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Banking
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May 10, 2013
Lender Wants To Keep Alioto's $28M LCD Fees In Limbo
LFG National Capital LLC urged a California judge Thursday not to release $28.2 million in escrowed fees to plaintiffs' attorney Joseph M. Alioto, saying it had filed a separate lawsuit in the same court in an effort to recover the funds.
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May 10, 2013
BofA Says $25B Mortgage Deal Bars NY AG's Suit
Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday pushed back against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s plan to sue it and Wells Fargo & Co. for noncompliance with last year's $25 billion mortgage settlement, saying it first must be given time to cure any alleged violations.
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May 10, 2013
$8.5B BofA Deal Negotiators Fight Investors' Jury Request
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and the 22 institutional investors who negotiated an $8.5 billion mortgage-backed securities settlement with Bank of America Corp. blasted objecting investors' demand for a jury trial Thursday, saying it was clear that only a New York state judge could evaluate the deal.
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May 10, 2013
TPG Rakes In $305M In Shriram Transport Finance Stake Sale
Texas-based TPG Capital unloaded its 10 percent interest in Indian commercial vehicle finance firm Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd., the buyer said Friday, raking in $305 million — a nearly sevenfold return on its initial buy-in to the company.
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May 10, 2013
RBS, Kroger Can't Duck Arbitration In Robo Call Action
A California federal judge refused Thursday to reconsider sending to arbitration a proposed class action over alleged robo calls to consumers by Kroger Co. and a Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC subsidiary, saying that case law "tucked away" in a footnote didn't change his analysis.
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May 10, 2013
BofA Sells $125B CMBS Servicing Portfolio To KeyCorp
Bank of America Corp. has agreed to sell a commercial mortgage servicing portfolio worth a combined $125 billion to Ohio bank-based financial services company KeyCorp., the latest blockbuster mortgage portfolio sold off by BofA, KeyCorp said late Thursday.
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May 10, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Yahoo, Carlyle, Dish
Yahoo is considering making a bid for Hulu as part of a broader attempt to claw back some of its cachet on the Web and boost its bottom line, while Dish has nailed down financing help for its $25.5 billion Sprint buyout bid that has met with skepticism from the wireless carrier's board.
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May 10, 2013
German Banker Drops Appeal Of Formula 1 Bribery Sentence
A German banker sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for accepting a $44 million bribe in connection with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd.’s acquisition of a controlling interest in Formula One racing reportedly dropped his appeal of his sentence on Friday.
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May 10, 2013
Cerberus Unit Pays $504M For Lloyds' Real Estate Loans
Lloyds Banking Group PLC has sold a portfolio of U.K. commercial real estate loans to an affiliate of New York hedge fund giant Cerberus Capital Management LP for £325 million ($503.6 million) as the bank continues to shed noncore assets, Lloyds said Friday.
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May 10, 2013
LNR Partners Seeks Condos' Foreclosure Over $35M Loan
LNR Partners LLC on Thursday sued a partnership that owns condominiums in the former building of an iconic Philadelphia department store, seeking to foreclose a property loan for $35 million.
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May 9, 2013
Harbinger Can't Shake 'Nil' Valuation Of Fallen Bank Stake
A U.K. appeals court rejected embattled hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners LLC's challenge of an assessment that its shares in fallen British lender Northern Rock PLC are worth nothing, the same day the company struck a deal with U.S. regulators that included an industry ban.
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May 9, 2013
Perkins Coie Adds Blank Rome Bankruptcy Pro In LA
Perkins Coie LLP said Wednesday it landed a bankruptcy expert from Blank Rome LLP to ramp up its financial transactions and restructuring group in Los Angeles.
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May 9, 2013
Wells Fargo Ducks Shareholder Suit Claiming It Deceived FHA
A California federal judge Thursday tossed a shareholder derivative class action claiming Wells Fargo's board of directors knew the bank was falsifying loan levels in order to obtain Federal Housing Administration insurance, saying the plaintiffs hadn't shown the directors knew about the purported activity.
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May 9, 2013
Wells Fargo Escapes Suit Over Securitization Scheme
Citing a lack of jurisdiction, a California federal judge on Thursday tossed a lawsuit brought by 82 homeowners who accused Wells Fargo Bank NA of perpetuating a “securitization scheme," drastically increasing the amount of subprime loans originated and sold as residential mortgage-backed securities.
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May 9, 2013
Calif. Sues JPMorgan Over Credit Card Debt Collection
The state of California on Thursday accused JPMorgan Chase & Co. of running a “massive debt collection mill” that abused credit card customers by using many of the shoddy record-keeping and other practices that have plagued the mortgage servicing industry in recent years.
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May 9, 2013
RBC's Discovery Bid In Wash-Trading Suit Falls Short
A New York federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Royal Bank of Canada's bid to force the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to release certain notes related to its investigation of the bank, ruling that the agency wasn't required to provide the documents since they are internal communications.
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May 9, 2013
Hearing On ATP's $691M Asset Sale Pushed Back
A Texas bankruptcy judge Thursday delayed his review of ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s proposed $691 million oil and gas leases sale to a group of lenders led by Credit Suisse AG, as the company answers creditor objections to the deal.
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May 9, 2013
Judge Wants Secret Witnesses Named In JPMorgan Suit
A federal magistrate judge in New York on Tuesday ordered class action plaintiffs pursuing fraud claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co. related to failed, allegedly falsely represented mortgage-backed securities to turn over the identities of 15 confidential witnesses to the bank.
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May 9, 2013
Regulators Join Fight To Block Schwab's Class Action Waiver
State regulators and investor organizations Wednesday joined the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in its appeal against a FINRA panel decision to allow Charles Schwab Corp. to prevent clients from filing class actions.
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May 9, 2013
Investors' E-Trade Deceit Suit Moves Forward After 5 Years
A New York federal judge Wednesday lifted an almost five-year stay of a securities suit against E-Trade Financial Corp. that alleges the company misrepresented its financial condition during the mortgage meltdown in 2007.
Expert Analysis
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6 Areas Often Underestimated In Law Firm Mergers
While mergers in other industries are driven by cost efficiencies or economies of scale, law firm mergers are typically focused on the potential to leverage clients and the overall quality of the attorney population, branding and market position. As a result, full disclosure of third-party vendor or support function operating costs can be a secondary concern until after the deal closes. Firms need to hit the ground running the moment the merger is inked, says Matthew Sunderman of HBR Consulting LLC.
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Gabelli Could Kickstart The 'Civil' Prosecution Debate
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Gabelli v. SEC. While this important statute of limitations issue did not require the court to discuss our increasingly prosecutorial administrative state, the mere fact that the issue was openly acknowledged during oral argument is encouraging for future targets of civil administrative prosecution, and ominous for the SEC and other agencies that benefit from a lopsided playing field, says Russell Ryan of King & Spalding LLP.
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The Next Big Thing In Securities Litigation
The New York Times recently reported that a Chinese military unit had hacked more than 140 organizations over the last several years, stealing valuable intellectual property such as technology blueprints, proprietary manufacturing processes, business plans and pricing documents. The revelation raises the possibility of a new wave of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions, class actions and derivative lawsuits related to cybersecurity, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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Housekeeping: Inside CFPB’s Qualified Mortgage Rule
While reviews of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule — scheduled to take effect in January 2014 — have generally been favorable, there are a number of outstanding concerns. These include the rule's impact on jumbo loans, fair lending compliance issues and uncertainty over the recess appointment of CFPB Director Richard Cordray, say Kevin Petrasic and Michael Hertzberg of Paul Hastings LLP.
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Common Insurance Problems For Foreclosing Mortgagees
Foreclosing mortgagees and other property transferees can usually recover replacement cost coverage and loss of rents under a policyholder-owner’s property insurance policy, provided a valid, post-loss assignment occurs, and the rebuilding requirement and any other conditions are satisfied. But policyholders and prospective assignees should be cautious in structuring such arrangements, as some courts have applied unreasonably strict interpretations to replacement cost coverage provisions, say attorneys with Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
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Castleton Ruling Fortifies 7th Circ. Pro-Creditor Trend
Without question, the In re Castleton Plaza LP decision is a pro-creditor outcome that protects unpaid creditors by ensuring that an equity holder cannot maintain control of the debtor indirectly after confirmation of a plan of reorganization without first permitting an auction of that equity with competitive bidding. The ruling continues the Seventh Circuit trend of leveling the playing field for secured creditors, say Jay Sakalo and Rena Kelley of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP.
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Plumbing The Murky Depths Of Chinese State Secrecy Law
China's definition of "state secrets" is notoriously vague, and Chinese authorities have been known to bring prosecutions for violation of the nation's state secrecy laws even when the protected nature of the information is highly questionable. The outcome of a recent securities dispute against Ernst & Young will have important implications on the issue of the extra-jurisdictional effects of these laws, say Nick Cherryman and Katherine Raimondo of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
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Fast-Tracking Abandoned Residence Foreclosures In Ill.
A new Illinois law — going into effect June 1, 2013 — provides clarity for dealing with inventories of abandoned properties and statutory immunity for securing such properties prior to foreclosure. While lenders and servicers need to prepare for new requirements and filing fees, the law also removes uncertainty and litigation risks, say attorneys with Locke Lord LLP.
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Swapping Safely: DOL's Take On Swaps And ERISA Plans
Disruption in the market regarding swaps and ERISA plans seems to have been brought about by a reaction to the subprime crisis, the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act and concerns that the U.S. Department of Labor might be changing its position on certain relevant issues. Therefore a number of recent clarifications made by the DOL should be welcomed by financial institutions and ERISA plans alike, say Andrew Oringer and Susan Camillo of Dechert LLP.
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A Snapshot Of 2012 SEC And FINRA Enforcement
In 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority continued vigorous enforcement, with cases against broker-dealers, investment advisers and investment companies accounting for 38 percent of the SEC enforcement docket and FINRA bringing a record number of actions against its member firms and associated persons, say attorneys with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.