Editorial: Bold move to hold banks accountable
Just as Americans kicked off the long Labor Day weekend, a little-known federal agency took a bold step to hold the banking industry -- including individual executives -- accountable for the mortgage meltdown still plaguing the nation's ailing economy. The lawsuit against JP Morgan, for example, names 38 individual defendants. Twelve execs are named in the Bank of America suit, while seven merit a mention in the Morgan Stanley filing. The lawsuits allege that these individuals, most of whom are not well-known but still work in this highly paid industry, signed off or were responsible for providing misleading information... FHFA's gutsy move won't help homeowners with underwater mortgages who are still being jerked around by the banking industry. Nor does it hold accountable the Fannie and Freddie executives whose ruinous leadership -- including Minnesota native and Democratic political operative James Johnson -- led to a massive taxpayer bailout.

Analysis: Mortgage cases target people, not just banks
By suing 131 individuals in its effort to recover losses on $200 billion of mortgage debt that went sour, the federal agency overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is doing one thing that the government has largely left alone. It is trying to hold actual people, not just companies, responsible for their roles in the global financial crisis. The 18 lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, including 17 filed last week and one in July, signal a change from prior federal efforts to punish banks and bankers for their roles in the financial crisis.  Most of the higher-profile financial crisis cases brought by the Department of Justice, such as its civil fraud against Deutsche Bank AG, or the Securities and Exchange Commission have named few or no individual defendants. So far, no top executives at major banks have been criminally charged.

Nevada Says Bank Broke Mortgage Settlement
The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices. In a complaint filed Tuesday in United States District Court in Reno, Catherine Cortez Masto, the Nevada attorney general, asked a judge for permission to end Nevada’s participation in the settlement agreement. This would allow her to sue the bank over what the complaint says were dubious practices uncovered by her office in an investigation that began in 2009.

 Amnesty for the Indefensible
“They” are the Wall Street usurers, people of a sort condemned in Scripture, who have brought more misery to this nation than we have known since the Great Depression. “They” will not suffer for their crimes because they have a majority ownership position in our political system. That is the meaning of the banking plea bargain that the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to negotiate with the titans of the financial world. ...The $20 billion or so that the banks would pony up is chump change to them compared with the trillions that the Fed and other public agencies spent to bail them out. The banks were given direct cash subsidies, virtually zero-interest loans, and the Fed took $2 trillion in bad paper off their hands while the banks exacerbated the banking crisis they had created through additional shady practices, including fraudulent mortgage foreclosures.

Metroplex homebuilder pleads guilty in widespread mortgage fraud scheme
Davon Willis, who oversaw a mortgage broker business that processed loan applications involved in the mortgage fraud, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on July 18, 2011.  Two recruiters of homebuyers, Julila Nicole Allen, 38, of Grand Heights, Texas, and Kimoni Jackson, 34, of Desoto, ....  Another homebuilder, Yunus Mandli, 63, of Rockwall, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud...  A mortgage broker, Quincy Dynell Harrington, 41, of Corinth, Texas, ...  One loan processor, Natasha Manley, 39 of Sherman Oaks, California, ... One home seller, Keith Ezell, 46, of Cedar Hill, Texas, ...Sharetha Jackson, 41, of Desoto, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering ... Willis Raymond McMurran, 37, of Middleton, Delaware, ... and Edward Rogers, 41, of Midlothian, Texas.,Rodney Lavann Giles, Sr., 44, of Dallas, Renetta Yvonne Jones, 40, of Plano, Texas...M.D. Habibur Rahman, 52, of Garland, Texas, ...Jon Ruliffson, 31, of Plano, Texas,  ...Larry Reisman, 49, of Dallas, a homebuilder, was indicted for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Attorney General of N.Y. Is Said to Face Pressure on Bank Foreclosure Deal
Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices, according to people briefed on discussions about the deal. In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement, said the people briefed on the talks. “The attorney general remains concerned by any attempt at a global settlement that would shut down ongoing investigations of wrongdoing related to the mortgage crisis,” said Danny Kanner, the spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman.

New York Fed Director Kathryn Wylde Provokes Accusations Of Conflict Of Interest
Kathryn Wylde, deputy chair of the New York Fed's board, challenged state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's opposition to a proposed $8.5 billion settlement between Bank of America and a group of investors -- leaping to the defense of the financial industry -- according to remarks quoted Monday in The New York Times..."I'm just appalled," said Whalen, who is managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics. "She is a public director of a Federal Reserve Bank, and she's not supposed to behave this way. She is not an advocate for the industry." "If she wants to be an advocate for the big banks," he continued, "then she ought to step down."

Consumer Protection Division orders more than $15,000 in refunds and penalties
(Maryland Attorney General) BALTIMORE, MD -— Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has announced  that the Consumer Protection Division has issued a final order requiring Bay Area Design & Build, Inc. and its principals to refund $10,000 collected from consumers to construct a home in Anne Arundel County and pay a penalty of $3,000.  The Division found the builder and its principals, Gregory Louis Haigis and Robert Scott Huff, violated Maryland’s Custom Home Protection Act by failing to place or maintain money in an escrow account, failing to have a surety bond to protect those deposits and payments and failing to construct the home.

Houston lawyer led investor charge in $8.5 billion Bank of America deal
A Houston lawyer with a small firm won an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America tied to the 2008 mortgage mess, a deal that could establish a road map for other banks in resolving the nation's stubborn housing crisis. "I think this is one of those rare opportunities for doing good for your client and doing good for the public," said Kathy Patrick, lead attorney for 22 big investors hit by losses from Bank of America and its Countrywide subsidiary. The settlement, announced Wednesday, not only would require Bank of America and/ or Countrywide to pay $8.5 billion to cover investor losses caused by problem mortgages, but it also would force a series of improvements in the way borrowers receive service when they need to reset terms or otherwise work out problems with individual loans — alleviating a source of friction and frustration.

BofA agrees to pay $8.5 billion in mortgage claims
The settlement will contribute to a second-quarter loss of $8.6 billion to $9.1 billion, or 88 cents to 93 cents a share, the bank said in a statement. Bank of America also said it's adding $5.5 billion to a liability reserve for future loan-repurchase demands and will record $6.4 billion in other charges including legal costs and a write-down of mortgage-unit goodwill... Investors, which also include Pacific Investment Management Co. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, demanded in October that Bank of America repurchase home loans that had been packaged into bonds by Countrywide Financial Corp., which it acquired in 2008. The settlement covers 530 mortgage trusts with an original loan balance of $424 billion, the bank said.