By Douglas Baruch, Jennifer Wollenberg and Kayla Stachniak Kaplan (November 1, 2017, 4:00 PM EDT) -- Two significant events in the last several weeks are forcing Federal Housing Administration mortgage lenders to scratch their heads in assessing the government's fraud enforcement intentions. First, in mid-September, a district judge imposed massive False Claims Act and Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 damages and penalties against FHA mortgage lender defendants, in a worrisome display of the debilitating consequences that can befall businesses and individuals who find themselves the targets of civil fraud enforcement actions under both the FCA and FIRREA. See United States v. Americus Mortgage Corp., No. 4:12-CV-2676, (S.D. Tex. Sept. 14, 2017) (Allied). Second, less than a month later, the Trump administration signaled what sounded to many like a retreat when U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Congress and industry groups that HUD staff was working with the U.S. Department of Justice to address and resolve the "ridiculous" escalation in the government's use of the FCA against mortgage lenders....