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Federal Home Loan Bank sues Wall Street Banks for Billions

By Anonymous

This was lawsuit was filed on March 15th. Here are some details from the bank and see Morgenson's story in the NY Times for more ...

From the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco: Statement Regarding PLRMBS Litigation

Today the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (Bank) filed complaints in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, against nine securities dealers in relation to certain of the Bank?s investments in private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (PLRMBS). The Bank is seeking to rescind its purchases of 134 securities in 113 securitization trusts, for which the Bank originally paid more than $19.1 billion. The Bank?s complaints allege that the dealers made untrue or misleading statements about the characteristics of the mortgage loans underlying the securities.

All of the PLRMBS in the Bank?s mortgage portfolio, including those identified in the complaints filed today, were rated AAA when purchased, based on the information provided by the securities dealers.

From Grechen Morgenson at the NY Times: Pools That Need Some Sun

The suit, filed March 15 in state court in California, seeks the return of the $5.4 billion as well as broader financial damages.
...
The defendants in the Federal Home Loan Bank case were among the biggest sellers of mortgage-backed securities back in the day; among those named are Deutsche Bank; Bear Stearns; Countrywide Securities, a division of Countrywide Financial; Credit Suisse Securities; and Merrill Lynch. The securities at the heart of the lawsuit were sold from mid-2004 into 2008 ...

In the complaint, the Federal Home Loan Bank recites a list of what it calls untrue or misleading statements .... The alleged inaccuracies involve disclosures of the mortgages? loan-to-value ratios ... as well as the occupancy status of the properties securing the loans. ...

Finally, the complaint said, the sellers of the securities made inaccurate claims about how closely the loan originators adhered to their underwriting guidelines.

All the private mortgage insurers are working hard to rescind as many insurance policies as possible based on fraud and misrepresentation . As are Fannie and Freddie.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may force lenders including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. to buy back $21 billion of home loans this year as part of a crackdown on faulty mortgages.

It makes sense that the Federal Home Loan Banks get more aggressive too.

Full post as published by Calculated Risk on March 21, 2010 (boomark / email).