Posts belonging to Category Mortgage Backed Securities



Study: Structured Products Pose Huge Risks to Investors’ Portfolios

 

Simply stated, senior investors (in fact, all investors) should be very leery of high-risk structured products. Author John Wasik, in conjunction with Demos and The Nation Institute, has published a white paper entitled “How Safe Are Your Savings? How Complex Derivative Products Imperil Seniors’ Retirement Security.” The paper’s focus is on structured products and how […]

Is an Organization “Too Big to Fail” Above the Law?

 

The number one rated analyst covering brokerage firms, Brad Hintz, is telling his clients that if Goldman Sachs committed any crimes by misleading its clients about mortgage-backed securities, the firm will will be offered a “slap on the wrist” deal called “deferred prosecution” because it is viewed as “too big to fail,” according to Christine […]

Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse Fined for Misrepresenting Important Facts about Mortgage-Backed Securities to Investors

 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC $4.5 million, and Merrill Lynch $3 million. The fines arise out of FINRA’s findings that the firms misrepresented historical delinquency rates in connection with the residential subprime mortgage securitizations (RMBS) that the firms underwrote and sold. Upon learning of the errors, Merrill […]

New York Attorney General’s Investigation Could be a Nightmare for Wall Street Banks

 

Just when Wall Street banks thought they were was going to get off scot free, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is launching an investigation into the very heart of fraudulent scheme that led to the financial crisis. This has the potential to be the “Mother of All Nightmares” for the banks, according to a […]

Mass Mutual Sues Goldman, UBS and JP Morgan Over Soured Mortgage-Backed Securities Deals

 

Underwriters Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Bear Stearns (now owned by JP Morgan) allegedly sold more than $175 million of mortgage-backed securities to insurance giant Mass Mutual without disclosing that they were composed of troubled loans, which made the securities “junk” worth only $40 million, according to a Law 360 article, citing a civil action filed […]

Goldman’s Legal Woes Keep Growing

 

Goldman Sachs disclosed that it has been notified that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s staff will recommend that the agency bring “aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges” against its division, Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Liz Moyer entitled “Goldman Discloses CFTC Probe.” The charges reportedly […]

JPMorgan Chase is Close to Settling “Built to Fail” CDO Investigation

 

JP Morgan says that it is in “advanced” negotiations to settle its part of a broad U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into how mortgage-linked securities were packaged and sold as the housing market unraveled, according to a Bloomberg article by Joshua Gallu and David Scheer entitled “JPMorgan Is in ‘Advanced’ Negotiations to Resolve CDO […]

Feds Charge Deutsche Bank with Mortgage Fraud

 

Federal prosecutors have filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and MortgageIT unit for alleged “reckless lending practices,” according to a New York Times Dealbook article entitled “U.S. Sues Deutsche Bank Over Mortgages.” Deutsche Bank acquired MortgageIT in July 2006. The complaint reportedly seeks over $1 billion in treble damages and penalties under […]

Senate Subcommittee Investigation Supports Conclusion Goldman Sachs Bet Against Subprime-Backed CDOs that it Sold to Investors

 

The story of a CDO named Hudson-Mezzanine-2006-1 (“Hudson”) shows how Goldman Sachs, the only major Wall Street firm to escape relatively unscathed from the nation’s economic meltdown, created and sold CDO deals in which it secretly took a short position to hedge its long bets on the housing market, according to an article by Greg […]

Senate Report on Financial Crisis Criticizes Ratings Agencies

 

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s colluded with Wall Street investment banks to profit at the expense of investors by giving faulty AAA ratings to pools of mortgage-backed securities that should have been rated as junk, according to Kevin G. Hall’s article in McClatchey Newspapers entitled “Report: Big profits drove faulty ratings at Moody’s, […]