On June 22, 2015, the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed an information charging Adrian Rubin of Jenkintown, PA, with: (1) one count of conspiracy to violate RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); (2) one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. §…
On Wednesday, June 10, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced a new rule that grants the CFPB the ability to monitor nonbank companies that qualify as “larger participants of a market for automobile financing.” The CFPB simultaneously adopted a separate rule defining certain automobile leases as a “financial…
On June 1, 2015, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with a regional bank over allegations that the bank originated and underwrote mortgage loans that did not meet applicable requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance program. The settlement was previously…
On May 28, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a joint complaint and proposed consent order against a national mortgage lender in the United States District Court for Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that the lender violated the Equal Credit…
On April 2, 2015, a regional bank reached an agreement in principle to settle allegations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) relating to its former subsidiary’s issuance of mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The DOJ…
On March 12, 2015, the Justice Department announced a settlement with a regional bank over allegations that the bank violated FIRREA by permitting an intermediary third-party payment processor to process fraudulent payments through the bank. The payment processor opened an account at the bank for the purpose of processing electronic…
On February 24, 2015, Capital One Financial Corporation disclosed in its annual SEC 10-K filing that in early 2015 it had received subpoenas related to the bank’s subprime auto financing and securitization activities from the New Jersey office of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the New York district attorney’s…
On March 10, 2015, the Justice Department announced a settlement with a regional bank over allegations that the bank permitted a third-party payment processor to process fraudulent payments through the bank. As part of the settlement, the DOJ filed a criminal information alleging a felony violation of the Bank Secrecy…
On February 25, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had reached a settlement with MetLife Home Loans LLC concerning its investigation into MetLife’s origination and underwriting practices of loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA loans). As part of…
On March 3, 2015, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement with a national bank over allegations that the bank signed payment change notices in bankruptcy court without reviewing the accuracy of the documents and submitted inaccurate escrow statements. The U.S. Trustee initiated the investigation after the bank allegedly…
On February 25, 2015, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement with a national bank over allegations that the bank originated and underwrote mortgage loans that did not meet applicable Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) requirements under the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) insurance program. The settlement covers…
On February 25, 2015, a national lender and securitizer of automobile loans disclosed in a SEC Filing that the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a subpoena to the lender in January 2015 regarding its origination and securitization of subprime auto loans. The lender disclosed that the DOJ may initiate civil…
On February 25, 2015, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement with a national motor vehicle lender over allegations that the company repossessed over 1,1000 cars in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. Sections 501-597b. A consent order was filed in the U.S. District Court for…
On February 24, 2015, a national bank disclosed in an SEC filing that the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Department of the Treasury, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, and New York district attorney’s office issued subpoenas to the bank in early 2015 related to the bank’s subprime…
The DOJ announced a settlement of the first “buy here, pay here” discriminatory auto-lending lawsuit. The complaint, filed in January, 2014 by the DOJ, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina and the North Carolina Attorney General in the U.S. District Court for the Western District…
On January 21, 2015, the FTC announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Commercial Recover Systems, Inc. (CRS), a debt collector, for illegally threatening consumers with false claims and threatening consumers that they would be faced with legal…
On January 15, 2015, the DOJ announced that it had entered a consent order in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to resolve claims against a state-chartered bank based in Texas for allegedly discriminatory loan practices. The matter was referred to the DOJ by the FDIC,…
The Department of Justice is investigating whether to bring civil claims under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) against GM Financial Company, Inc. for its origination and securitization of subprime auto loans. GM Financial revealed the investigation in a recent SEC 8-K filing, stating that…
On June 26, 2014, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report entitled “Virtual Currencies: Emerging Regulatory, Law Enforcement, and Consumer Protection Challenges.” The report discusses the benefits and disadvantages of virtual currency and reviews efforts to date by federal agencies to regulate the virtual currency market. The report concludes…
Synchrony Bank (formerly known as GE Capital Retail Bank) made two direct mail offers to its credit card holders, but it did not send the offers to Spanish-speaking customers. The Bank self-reported its actions, resulting in consent orders with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice, which…