Why Are Big Banks Going To War With A Federal Judge?

Goldman Sachs Really Does Not Like to Be Sued!

You know the power that great wealth can bring when banks sue a judge who does not rule in their favor.  The kind of justice system that banks would prefer is one that never finds them guilty of any wrongdoing and, in order to make sure that happens, the banks’ money is fully employed in paying many, many lawyers to do their bidding.

The listing alone of the corporate lawyers engaged in the filing takes four pages!

These banks have already been found civilly guilty of mortgage fraud elsewhere so no one will be surprised at finding many new instances of fraud committed by them.

To no one’s surprise, of course, Goldman Sachs is fully represented in this case.

Why Are Big Banks Going To War With A Federal Judge?

The accusation:  shoddy underwriting of mortgage-backed securities.

The request:  that banks buy back their ugly securities so shoddily underwritten.

The nation’s largest banks have devised a novel way to protect their interests and save themselves from hundreds of billions of dollars in legal exposure. They’re taking a judge to court.

Lawyers for 17 banks submitted an unusual filing in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week (just listing all the corporate lawyers involved takes up the first four pages). The banks – including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley – stand accused of ripping off the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie and Freddie’s conservator, alleges that these banks improperly sold $200 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities without disclosing the shoddy underwriting of the underlying loans. FHFA argues the banks knew the loans in the securities were bad, yet sold them to Fannie and Freddie anyway, leading to massive losses and the need for a government bailout. So FHFA wants the banks to buy back the securities they improperly sold under false pretenses.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote took over the case in December, 2011, and quickly made a series of rulings in the case, first denying a motion by the banks to dismiss the lawsuit. The bank lawyers have become so dissatisfied with Cote’s rulings, in fact, that they have asked the Second Circuit to reverse them. The filing calls for a “writ of mandamus” that would throw out a series of rulings around discovery, which the bank lawyers claim “deprived Petitioners of their right to obtain evidence.” (You can chew for a moment on the idea that banks are being deprived of their rights.)

via The National Memo » Why Are Big Banks Going To War With A Federal Judge?.

via The National Memo » Why Are Big Banks Going To War With A Federal Judge?.