. In that case, the Appellate Court held that under New York law, the statute of limitations on a mortgage buyback … Continue Reading
In what is being reported as the largest settlement ever between the U.S. and a single business entity, Attorney General Eric Holder and Associate Attorney General Tony West announced Thursday that Bank of America Corp. (“BofA”) has agreed to pay $16.65 billion to settle accusations by the Department of Justice that it, as well as … Continue Reading
SunTrust Banks (“SunTrust”) reached a settlement with Federal prosecutors last week in which it agreed to a $320 million settlement for a combination of consumer relief and housing counseling services. SunTrust issued a press release this past weekend outlining the agreement. Specifically, it has agreed to pay $179 million in consumer remediation, $20 million to … Continue Reading
The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) is urging the FHFA to sue its servicers and lender-placed insurance (“LPI”) providers because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have suffered considerable financial harm in the LPI market, possibly as much as $158 million in 2012 alone from excessively priced insurance coverage. FHFA has been … Continue Reading
The city of Miami recently sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Florida federal court alleging that JPMorgan violated the Federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) by engaging in a “continuing pattern” of discriminatory mortgage lending practices in Miami, resulting in a disproportionate number of foreclosures in minority neighborhoods. Ironically, the suit was filed on Friday the … Continue Reading
On Friday, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its 2013 Report to Congress, revealing recent GSE milestones but anticipating future problems. The annual report is statutorily-required under the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley initiated an action against Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency for allegedly illegally impeding non-profit foreclosure buyback programs. These buyback programs purchase properties in foreclosure and then resell the properties to the prior owners at an affordable price, helping low-income residents keep their homes. … Continue Reading
As we continue to distance ourselves from the advent of the real estate downturn, residential mortgage loan lenders seem to be increasingly willing to explore ways to loan money outside of the “qualified mortgage” arena. For instance, as the author pointed out in a recent N.Y. Times article, lenders are becoming more likely to make … Continue Reading
On Friday, May 30, 2014, asserting that “[i]t is axiomatic that banks should not make discriminatory loans”, the City of Los Angeles filed a two-count complaint against JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Federal Court for the Central District of California. Count one of the complaint is brought under the Federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. … Continue Reading
Early last week, recently-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Melvin L. Watt, announced plans to keep GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going strong. This new strategy is in stark contrast to the express goals of his predecessor Edward J. DeMarco, White House officials and other proposed legislation, such as the Housing … Continue Reading
Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put Freddie and Fannie to the test, and the results were grim. Dodd-Frank mandated “stress tests,” designed to evaluate a financial institution’s ability to withstand an economic downturn, revealed that in a severe recession Fannie and Freddie could require bailouts of as much as $190 billion, a … Continue Reading
Last week, Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina denied Bank of America’s motion to dismiss the Security and Exchange Commission’s claims against it in SEC v. Bank of America Corporation, et al. The SEC’s complaint is founded upon allegations that “[t]he Bank of America … Continue Reading
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