August 28, 2009     

Andrews Publications 08/28/09.mp3

• An investor in auction-rate securities who accepted a refund from the stock brokerage that sold them is barred from pursuing additional compensation in a securities fraud lawsuit, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.


• Several subsidiaries of General Growth Properties, one of the nation's largest mall owners, may remain under Chapter 11 protection, a federal bankruptcy judge has ruled in a much-anticipated decision.


• Investment bank Merrill Lynch defrauded Teva Pharmaceutical to the tune of $263 million in the auction-rate securities market, the drug maker has alleged in Manhattan federal court.


• A California federal judge soon will decide whether a pension fund has fixed the flaws in its securities fraud suit against former executives of bankrupt subprime mortgage lender Fremont General Corp.

August 21, 2009     

Andrews Publications 08/21/09.mp3

• A federal judge in Massachusetts has thrown out a shareholder fraud suit accusing lender First Marblehead Corp. of hiding the default rates on student loans it packaged and sold as securities.


• New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is urging a state court to reject J. Ezra Merkin's bid to dismiss fraud allegations stemming from the hedge fund manager's ties to Bernard Madoff's infamous Ponzi scheme.


• Two months after the 2nd Circuit issued an order clearing the way for Chrysler to sell most of its assets to Italian automaker Fiat, the federal appeals court has issued an opinion explaining the basis for its decision.

August 14, 2009     

Andrews Publications 08/14/09.mp3

• An Ohio federal judge will decide soon whether to throw out a multibillion-dollar shareholder suit accusing mortgage backer Freddie Mac of subprime-loan fraud.


• A federal judge in Manhattan has some pointed questions about a proposed $33 million settlement of charges that Bank of America's $50 billion federal-bailout-backed rescue of Merrill Lynch hid $3.8 billion in executive bonuses.


• Former American International Group CEO Maurice Greenberg and former CFO Howard Smith will pay $16.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they used fraudulent accounting to inflate the insurance giant's bottom line.


• Investors who say they bought $63 billion worth of "junk" mortgage-backed securities based on bad information handed out by Merrill Lynch are urging a federal judge to deny the investment bank's motion to dismiss their fraud suit.


• Shareholders have filed an amended securities fraud complaint against mortgage insurer PMI Group, aiming to plug a pleading gap that led a California federal judge to throw out the suit in July.

August 07, 2009     

Andrews Publications 08/07/09.mp3

• Bernard Madoff's wife is facing a $44.8 million lawsuit filed by the liquidating trustee for her imprisoned husband's former firm, who accuses her of living a "life of splendor" using bilked investors' money.


• A Texas hedge fund company, saying it "makes no sense" for Swiss bank UBS to demand $700 million after a real estate securitization deal fell through, is asking a New York state court to throw out the bank's breach-of-contract suit.


• The California Public Employees' Retirement System has sued three credit rating agencies for allegedly gaving "wildly inaccurate" grades to subprime-mortgage-backed securities, costing the nation's largest state public pension fund more than $1 billion.

July 31, 2009     

Andrews Publications 07/31/09.mp3

• American International Group has urged a Delaware judge to stay a shareholder suit over the insurance giant's disastrous gamble on subprime securities in favor of a related omnibus action in federal court in Manhattan.


• A California federal judge is set to hear yet another motion to dismiss a shareholders' suit accusing former IndyMac Bancorp CEO Michael Perry of fraudulently hiding the now-bankrupt firm's subprime lending practices.


• The number of class-action securities fraud lawsuits filed from January through June fell by more than 20 percent compared with the same period last year, according to a Stanford Law School report.


• Former Washington Mutual executives and others accused of deceiving shareholders by hiding the now-bankrupt firm's subprime lending practices are asking a federal judge to throw out an amended fraud complaint.

July 24, 2009     

Andrews Publications 07/24/09.mp3

• A hedge fund's demand for $10 million in cash from Goldman Sachs in a complex securities deal is groundless, the investment firm has told a New York state court judge.


• In a sweeping crackdown on mortgage fraud in Illinois, federal prosecutors have indicted 37 people and four businesses for fraudulently obtaining $48 million in mortgages on homes in the Chicago area.


• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a series of hearings this summer on the issue of whether the agency should restrict energy-trade speculation just as it restricts speculation on agricultural commodities.


• The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC, deliberately hid its exposure to the U.S. mortgage market during the subprime meltdown, shareholders say in court papers opposing the bank's bid to dismiss their securities fraud suit.

July 17, 2009     

Andrews Publications 07/17/09.mp3

• Oppenheimer & Co. is urging a federal judge to dismiss a suit filed by Ashland Inc., the Kentucky-based maker of Valvoline motor oil, accusing the stock brokerage of fraudulently pushing it to buy $194 million worth of auction-rate securities.


• Bankrupt Washington Mutual Inc. has won court approval to conduct a broad investigation into JPMorgan Chase's conduct before the investment bank purchased the failed company's banking operation.


• Citing the current economic climate, an arbitrator has determined that a lender cannot go through with a planned foreclosure sale on a California condominium complex.

July 10, 2009     

Andrews Publications 07/10/09.mp3

• A federal judge in Delaware has reversed confirmation of bankrupt New Century Financial Corp.'s liquidation plan, finding that it improperly provided for "substantive consolidation" of the subprime lender's various entities.


• Lehman Bros. Holdings has won court approval to investigate whether British bank Barclays got too much of a bargain when it bought the bankrupt investment firm's brokerage unit last September.


• The 2nd Circuit has upheld a jury verdict favoring Bear Stearns Securities Corp. in a protracted suit filed in 2001 by a hedge-fund bankruptcy trustee seeking $140 million for the benefit of fund investors.


• A Florida-based mortgage lender has agreed to modify loans for struggling homeowners and pay $9 million under a settlement reached with regulators from 14 states.

July 03, 2009     

Andrews Publications 07/03/09.mp3

• A lawsuit accusing Merrill Lynch, credit rating agencies and others of selling $60 billion worth of "junk" mortgage-backed securities in 2006 and 2007 should be dismissed because it was filed too late, the investment bank says in federal court papers.


• A New York securities brokerage operated as a front for Bernard Madoff, recruiting affluent but unsophisticated investors to pump new money into the fraudster's Ponzi scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged in Manhattan federal court.


• Oppenheimer & Co. is urging a federal judge to dismiss a suit filed by Ashland Inc., the Kentucky-based maker of Valvoline motor oil, accusing the stock brokerage of fraudulently pushing it to buy $194 million worth of auction-rate securities.

June 26, 2009     

Andrews Publications 06/26/09.mp3

• Troubled insurance titan American International Group cannot sue brokers and reinsurers who allegedly helped it defraud investors of $5 billion with bid-rigging, phantom deals and fake reinsurance schemes, a Delaware state court judge has ruled.


• Florida-based Raymond James Financial defrauded shareholders to the tune of $2 billion by touting conservative lending practices while secretly amassing risky subprime residential mortgages, according to an investor's lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.


• Former top executives of failed Illinois-based Meridian Bank illegally made loans to themselves to buy and sell overvalued real estate, forcing regulators to close the bank and causing losses to shareholders, according to an investor's state court lawsuit.

June 19, 2009     

Andrews Publications 06/19/09.mp3

• The Delaware Supreme Court should not let leveraged-buyout titan Blackstone Partners off the hook for a $170 million termination fee because it intentionally broke a promise to make a $7.8 billion merger happen, its jilted merger mate argues.


• A teachers pension fund, saying it has fixed the flaws in its securities fraud lawsuit against executives of bankrupt subprime lender Fremont General Corp., is urging a federal judge not to throw out the amended complaint.


• Former top executives of Countrywide Financial Corp. defrauded investors by hiding the company's foray into subprime lending in an effort to grow its mortgage market share, the Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged.


• The city of Cleveland is appealing an Ohio federal court's ruling dismissing its subprime-mortgage-related public nuisance suit against 21 lenders.


• A mortgage broker who recently was extradited from Jamaica has pleaded not guilty in Florida federal court to charges that she masterminded a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud conspiracy.

June 12, 2009     

Andrews Publications 06/12/09.mp3

• An Ohio state pension fund suing Freddie Mac for billions of investor dollars allegedly lost in the subprime mortgage meltdown is urging a federal judge to deny the loan backer's bid to dismiss the case.


• Regions Financial Corp. officials recklessly overpaid to acquire the subprime-troubled AmSouth bank chain, duped investors and wasted federal bailout funds on perks for top officers of the super-regional, an Alabama state court shareholder suit charges.


• Ten securities brokers defrauded retirees and other risk-averse investors by selling them millions of dollars in exotic mortgage-backed securities between 2004 and 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges in a Florida federal court suit.

June 05, 2009     

Andrews Publications 06/05/09.mp3

• A federal judge in Minnesota has ruled that an "occasionally abstruse" subprime-related lawsuit against MoneyGram International meets federal pleading standards for securities fraud.


• Securities rating firms Moody's and Standard & Poor's are urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking compensation for an investor who bought mortgage-backed securities that the firms allegedly overrated.


• The Federal Trade Commission has obtained a court order freezing the assets of a defunct company accused of defrauding homeowners by falsely promising to stop foreclosures for a fee.


• Most of a 400-page complaint alleging executives of Washington Mutual hid the now-bankrupt firm's subprime lending practices does not meet federal pleading standards for securities fraud, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled.

May 29, 2009     

Andrews Publications 05/29/09.mp3

• Alliance Data Systems Corp. wants to force Blackstone Partners to pay a $170 million termination fee for a failed $7.8 billion merger even though a Delaware judge rightly found no breach of contract, according to Blackstone's answer brief in the state Supreme Court.


• Investment bank Goldman Sachs has agreed to a settlement worth $60 million to resolve the Massachusetts attorney general's inquiry into its subprime mortgage securitization practices.


• A West Virginia investment oversight agency has sued investment bank Morgan Stanley and three securities rating firms, alleging they illegally sold billions of dollars in mortgage securities backed by bad subprime loans.


• The Federal Trade Commission has obtained a court order freezing the assets of a defunct company accused of defrauding homeowners by falsely promising to stop foreclosures for a fee.


• Online job recruiter Monster has sued to force the Royal Bank of Canada to buy back $66 million in student-loan-backed auction-rate securities the bank allegedly sold under false pretenses.

May 22, 2009     

Andrews Publications 05/22/09.mp3

• First American Corp. provided more than 260,000 inflated appraisals to Washington Mutual Bank over the last two years, inflating its own share price through "false and misleading" statements, according to a lawsuit filed in California federal court.


• A California federal judge has approved an $8 million settlement, ending a securities fraud suit against former executives of now-bankrupt Luminent Mortgage Capital.


• A woman who made more than $5.8 million with her husband in a complex mortgage fraud scheme is heading to prison for nearly four years.


• Accounting firm KPMG has responded to claims that it breached its "watchdog" duty to New Century Mortgage Corp. to the tune of $1 billion by asking the court to refer the lawsuit to mediation or arbitration.

May 15, 2009     

Andrews Publications 05/15/09.mp3

• In a novel fraud suit involving credit-default swaps, the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused a pair of traders of illegally using confidential inside information to make profit for a hedge fund that one of them managed.


• A subprime-related securities fraud suit filed against Citigroup in a California federal court has prompted the giant bank to ask for centralized litigation in New York, where nine "substantially similar" suits are pending.


• A federal judge in Manhattan has upheld her prior decision in favor of shareholders who are accusing ratings firm Moody's Corp. of fraudulently giving high marks to risky mortgage-backed securities.


• More than 94 percent of the world's largest companies continue to use derivatives to help manage and hedge their business and financial risks, according to a trade group's survey.


• SunTrust Banks illegally sold $690 million worth of preferred securities last year without telling buyers the extent of its exposure to soured subprime mortgage assets, according to an investor's lawsuit.

May 8, 2009     

Andrews Publications 05/08/09.mp3

• A Merrill Lynch investor is urging a New York federal judge to deny the investment bank's bid to throw out a fraud suit alleging it kept quiet about its massive mortgage-backed debt while selling $24 billion worth of securities.


• Five people have been charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland with participating in a mortgage fraud scheme that caused homeowners to lose $70 million.


• An investor claiming Standard & Poor's and Moody's gave undeserved high grades to $603 million worth of risky "Alt-A" mortgage-backed securities has amended his securities fraud suit against the ratings firms.


• Despite seriously sagging sales of furniture brands such as Lane, Broyhill and Thomasville, parent Furniture Brands International's board wasted $10 million on overstuffed compensation packages for top officers, an investor claims in a state court lawsuit filed in St. Louis.


• Federal law enforcement officials in Oregon have announced an expansion of efforts to identify and prosecute mortgage fraud in the state.

May 1, 2009     

Andrews Publications 05/01/09.mp3

• The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's investment firm has sued two British Virgin Islands-based hedge funds, seeking to recover $255 million transferred to them in the months before the Wall Street swindler's arres


• Countrywide Home Loans Inc. says two mortgage borrowers cannot proceed with a lawsuit intended to stop foreclosure on eight Las Vegas-based homes.


• The former CEO of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. will pay more than $2.4 million to settle charges that he and other executives fraudulently hid the now-bankrupt company’s risky lending practices, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

April 24, 2009     

Andrews Publications 04/24/09.mp3

• A federal judge in Seattle has dismissed part of a subprime-related securities fraud suit against Washington Mutual Bank, ruling that the plaintiff investor must first take its claims to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.


• Shareholders suing a Massachusetts company for allegedly hiding the default rates on student loans that it packaged and sold to investors are opposing the firm’s bid to dismiss the fraud case.


• A federal judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed a securities fraud suit accusing financial services firm Radian Group of hiding its exposure to the subprime mortgage market.


• Florida authorities have charged five people with running a mortgage fraud ring that caused $4.5 million in losses to financial institutions.

April 17, 2009     

Andrews Publications 04/17/09.mp3

• Bank of America is urging a federal judge to reject Bear Stearns' bid to dismiss a suit accusing it of defrauding the bank of $4 billion in a subprime-related deal.


• The co-founder of a foreclosure consulting firm has pleaded guilty in Maryland federal court to taking part in a mortgage fraud scheme that took advantage of distressed homeowners and cheated lenders out of $13 million.


• Accounting firm KPMG LLP failed in its duty to act as a "watchdog" of New Century Mortgage Corp. by certifying inaccurate financial statements and issuing an audit report before it had even completed the audit, according to a California state court lawsuit.


• The $165 million in bonuses that American International Group officers got after receiving a $190 billion federal bailout is just the latest outrage in eight years of mismanagement that cost the company's investors $215 billion, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court.


• Freddie Mac is urging an Ohio federal judge to dismiss a shareholders' suit accusing the federally chartered mortgage backer of fraudulently hiding its exposure to risky subprime loans.

April 10, 2009     

Andrews Publications 04/10/09.mp3

• In another ripple of outrage at the bonuses for American International Group's executives, a state court suit filed in Los Angeles claims the insurance company's board approved up to $1 billion in bonus payments days after AIG began getting a $190 billion federal bailout.


• A Delaware judge on April 1 refused to approve a global settlement of shareholder suits over subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide Corp.'s $2.5 billion rescue takeover by Bank of America because the pact would wrongly wipe out some viable investor claims.


• Merrill Lynch is urging a federal judge to dismiss a fraud suit alleging the investment bank sold $24 billion worth of securities over a 16-month period without telling buyers about its massive liabilities linked to subprime mortgages.


• Florida's attorney general has obtained a court order barring a company from charging consumers up-front fees for mortgage foreclosure services.


• A former executive of UBS Securities claims in a Delaware state court suit that the global financial services firm reneged on its promise to pay his legal bills when federal regulators investigated his “unsafe and unsound” banking and trading practices.

April 3, 2009     

Andrews Publications 04/03/09.mp3

• A federal judge in Los Angeles soon will decide whether shareholders of Countrywide Financial Corp. have fixed the defects of an earlier subprime-related fraud complaint against the mortgage lender.


• A Morgan Stanley investor wants a Delaware Chancery Court judge to force the financial firm to let him see all the materials it turned over in a government investigation into the company’s role in the $350 billion collapse of the auction-rate securities market last year.


• Investors who elected to sell auction-rate securities back to Swiss bank UBS under a regulatory settlement agreement are barred from pursuing additional compensation in a securities fraud lawsuit, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.


• A California federal judge has ruled in favor of three former executives of bank holding company Downey Financial Corp. and dismissed a securities fraud suit that claimed they hid the extent of the business's exposure to risky subprime loans.


• JPMorgan Chase Bank has sued bankrupt Washington Mutual Inc. and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in an attempt to protect its September purchase of the failed company's banking operations.

March 27, 2009     

Andrews Publications 03/27/09.mp3

• Insurance giant Prudential Financial illegally sold $920 million worth of securities last June without telling buyers the extent of its exposure to soured subprime mortgage assets, according to a lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court.


• A New York federal judge should stick to her decision not to dismiss a securities fraud suit against ratings agency Moody’s Corp., plaintiff shareholders are urging in court papers.


• A bank and a subprime credit card marketing company have told a California federal court that the lawsuit filed by three customers seeking to challenge the fees charged to their accounts must be resolved in arbitration.


• The New Jersey government has sued ex-directors and officers of Lehman Bros. for allegedly hiding massive subprime investment losses that cost state pension funds $118 million when the firm went bankrupt.


• Two subprime borrowers are suing a lender to rescind a refinancing mortgage, claiming the company gave them confusing and contradictory loan documents in violation of the Truth in Lending Act.

March 20, 2009     

Andrews Publications 03/20/09.mp3

• Faced with a likely shotgun merger ruling by a Delaware state court judge, Dow Chemical Co. agreed on the courthouse steps to buy Rohm & Haas Co. for $16 billion with only minor changes in the deal it sought to escape.


• England's Barclays Bank defrauded investors who bought $750 million worth of preferred shares while relying on a prospectus that downplayed the company's exposure to risky subprime mortgage securities, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.


• Moody's Corp. is asking a federal judge in New York to reconsider her decision to allow a securities fraud suit against the ratings agency to go forward.


• A federal judge in California has thrown out an amended securities fraud suit alleging Impac Mortgage Holdings deceived shareholders about the quality of its loans.


• A stock brokerage affiliated with Swiss bank UBS has sued Highland Capital Management for $745 million, claiming the Texas hedge fund firm welshed on a securitization deal.

March 13, 2009     

Andrews Publications 03/13/09.mp3

• Maurice Greenberg, the former CEO accused of looting American International Group, has filed a securities fraud suit in Manhattan federal court, charging that his AIG stock lost 97 percent of its value because of the subprime-related investment blunders of his successors.


• Swiss Reinsurance Co. is urging a New York federal judge to dismiss a securities fraud suit accusing the bond insurer of lying to investors in 2007 about its exposure to the American subprime mortgage market.


• A federal judge in California soon will decide whether Impac Mortgage Holdings’ shareholders have patched the holes in their subprime-related fraud suit well enough to withstand the lender’s second bid to throw it out.


• A federal judge in Manhattan has set a March 23 deadline for motions to consolidate nearly two dozen shareholder suits that seek to hold the officers and directors of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch liable for hiding the truth about what the plaintiffs call a disastrous merger.

March 6, 2009     

Andrews Publications 03/6/09.mp3

• Jilted merger mate Alliance Data Systems has appealed a decision that let leveraged-buyout giant Blackstone Partners off the hook for a $170 million termination fee after the credit market collapse caused its subsidiary to break a $7.8 billion merger promise.


• Since investment banking giant Lehman Bros. is being liquidated in federal bankruptcy court, its investment fund affiliate has no reason to live in the post-subprime economy and should be dissolved, an investor has told a Delaware state court judge.


• Investment bank Merrill Lynch fraudulently sold more than $55 billion worth of purported investment-grade mortgage securities in 2006 and 2007 that in fact were “junk bonds,” according to an investor lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.


• Citigroup shareholders hoping to hold their officers and directors liable for subprime blunders suffered a setback when a Delaware state court judge dismissed most of the charges against the board and former CEO, saying the defendants had no duty to “predict the future.”


• A lawsuit alleging that ratings agency Moody’s Corp. fraudulently sold overpriced shares while hiding its practice of giving undeserved high grades to subprime-mortgage-backed securities may go forward, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.

February 27, 2009     

Andrews Publications 02/27/09.mp3

• In a ruling that turned on a novel issue of corporate law, a Delaware judge has thrown out a suit filed by Affiliated Computer Services shareholders over one of the first going-private buyouts to go sour because of the credit market crash.


• A lawsuit seeking to force mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. to repurchase modified loans belongs in state court, a pair of hedge funds say in a federal court filing.


• A pension fund suing MoneyGram International for alleged subprime investment fraud is opposing the Minneapolis-based firm’s bid to dismiss the case.


• A federal judge in Chicago has approved a settlement deal requiring Wachovia Securities to pay more than $7 billion to compensate investors the firm allegedly misled about the liquidity of auction-rate securities.


• A Texas billionaire and his companies violated federal securities laws in an $8 billion scheme involving the sale of certificates of deposit that paid investors “improbable returns,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges in a lawsuit in Dallas federal court.

February 20, 2009     

Andrews Publications 02/20/09.mp3

• The devil surely will be in the details of any plan to put the financial services industry and the credit markets back together again after their great subprime fall, prominent legal scholar John Coffee predicted at a seminar in New York Feb. 11.


• American International Group investors have gotten a green light to go to trial with claims that ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg and his top officers got rich from fraud and phantom deals that cost the troubled insurer more than $5 billion.


• Investment bank Goldman Sachs, helped by securities ratings firms, fraudulently sold purported investment-grade mortgage securities in 2006 that in fact were “junk bonds,” according to an investor lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.

February 13, 2009     

Andrews Publications 02/13/09.mp3

• Wells Fargo Bank sold more than $36 billion in mortgage-backed securities in 2006 without telling buyers that the underlying loans carried a high risk of default, according to a securities fraud lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.


• Bear Stearns Asset Management is urging a New York federal judge to throw out a lawsuit alleging it fraudulently lured Bank of America into a complex financial deal that ended up costing the bank $4 billion.


• Countrywide Financial Corp. is urging a New York federal judge to keep jurisdiction over an investors’ suit seeking to force the mortgage lender to repurchase loans that it modifies under an $8.4 billion predatory-lending settlement.


• Allegations that MoneyGram International hid from investors subprime-related losses of nearly $1 billion do not make a securities fraud case, the payment services firm says in a motion to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit.


• Mortgage insurer Triad Guaranty fraudulently sold overpriced stock for two years while downplaying its exposure to deteriorating real estate and credit markets, a shareholder has alleged in a North Carolina federal court.

February 6, 2009     

Andrews Publications 02/6/09.mp3

• The Office of Thrift Supervision has directed First Federal Bank of California to preserve its capital and reduce the number of risky mortgages in its portfolio.


• A Delaware state court judge said Jan. 28 that he will quickly decide whether to force Dow Chemical Co. to complete a $15.2 billion merger with rival chemical maker Rohm & Haas Co. — even if the combined company might not survive in the recession economy.


• Wachovia Corp. sold $35 billion worth of securities without alerting buyers that the bank’s 2006 acquisition of subprime mortgage lender Golden West Financial was a high-risk deal, according to a securities fraud lawsuit filed in California state court.


• A disgruntled Bank of America shareholder has asked a Delaware judge to combine several suits seeking to force CEO Ken Lewis and 15 directors to reimburse the company for billions of dollars it allegedly overpaid for the failing Merrill Lynch & Co.


• Countrywide Bank says an investor cannot maintain a suit over allegedly improper disclosures of mortgage terms because the action was filed too late.