Bank linked to ‘Panapa Papers’ hit with $180M laundering fine

New York’s top financial regulator slapped a “Panama Papers”-linked bank with a $180 million fine for anti-money laundering violations.

Mega Bank, a $103 billion Taiwanese bank with one New York office, ignored the risks associated with transactions involving Panama, a high-risk area for money laundering, the state Department of Financial Services said in a statement on Friday.

The bank had “suspicious” accounts that were formed with the help of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the “Panama Papers” leak, which revealed companies and wealthy individuals who dodged taxes, the DFS said.

 The bank had lax controls and relied on untrained personnel, including a chief compliance officer who wasn’t familiar with anti-money-laundering rules.

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PwC faces record $5.5bn lawsuit over mortgage underwriter collapse

The big-four audit firm PwC is being sued for $5.5 billion over its failure to detect a fraud that resulted in a bank collapse during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. This is the biggest lawsuit in PwC history.

The complainant is Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), which was a top-10 wholesale mortgage lending firm. The trustees of the company are accusing PwC of negligence in their audits of TBW’s lender, Colonial Bank.

In an agreement between the top management of the borrower and the bank, starting from 2002, TBW chairman Lee Farkas sent mortgage data to Colonial Bank for fake loans or those the company had already committed or sold to other investors. By the end of 2007, the scheme had helped the bank accumulate about $1.5 billion in fake or impaired loans.

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Dallas firm put black homeowners at higher risk of foreclosure, suit alleges

Dallas equity firm Lone Star Funds is being sued by a group of black homeowners in New York who allege the company pushed them toward foreclosure by misleading them about their mortgages.

A 53-year-old plaintiff told a federal court that the company’s mortgage servicer would call him almost every day — sometimes two or three times a day — threatening foreclosure and pressuring him to accept an unfavorable change to his loan.

Lone Star’s mortgage servicer, Caliber Home Loans, disputed the allegations and called the lawsuit “without merit.”

The federal suit filed last week also targets the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. At issue is the agency’s sale of delinquent mortgages backed by the federal government to private investors such as Lone Star.

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Colin Powell Fires Back at Hillary’s FBI Interview: I Used Secured State Computer to Access Classified Emails

And yes he did.. Yet, Congress never held hearings for Powell nor criticized Powell…

Hillary Clinton reportedly told FBI investigators that former Secretary of StateCollin Powell was the individual who advised her to use private email while serving as Secretary of State.  The New York Times reports this information was included in the investigative materials, including Clinton’s 302 report,  turned over to Congress earlier this week by the FBI.

The Times also reports the information is consistent with recent reports by journalist Joe Conason in his upcoming book about Bill Clinton.  The newspaper recounts a portion of the upcoming book in which Conason describes a conversation over dinner in early 2009 that included Hillary and several of the most recent people to serve as Secretary of State.

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Judge Won’t Allow Hillary Clinton’s Deposition in Email Case

A federal judge has ruled on Judicial Watch’s request to depose Hillay Clinton as part of their FOIA lawsuit. Judicial Watch is trying to determine Clinton’s motivation for setting up a private email server and also determine if she violated any Freedom of Information Act laws. Late Friday afternoon, JudgeEmmet Sullivan ruled that Judicial Watch will not be allowed to take Hillary Clinton’s deposition. However, he did permit them to serve what are called called “interrogatories” on her. These are basically question sheets that Clinton is required to answer truthfully.

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JPMorgan, FDIC, Deutsche Bank finalize settlement in WaMu mortgage suit

JPMorgan Chase’s legal battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. andDeutsche Bank AG over its acquisition of Washington Mutual’s banking operations is finally over, closing the door on issues dating back to the financial crisis.

According to an 8-K filing from JPMorgan Chase, “As previously disclosed, JPMorgan Chase Bank signed a term sheet with Deutsche Bank and the FDIC to resolve pending litigation brought by DBNTC against the FDIC, in its capacity as receiver for Washington Mutual Bank and in its corporate capacity, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, as defendants, relating to alleged breaches of certain representations and warranties given by certain WMB affiliates in connection with mortgage securitization agreements.”

The filing also stated it resolved “JPMorgan Chase’s outstanding indemnification claims pursuant to the terms of the Purchase & Assumption Agreement between JPMorgan Chase Bank and the FDIC relating to JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of Washington Mutual Bank.”

In early August, JPMorgan’s quarterly regulatory filing revealed that the settlement was nearing an end.

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Can a Future Financial Crisis Be Prevented?

The fifth of a sixth part McCuistion TV program series aired recently. The series, a collaboration with the National Center for Policy Analysis Financial Crisis Summit, featured two of my Bank Whistleblowers United colleagues, William K. Black, Michael Winston and me.

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Regards,

Richard

Richard M. Bowen III
richard@richardmbowen.com
www.richardmbowen.com/
214- 604-5492