Banking Law

This ‘unassuming’ career prosecutor developed the theory used to sue Wall Street banks

Justice Department officials are crediting a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles for developing the theory used to file civil suits against banks for practices blamed for the mortgage meltdown. Leo “Lee” Weidman is “an unassuming 69-year-old career prosecutor, toiling away in anonymity 3,000 miles from Washington,” but his idea of…

Nov 1, 2013 10:45 AM CDT

Foreclosure king ‘created chaos on the courts’ and should be disbarred, referee says

A Florida lawyer once dubbed the “foreclosure king” should be disbarred for failing to supervise law firm personnel who mishandled foreclosures and filed improperly notarized paperwork, a disciplinary referee has concluded. The lawyer, David Stern, closed his firm in 2011 amid lost work caused by robosigning allegations, notifying judges by…

Oct 31, 2013 4:29 PM CDT

RESPA wrongdoing? Consumer agency claims law firm paid kickbacks through joint-venture title firms

A Kentucky law firm is in the crosshairs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its operation of nine title insurance companies. The bureau sued the six-lawyer Louisville firm, Borders & Borders, on Thursday, claiming the title companies were used to pay kickbacks for work referrals, report the Wall Street…

Oct 25, 2013 12:45 PM CDT

Lawyer agrees to disbarment for abdicating law firm to nonlawyers

A San Diego lawyer has agreed to be disbarred for allowing a nonlawyer to open and operate a law firm in his name that offered credit-repair services. Ernest George Georggin, 68, agreed to give up his law license and to pay $90,000 in restitution, plus interest, to 25 former clients…

Oct 23, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

Swiss bank exec faces US extradition in $20B tax case, due to vacation in Italy

After he was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2008 in a $20 billion U.S. tax fraud conspiracy case, Swiss banking executive Raoul Weil declined to be extradited and his legal counsel said he had done nothing wrong. That put the criminal case against him on hold, since Switzerland…

Oct 22, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

JPMorgan said to reach tentative deal to pay $13B to resolve civil probes, a record amount

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly reached a tentative deal to pay $13 billion to resolve civil probes regarding the sale of troubled mortgage securities. The New York Times DealBook blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) are among the publications reporting on the tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department,…

Oct 21, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Boies Schiller opens London office, firm’s first outside US

Boies Schiller & Flexner is opening an office in London, its first outside the United States. Partner Natasha Harrison will exit Bingham McCutchen to serve as managing partner of the new office, according to Bloomberg and Legal Week. She focuses her practice on securities and finance litigation, and is expected…

Oct 8, 2013 6:15 PM CDT

Young lawyer takes plea in lender-looting case as trial looms for 4 other defendant attorneys

Cory A. Leshner said he was still a law student when he became part of a claimed scheme to take over and loot a Texas-based mortgage company. Now Leshner, a 30-year-old Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in federal court in Camden, N.J., according to…

Oct 2, 2013 8:25 PM CDT

An ‘inflammatory’ opinion? Judge bars pre-emption defense absent a Wells Fargo resolution

A federal judge who agreed a homeowner’s predatory lending claim was pre-empted by federal law plans to take the case to a jury anyway—unless Wells Fargo submits a board resolution standing by the defense. U.S. District Judge William Young of Massachusetts called his pre-emption ruling “technical” and told Wells Fargo…

Oct 1, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Judge Jed Rakoff’s stance on the SEC deals draws fire, praise—and change

Over lunch in New York City in 2009, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff took a dare. Then-executive assistant U.S. attorney Fred Virella complained that the prosecutor’s office had lost four games in a row in the Lawyers Co-Ed Softball League. Rakoff joked that it likely had to do with Virella…

Oct 1, 2013 10:10 AM CDT

Bank and accountants to pay $40M settlement in city embezzlement case

An Illinois bank and two accounting firms have agreed to settle for $40 million a lawsuit over a massive, nearly two-decade-long embezzlement by the then-treasurer of the city of Dixon, its mayor says. The bulk of the settlement, around $36 million, will come from accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen, Northern Public Radio…

Sep 25, 2013 9:20 PM CDT

TD Bank to pay $52.5M to settle regulatory complaints related to ex-attorney Rothstein’s $1.2B fraud

Without admitting wrongdoing, Canada’s second-largest bank has agreed to pay $52.5 million to settle complaints by U.S. regulators that it failed to put the brakes on a Florida lawyer who used his accounts at Toronto-Dominion Bank in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme for which he is now serving a 50-year…

Sep 24, 2013 7:45 PM CDT

JPMorgan Chase to pay $920M for its handling of ‘London whale’ scandal

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $920 million and admitted wrongdoing in connection with the so-called “London whale” scandal. The agreement disclosed on Thursday stems from risky 2012 trades by London traders that resulted in $6.2 billion in losses, report the New York Times DealBook blog, USA Today and Reuters.…

Sep 19, 2013 2:06 PM CDT

No criminal or civil charges against top Lehman execs, five years after investment bank collapse

Almost exactly five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers nearly sank the U.S. economy, regulators of the banking industry remain concerned that the country’s six largest lending institutions may still be undercapitalized even though their reserves have nearly doubled since then. “The basic model hasn’t changed much, and it’s…

Sep 10, 2013 5:10 PM CDT

Merrill Lynch reportedly agrees to $160M settlement in bias case

Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $160 million to settle racial bias claims by 700 African-American brokers who alleged unequal treatment impeded their careers at the brokerage, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs. The settlement is the largest amount ever distributed to plaintiffs in a racial discrimination suit against…

Aug 28, 2013 4:02 PM CDT