By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Federal Housing Finance
Agency filed 18 lawsuits in 2011 against big banks and financial
institutions, accusing them of misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac about the quality of loans included in mortgage-backed
securities.
Here are details on the cases:
- Together, the lawsuits accuse banks and other financial
institutions of misrepresentations that led to losses on more
than $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities, accusations
that the defendants deny.
- The lawsuits generally allege violations of both federal
and state securities law.
- U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York was appointed
to oversee 16 of the lawsuits. Those cases are against UBS AG,
Ally Financial Inc, Bank of America Corp, along with its Merrill
Lynch & Co unit; Barclays Bank Plc; Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse
Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, First Horizon National Corp, Goldman
Sachs Group Inc, HSBC Bank Plc; JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan
Stanley; Nomura Holdings Inc, Societe Generale and General
Electric Co.
- General Electric Co on Jan. 23 became the first defendant
to settle, a goal Cote has encouraged. Terms were not disclosed.
- Two other lawsuits are before other judges: A lawsuit
against Bank of America's Countywide Financial Corp unit was
transferred to U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los
Angeles and the case against The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
PLC is pending before U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson in New
Haven, Connecticut.
- The UBS case was the first one filed. The 2nd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals is considering whether to reverse Cote's ruling
allowing the case to move forward.
- Besides the banks, 131 individuals are also defendants in
the lawsuits.
- The UBS trial has been set for Jan. 13, 2014. Cote has
also scheduled June 2, 2014, trial dates in the JPMorgan and
Merrill cases.
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