Wells Fargo is alleged to have developed intricate internal procedures to effectively lie on foreclosure papers, according to documents filed in New York federal court earlier this month. The process in question is responsible for proving that the bank owns and has a right to foreclose on a home, kicking families out into the streets.
“The integrity of the foreclosure process is important and cannot be shortchanged or short circuited,” commented Christopher Paulos, an attorney with the Levin, Papantonio law firm who practices in the firm’s business torts and securities litigation departments. “Without properly following the process for fair, proper and just foreclosures, banks may wrongly put families out on the streets.”
But Wells Fargo isn’t alone in its alleged engagement of fraudulent practices. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a bank that hasn’t been in hot water over deceptive practices. Here’s a quick list of recent fines and settlements.
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$9.33 billion; Bank of America will settle with the Federal Housing Agency in a lawsuit over its sales of mortgage securities to Fannie and Freddie in 2011.
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$75 million; Citigroup fined for misleading investors over subprime assets.
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$590 million; Citigroup agreed to pay over claims that it deceived investors by hiding the extent of its dealings in toxic subprime debt.
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$153 million; JPMorgan Securities agreed to pay back $153 million after it was disclosed that it had sold investors a complex instrument that was secretly designed to help a hedge fund profit at their expense.
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$2.8 million; Bank of America fined for overbilling 95,000 accounts.
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$137 million; Bank of America fined for its sabotage of the government-contracting process.
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$85 million; Wells Fargo fined for pushing subprime loans.
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$175 million; Wells Fargo pays in race discrimination probe.
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Up to $60 million; Goldman Sachs Group agreed to pay to end an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office into whether the firm helped promote unfair home loans in the state.
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$453 million; Barclays agreed to pay for manipulating the Libor rate.
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$27.5 million to date, up to $700 million additionally; HSBC has paid $27.5 million to Mexican regulators for a fine for its failure to perform basic anti-money-laundering protections. HSBC has set aside $700 million that it feels it may have to pay U.S. Regulators. Investigations are still ongoing.
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$175 million; Wells Fargo paid for discriminatory lending practices in which it steered African-American and Hispanic customers toward high-interest subprime loans. $125 million is to go to restitution for harmed borrowers, $50 million will go to help with down payments in areas of the country distressed by the widespread discrimination practices. The bank denies any wrongdoing, claims it only settled to avoid a legal battle.
Joshua is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow him on Twitter @Joshual33.
