Continuing on the theme of prosecutions for fraud during the housing collapse, though in this case civil rather than criminal ones, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just announced a new lawsuit against Credit Suisse for defrauding investors in its mortgage backed securities business. The case mirrors the previous suit filed by Schneiderman against JPMorgan [...]

In another in a long line of weak settlements where the perpetrators of fraud don’t have to technically say whether or not they’ve committed it, the Securities and Exchange Commission reached agreement with JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse on a collection of violations related to the handling of mortgage backed securities. JPMorgan Chase and Credit [...]

Of all the thumbsuckers about the second-term Obama agenda I’ve read, the ones that reflect the least contact with reality concern Administration housing policy. It’s beyond clear that the first-term policy framework sought to protect banks and allocate losses from the collapse of the housing bubble elsewhere. That was the point behind HAMP, designed to [...]

JPMorgan Chase has sued the former manager of Bruno Iskil, the “London Whale” who executed the “Fail Whale trades” that cost the company as much as $7 billion. Javier Martin-Artajo was the direct supervisor to Iskil in the Chief Investment Office in London. The lawsuit, which was filed in a London court, did not disclose [...]

Standard and Poor’s estimates that the Volcker rule, due to be finalized at the end of the year, will eliminate $10 billion from bank profits annually. This is a sharp increase in the perception of the Volcker rule’s impact, and it comes before the extent of the rule is even known. “We currently estimate that [...]

The ACLU’s calss action lawsuit against Morgan Stanley over racial discrimination in lending is out. Five African-American homeowners from Detroit form the core of the plaintiffs, who allege that Morgan Stanley pushed the now-defunct New Century Financial into providing them with a “steady stream of irresponsible, high-risk loans issued in communities of color that were [...]

JPMorgan Chase, feeling little ill effects from the federal attempts at investigation of their business practices, announced a major earnings jump of 34%. Part of this comes from the fact that the previous earnings report included most of the losses from the Fail Whale trades (which have increased to $6.25 billion, as per this earnings [...]

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, a longtime Democrat for those who don’t know, endorsed a higher top marginal tax rate and an increase in the capital gains rate in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday. He also blamed the sluggish recovery on over-regulation and uncertainty and endorsed Bowles-Simpson as an economic salve. [...]

One of the criticisms I have issued at New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase was that it was filed so late, it allowed much of the statute of limitations to run out, in the process capturing just a small sliver of the actions of Bear Stearns in their issuance of mortgage [...]

Much thanks to FT Alphaville for highlighting my story about Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over Bear Stearns’ dodgy mortgage-backed securities deals. I wrestled in that other piece about whether there was a legitimate conflict of interest argument with Sanchez. Could JPMorgan Chase try to invalidate the lawsuit by saying that Sanchez’ involvement represented [...]

I can actually agree with a lot in Alison Frankel’s assessment of the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over mortgage backed securities deficiencies. She’s right to express all the ways in which this is a cynical case, building on years-old legal work from bond insurers and investors. But she follows with this: [...]