The Resolution Law Group: No one is too big to jail, Wall Street cop says

No company or individual is too big for prosecution and anyone who thinks they are is making a grave mistake, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

In his capacity running the Southern District in New York, Bharara’s jurisdiction extends over Wall Street and the malfeasance and corruption cases that develop there.

While he is known for a dry wit and quick quips, he turned serious during a discussion Wednesday at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.

“I don’t think anyone is too big to indict, no one is too big to jail,” Bharara said. “There’s enough moral hazard in the industry. If you give people a blank check and tell them they have a get-out-of-jail-free card because of their size…that’s a very dangerous thing.”

The office has been involved recently in some high-profile cases, particularly the insider-trading probe involving hedge fund SAC Capital, which is run by Stephen A. Cohen.

While he wouldn’t address any cases specifically, Bharara said the best thing anyone can do when they cross paths with his office is cooperate.

“It’s not a laughing matter and it’s not a joking matter,” he said. “You should take it very seriously. The smartest thing you could think about doing at the moment is think about how forthcoming you’re going to be and how cooperative you should be.”

He did, though, have time to toss a few barbs.

On his way over to the conference, at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, he said he had some subpoenas with him but ran into “like six corrupt politicians” on the way.

More seriously, though, he cautioned against “armchair quarterbacks” and those in the press who try to read tea leaves and discern the office’s intentions.

And he pledged that the office would not simply seek fines for continued bad behavior.

“If you’re an institution that has on multiple occasions committed misconduct and the first time you get fined and the second time you get fined and the third time you get a fine, at some point you have to be held responsible in a more serious way,” he said. “Otherwise, you don’t get the message.”

If you feel you are the victim of Bank Fraud, please do not hesitate to email or call the The Resolution Law Group (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation.

Lender Litigation, Unlawful Foreclosure, Tarp Money, Mortgage Backed Securities, Derivitives Lawsuits, Insider Trading Lawsuit, SEC Settlements, Ponzi Scheme Lawsuits, Intentional Misrepresentation, Securitized Mortgage, Class Action Securities Lawsuit, Robo-Signing Lawsuit, Lost Equity Litigation, Mortgage Lender Fraud, FINRA Fraud Lawsuit, Suing Banks, Fraudulent Misrepresentation, Short Sale Fraud, Fraudulent Business Practices, Mortgage Litigation, Complex Tort Litigation, Injunctive Relief, MERS Fraud

The Resolution Law Group approach your case in a manner and passion that gives you the best possible chance to win.

The Resolution Law Group, P.C., is a premier boutique law firm engaging in high-stakes commercial and private disputes, encompassing a broad range of legal services. With a national complex litigation practice and a strategic alliance of contract litigators and law firms, seasoned in targeted legal disciplines, we have emerged as a firm taking on consumer advocacy at the national level.

Resolution Law Group lawyers and its contract litigating partners focus their talents on helping clients achieve the best possible results in their trial and arbitration matters. The Resolution Law Group is directed in its ability to handle the most difficult legal situations with targeted and steadfast intensity.

The Resolution Law Group has a reputation for a “bet the company” commitment and in its efforts to prevail in cases where the opposition is formidable and more securely funded. This area of “Complex Tort Litigation”, at its broadest base is cutting edge, and focused on the lending abuses of the nation’s leading residential lenders, and the impact of those practices on the national economy.

In lender litigation, one specialized arena, the firm is engaging institutions that have comparatively unlimited financial resources. As we now know, the nation’s largest financial organizations, who have been found responsible of fraud, continue to avoid their moral and financial responsibility to the American Homeowner. Through Complex Tort Litigation, the firm is leveling the playing field and holding these defendants accountable for violations of state and federal laws.

The trial lawyers at The Resolution Law Group approach your case in a manner and with a passion that gives you the best possible chance to win.

The Resolution Law Group have worked on virtually every type of commercial dispute. Although a boutique firm, we have earned a reputation for handling some of the toughest and most high-profile cases in the U.S. High-stakes and huge-exposure matters are the firm’s forté, although we handle all manner of small- and medium-sized disputes for a variety of clients. Our approach to litigation is lean and efficient and is always focused on our client’s goals. The Resolution Law Group’s lawyers bring both intense legal expertise and top-notch trial skills to the task. We represent both plaintiffs and defendants, and we use those collective skills on every matter we handle.

If you suspect that you are the victim of Mortgage Fraud, do not hesitate to email or call please contact The Resolution Law Group at (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation.

The Resolution Law Group: Bear Stearns Can Bid for $160M Insurance Coverage, Deloitte Pays NY $10M, Fraud Sentences Against Two Ex-Brokers Are Affirmed

Bear Stearns Allowed $160M Insurance Settlement Coverage Bid
The New York Court of Appeals said that JP Morgan Chase & Co’s (JPM) Bear Stearns & Co. (BSC) can go ahead with its attempt to obtain insurance coverage for the $160 million it disgorged in an SEC case over alleged wrongdoing involving mutual fund practices. Justice Victoria Graffeo says the evidence presented is not a decisive repudiation of Bear Stearn’s claim that the payment amount was largely determined by the profits of others and therefore the case cannot be dismissed at this time.

The SEC accused Bear of helping certain clients, mostly big hedge funds, take part in deceptive market timing and late trading, which let them reap profits of hundreds of millions of dollars at cost to mutual fund shareholders. The financial firm settled by consenting to pay $160 million in disgorgement and $90 million in civil penalties.

Deloitte FAS to Pay $10M Settlement to NY
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services will pay $10M to New York State and make a number of modifications to its financial consulting practices. The firm reached this agreement with the New York State Department of Financial Services and comes in the wake of a probe into its consulting work at Standard Chartered Bank. The DFS found that not only did Deloitte fail to show it had the autonomy needed to serve as a consultant, but also it disclosed the confidential information of some clients to Standard Chartered. Steps will be implemented to ensure that Deloitte is independent from its clients and isn’t tied to them because of fee payments.

The state wants this to settlement serve as a model for consulting firms that are approved or retained by the DFS. As part of the settlement, Deloitte FAS has consented to suspend its consulting work with financial institutions that the state regulates.

Prison Sentence Against Ex-Broker in Pump-and-Dump Scam is Affirmed
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is affirming the 151-months prison sentence issued to ex-stockbroker Richard Clark who was convicted of 14 criminal counts in a “pump-and-dump” scam involving penny-stock company shares. The financial scheme was run by ex-securities lawyer George D. Gordon. The 10th circuit said that the lower court did not make a mistake when it imposed the prison term.

Clark unsuccessfully tried to appeal, arguing that placing a caveat on his real property was a violation of his constitutional rights, his Speedy Trial Act rights were violated, and there wasn’t enough evidence against him. He also spoke out against the decision by the lower court to not appoint another counsel or a substitute lawyer that was knowledgeable in complex securities issues.

Seventh Circuit Affirms Former Broker 78th-Month Prison Term for Fraud
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the 78-month prison term of an ex-stockbroker that misappropriated $2.8 million in customer money over four years. Brokerage firm owner Robert Loffreddi offered clients mutual funds, CDs, and other investments, but instead of investing their money, he used the funds for himself.

Loffreddi pleaded guilty to mail fraud but argued that while his pre-sentence report determined that there were 14 victims of his fraud (the district court gave him a sentence that was at the top of the guidelines range), there actually was just one. He says that the parent brokerage firm was the victim because it was forced to repay 12 of the clients.

Citing United States v. Panice, the appeals court said that even if they are reimbursed losses, such victims still sustain losses until that time, and this counts them as victims for purposes of sentencing.

If you have losses on investments that you believe were unsuitable for you or which you purchased based on the misrepresentations of the broker who made the sale, you may be able to recover all or a part of those losses through FINRA arbitration. Call The Resolution Law Group for a no charge consultation to discuss your legal rights. www.TheResolutionLawGroup.com

The Resolution Law Group: Why Complex Litigation?

A complex Tort Litigation lawsuit may be the best defense against your loan servicer, investor or lender who knowingly or negligently originated mortgages and exposed borrowers to economic risks they were not aware of or fully understood.

A legal claim may help homeowners hold the banks responsible for unlawful foreclosures.

A key issue, in consideration of all applicable laws and rules governing lawyers in most states, and the nature of the claims alleged by homeowners against the banks and applicable laws regarding those claims, is whether and how homeowners who were induced to take mortgages from these banks can seek redress for alleged wrongs.

A Complex Tort Litigation case is not about emergency relief–it won’t stop a foreclosure, or get a house back.It may or may not induce the bank to take favorable action as to modifying a loan or placing a hold on foreclosure actions. Those decisions will most likely be unilateral actions taken by the bank, not actions mandated by the court.

Complex Tort Litigation cases are a longer term potential remedy intended to seek financial damages and restitution for wrongs allegedly committed by the banks and other defendants.

Who is a potential client for multi-party litigation?

A client who has had some sort of change in circumstances: either the client lost income, or had a severe decrease in the value of his/her property–or both.
A client can also have no financial difficulties and be current on their mortgage payments.
Any loan transaction handled by MERS
Loans that were securitized
A client may have already lost the home due to illegal or premature foreclosure action.

If you suspect that you are the victim of Mortgage Fraud, do not hesitate to email or call please contact The Resolution Law Group at (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation.

The Resolution Law Group: A Closer Look At The Foreclosure Situation

Missing Paperwork

Jim and his wife, both retired, signed some papers. “The guy said he’d finish them at the office and send copies,” Jim says. “We kept waiting for copies and never got them, and I kept calling him.” The federal Truth in Lending Act requires that you walk out the door with a “rescission notice” that allows you to back out of your refinance within 3 days.

Proof of Security

When Wall Street banks securitized, package, sold and resold our mortgages, they created a system where it is often impossible to figure out who actually own the mortgage notes and therefore has no authority to foreclose on properties. But the banks and servicers are getting tangles up in their own web. Recent events have exposed a handful of banks that are throwing families out of their homes even though they don’t have the mortgage note that proves they have the legal right to do so. There have been instances of two banks trying to foreclose on the same home, and in at least one case, a bank trying to foreclose on a house where the homeowner had never taken out a mortgage on a home.

Loan Modifications Don’t Work

The current statistics are that approximately 94% of the people who apply for a HAMP loan modification with their lenders do not receive it. First of all, you should know that many people who are considered for a HAMP loan are put into 3 month trial programs where their loan payments are reduced. What most people don’t know is that the money they are paying to prove they can’t afford the new payment for during the trial plan does NOT go toward their mortgage. Where does it go and what happened in those months? Well, that is a hard question to answer but here is what we do know. Your credit gets ruined because technically you are not paying your mortgage, and since you are not paying your mortgage you are falling behind every month you are in the trial period. Let’s go a step further into the depth of fraud–the banks use multiple strategies to deny your modification. First of all they lose these documents, all of the ones you sent in go into a black hole and they are sent in to an e-fax type fax machine (a fax that turns your paperwork into a .PDF image on a computer). You can send the same document 10 times and they will almost always tell you that you never sent in all the items they asked for. You can send them certified mail–same issue. Someone signed for them but they don’t have them. So the three month trial period is now extended indefinitely until you can come up with proof you fit into the program or they decide that you defaulted because of your delinquent payments and put you in foreclosure! Here is another bank strategy–asking for documents that do not exist. For example if you are self employed and don’t have them, they don’t care they want them. Another strategy–if your documents are even a month old they want current documents. So between losing the documents and insisting on new ones the trial period has gone as long as a year or more. Another thing banks frequently do is tell you that you cannot enter the HAMP trial program unless you are a month behind. This is not a requirement for the HAMP program. The law is you must have a hardship. The banks want you to be behind because it puts the bank in a position of leverage over you and in a position to possibly foreclose.

What about the 6% who get the modification? Well let’s think about it–if you are in a trial period that means you are behind, so what the bank will do is put that money back into your mortgage and give you the modification. Basically they increase your mortgage to the point where the modification is practically of no actual benefit, meaning that we have seen modified loan programs that have higher payments than when they fell into hardship. Because many lenders add unpaid interest and fees to the loan balance, homeowners often walk away with successful modification, most American homeowners are still underwater. Borrowers who owe more on their homes than they are worth have little incentive to stay, even if their payments are lower. The problem is that most homeowners know very little about what their available options are in terms of saving their homes. Desperate to keep their homes, many homeowners accept modification offers they can’t afford.

If you suspect that you are the victim of Mortgage Fraud, do not hesitate to email or call please contact The Resolution Law Group at (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation.

The Resolution Law Group: Basis Of Our Multi-Party Lawsuits

While each suit is different, below are examples of some of the causes of action we are arguing. For each client, The Resolution Law Group will argue the causes of action that may apply to that client’s particular circumstances.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty in the loan modification process (taking trial payments on the promise of a permanent modification then denying the permanent modification)
Fraudulent concealment of the facts of securitization process by lenders to homeowners.
State consumer protection laws
Breach of contract
Fraud in the modification process
Fair debt collection practices Act
Negligent servicing (failing to properly apply payments per Fannie Mac Note Agreement)
Truth in Lending Act Violations
Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Violations
Common Law Fraud
RICO
Slander of Title
Unfair Business Practices (falsification of homeowners’ loan documents)
Violations of Civil Code (wrongful foreclosure)
Violations of Commercial Code (ownership of the note)
The fraudulent and illegal use of MERS in connection with those loans and mortgages
Defendants’ failure to perform their obligations required, pursuant to accepting TARP funds
Defendants’ breach of Plaintiffs‘ statutorily protected rights
Defendants breach and willful violation of numerous consumer and homeowner protection statutes and the willful violations of unfair business practices statutes.
Accepting money, transferring alleged assets, and foreclosing upon alleged assets in instances where the alleged assets do not exist, and in which these Defendants have no right, title, or interest upon which they can act; and
Defendants’ continuing tortuous conduct.

If you suspect that you are the victim of Mortgage Fraud, do not hesitate to email or call please contact The Resolution Law Group at (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation. Our attorneys are here to help institutional investors recoup losses that are a result of a financial scam or negligence. Your consultation with us is free.

Citigroup Will Pay $730M in Bond Lawsuit Alleging It Misled Debt Investors

Pending court approval, Citigroup Inc. (C) will $730 million to resolve claims that it misled debt investors regarding its financial state during the economic crisis. The plaintiffs had purchased Citi preferred stock and bonds from 5/06 through 11/8. They are accusing Citigroup of misleading the buyers of 48 issues of its corporate bonds. Included among the plaintiffs of this bond lawsuit are the City of Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund, and the Minneapolis Firefighters’ Relief Association.

The bonds’ declined as the US mortgage market collapsed and the losses grew. According to Bloomberg.com, at one point, Citigroup’s $4 billion of 10-year notes declined to 79.7 cents on the dollar. It went on to lose over $29 billion in ‘08 and ’09.

Struggling from losses involving subprime mortgages, Citigroup ended up having to take a $45 million bailout in 2008, which it has since repaid. However, it is one of the Wall Street firms still coping with the aftermath of the financial crisis. Just last year, Citi consented to pay $590 million over a securities case filed by investors of stock contending that they too had been misled.

In ‘10, a district court judge rejected part of Citigroup’s motion to have this bond lawsuit tossed out. Claims that were dismissed involved the allegedly inadequate disclosure about auction-rate securities and part of the investors’ case involving structured investment vehicles.

Despite settling, the investment bank maintains that the allegations in this bond lawsuit are untrue. Citigroup contends that is only resolved the securities lawsuit to avoid the uncertainty and expense of having to go to court.

If you, your family, friends, neighbors or associates have been subjected to Mortgage Fraud, please contact The Resolution Law Group at (203) 542-7275 for a confidential, no obligation consultation.

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The Resolution Law Group

Lender Litigation and Securitization Law Blog

Category Archives: Misrepresentations and Omissions

The Resolution Law Group: No one is too big to jail, Wall Street cop says

The Resolution Law Group approach your case in a manner and passion that gives you the best possible chance to win.

The Resolution Law Group: Bear Stearns Can Bid for $160M Insurance Coverage, Deloitte Pays NY $10M, Fraud Sentences Against Two Ex-Brokers Are Affirmed

The Resolution Law Group: Why Complex Litigation?

The Resolution Law Group: A Closer Look At The Foreclosure Situation

The Resolution Law Group: Basis Of Our Multi-Party Lawsuits

While each suit is different, below are examples of some of the causes of action we are arguing. For each client, The Resolution Law Group will argue the causes of action that may apply to that client’s particular circumstances.

Citigroup Will Pay $730M in Bond Lawsuit Alleging It Misled Debt Investors

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While each suit is different, below are examples of some of the causes of action we are arguing. For each client, The Resolution Law Group will argue the causes of action that may apply to that client’s particular circumstances.

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