More whistleblowers unveiling massive fraud by Wall Street under False Claims Act

Just after the economic crisis hit in 2008 federal and state prosecutors and private whistleblowers have increasingly used the power of the False Claims Act (FCA) to bring lawsuits against major national lending institutions. They are revealing rabid and clear fraud regarding their role in the mortgage backed securities debacle; predatory lending; student loan lending; mortgage fraud and other violations of lending laws. There has been a $1 billion settlement with Bank Of America and Countrywide Financial and a $158 million settlement with CitiMortgage Inc; $202 million from Deutsche Bank structured Products and the Justice Department announced in January 2013 that PNC Bank has agreed to pay $7.1 million to settle FCA claims relating to its failure to engage in prudent underwriting practices concerning loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. Another use of a false claims act provision was used recently when California sued credit rating agency Standard & Poors seeking more than $3 billion in damages for S&P’s conduct, saying it intentionally inflated its rating of structured financial securities. Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers.