Whistleblowers Score Million$ In Seperate Suits Targeting Duibious Bankster Mortgage Lending, Foreclosure Practices

ProPublica reports:

• Buried in the sweeping mortgage settlement with banks, for which final documents were filed this week, are five whistleblower cases that shed light on the litany of foreclosure abuses by the banks.



• According to one suit, Bank of America allegedly passed bad loans on to the Federal Housing Administration. According to another, the bank allegedly denied qualified homeowners access to HAMP, the government's loan modification program.



• The suits were all settled as part of the overall $25 billion mortgage deal. They were filed under the False Claims Act, which provides incentives for whistleblowers to come forward in cases in which someone has defrauded the government. Whistleblowers can net up to 25 percent of the total settlement from False Claims suits, and in some of these cases, the reward is in the millions.



• Details are available for four of the cases; documents in a fifth, against JPMorgan Chase, have not yet been filed in Massachusetts. While the cases were settled as part of the overarching agreement, they still have to be accepted by the courts in which they were originally filed. In reaching the settlements, none of the banks admits or denies the lawsuits' allegations. We've laid out the details of each case.

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• [Kyle] Lagow's suit was settled for $75 million, and was a component of the FHA's $1 billion settlement with Bank of America over FHA insurance. Documents detailing his cut of the $75 million haven't yet been filed. [... Lynn Szymoniak's] suit was settled for $95 million, and she will receive $18 million. [...] [A] JPMorgan [lawsuit] settled for $45 million. The two whistleblowers, Victor Bibby and Brian Donnelly, told Reuters that together they would receive $11 million. They also said they would continue their case against the other banks. [...] [A Bank of America] suit was settled for $6.5 million, and [whistleblower Gregory] Mackler's cut has not been finalized.

For more, see Four Whistleblowers Who Sounded the Alarm on Banks’ Mortgage Shenanigans.

See also, Reuters: Whistleblowers reap millions in U.S. mortgage suits.