Despite their very real impact, air rights are one of the most abstract concepts in development. Now a developer and lender are clashing over how tightly these rights are tied to the properties they spring from, and the fight’s outcome could have far-reaching implications. The issue is at the heart of a lawsuit filed by …
Investors have agreed to settle a nine-year class-action lawsuit against Kansas City-based NovaStar Mortgage Inc. and three Wall Street banks over investment losses tied to subprime mortgages. The settlement calls for a $165 million cash payment from NovaStar Mortgage, Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank, according to a statement from the investors’ attorneys. All four had …
The Justice Department can pursue its controversial fraud case against Detroit-based mortgage lender Quicken Loans, a judge ruled Thursday, but he substantially narrowed the time frame covered by the suit. In the first major ruling since the case reached a Detroit courtroom, U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith denied …
The logo of PricewaterhouseCoopers is seen on the local offices building of the company in Luxembourg, April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (Reuters) – PricewaterhouseCoopers has settled a lawsuit accusing the auditing firm of failing to detect the fraud that brought down Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp in 2009, a lawyer for the mortgage lender’s bankruptcy trustee said on Friday. The …
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has settled a $5.5 billion lawsuit in the middle of a weekslong trial over its alleged failure to catch the massive fraud that led to one of the most expensive bank failures in U.S. history. Steven Thomas, a lawyer for the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the remains of failed mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., announced the …
The complainant is Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), which was a top-10 wholesale mortgage lending firm. The trustees of the company are accusing PwC of negligence in their audits of TBW’s lender, Colonial Bank. In an agreement between the top management of the borrower and the bank, starting from 2002, TBW chairman Lee Farkas sent mortgage data to Colonial Bank for fake loans or those the company …
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers squared off Tuesday in court with lawyers for a defunct mortgage company’s creditors and investors over a $5.5 billion lawsuit, which claimed the Big Four firm failed through years of audits to uncover massive fraud at a failed Alabama bank. The estimated $21 billion fraud at Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama, was orchestrated by top executives at the …
A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived Ohio’s lawsuit accusing Freddie Mac of defrauding the state’s $87.3 billion public pension fund by hiding its exposure to subprime and other risky mortgages prior to the 2007-09 financial crisis. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge erred in finding that the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) did not plausibly …
Kirby McInerney LLP, a class action litigation firm is investigating potential class action claims against Cenlar FSB, a leading mortgage servicer, in connection with a suspected scheme to overcharge homeowners for force-placed insurance. Mortgages require borrowers to maintain insurance to protect the lender’s interests in the secured property. If the borrower’s …
Regulators don’t like the unregulated, and in what some would term, “the CFPB inviting more into its boat to be bashed with oars,” it announced it is accepting complaints from consumers encountering problems with loans from online marketplace lenders. “The Bureau is also releasing a consumer bulletin that provides an overview of marketplace lending and outlines tips for consumers who are …