The same day that trial began in the Justice Dept.’s lawsuit against Bank of America, the DOJ had another victory in a similar suit filed last year against Wells Fargo, as the bank failed this morning in its attempt to have the suit dismissed. [More]
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Bank Of America On Trial Over Countrywide’s “Hustle”
By 9.24.13
There are children in elementary school who were not yet born in 2007, when Countrywide Financial allegedly launched a program dubbed the “Hustle,” which removed virtually all the roadblocks in the mortgage approval process so the lender could write as many loans as possible and quickly sell them off to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for billions of dollars. Many of those mortgages proved toxic, and six years later, Bank of America has to answer in court for the bad behavior of the mortgage company it must now regret acquiring. [More]
Publishers: Proposal To Punish Apple Hurts Us Instead
By 8.8.13
Last week, the Justice Dept. offered its first proposal of how Apple should be punished now that it’s been found to have colluded with publishers to fix e-book prices. Among those suggestions is that Apple cancel its existing pricing arrangement with the publishers in question and that it not enter into similar arrangements for another five years. But publishers claim that this ultimately hurts the content providers and not the retailer. [More]
DOJ Sues Bank of America For Lying About Sketchy Mortgage-Backed Securities
By 8.6.13
Even though Bank of America execs appear to have avoided criminal prosecution for their part in the recent economic collapse, BofA continues to be slapped upside its head with civil suits for its bad behavior. The latest comes from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, which sued BofA and a number of its affiliates, alleging the defendants misled investors by telling them that mortgage-backed securities were A-OK, when in fact they were more toxic than a house full of lead paint and asbestos. [More]
DOJ Proposal: Apple Must Let Amazon, Barnes & Noble Sell E-Books Through iOS Apps
By 8.2.13
Though there are Kindle and Nook apps for iPhone and iPad, restrictions put in place by Apple prevent users from actually making e-book purchases via those apps without those companies having to pay a hefty commission to Apple. You can’t even see the prices Amazon and Barnes & Noble charge for e-books, thus making it difficult to comparison shop. But as part of the proposed remedies following Apple’s loss in the recent e-book price-fixing case, the Justice Dept. says consumers should have the option of buying e-books on iOS devices from Apple’s competition. [More]
Sen. Warren: Why Can Banks Commit Crimes But Get Away Without Admitting Guilt?
By 5.15.13
Back on Valentine’s Day, rookie U.S. Senator — and longtime consumer advocate — Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts showed little love for the nation’s bank regulators, asking if any of them — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — had actually taken a large financial institution to trial instead of settling. None of them could provide a quality answer at the time, but Warren has not let them off the hook. [More]
DOJ: Steve Jobs E-Mails Show That Apple Engaged In E-Book Price-Fixing
By 5.15.13
While all of the publishers involved in Justice Dept.’s e-book price-fixing lawsuit have settled, Apple has continued to maintain its innocence. With the trial set to begin in early June, the DOJ has some evidence it believes paints Apple in a rather damning light. [More]
U.S. Government Sues Lance Armstrong To Get Post Office Sponsorship Money Back
By 4.24.13
In the years since the the United States Postal Service sponsored Lance Armstrong’s multiple Tour de France victories, the USPS has fallen into a serious financial crisis, and Armstrong has been exposed as a doping cheater and/or cheating dope. This chain of events has an obvious solution: why doesn’t the government sue Armstrong’s management and get that sponsorship money back? [More]
A-B InBev Inches Closer To Dominating Boring Beer Market
By 4.8.13
Though Anheuser-Busch InBev may have failed in its Worst Company In America battle against Electronic Arts, the beer behemoth is getting much closer to owning even more big-name beer brands, saying it has reached an agreement in principle with the Dept. of Justice that would allow it to acquire the rest of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo. [More]
UPS Hit With $40 Million Settlement In Illegal Online Pharmacy Probe
By 3.29.13
UPS may have lost to FedEx in the first round of the Worst Company In America competition, but the shipping giant is getting away relatively unscathed from a Dept. of Justice criminal probe into deliveries it made for illegal online pharmacies. [More]
Scammers Have Servicemembers In Their Sights: The DOJ Says It’s Time To Fight Back
By 3.8.13
Like all consumers, servicemembers of the United States can fall under the sway of scammers seeking to take ’em for all they’ve got. But due to their specific circumstances they’re often the focus of a wide range of fraudulent businesses and other predatory practices. [More]
Looks Like DOJ Is A-OK With T-Mobile/MetroPCS Merger
By 3.6.13
The proposed marriage of underdog T-Mobile and upstart MetroPCS is one step closer to the altar today, as the Justice Dept. was given the chance to speak out against the merger but appears to have decided to forever hold its peace. [More]
MacMillan Agrees To Refund $20 Million Over E-Book Price-Fixing Claims
By 2.11.13
And another one bites the dust. After refusing to join in an earlier settlement with three other publishers accused of colluding with Apple to fix prices on e-books, the folks at publishing biggie MacMillan have decided to settle with the U.S. Dept. of Justice for $20 million. [More]
Senators Call Out Attorney General For Treating Banks Like They Are “Too Big To Jail”
By 1.29.13
Like many Americans, Senators Charles Grassley (Iowa) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) think federal investigators have given banks a mere slap on the wrists for their part in the economic collapse and other misdeeds. So in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the pair wonder if banks are being viewed by the DOJ as “too big to jail.” [More]
Interview: Frontline’s Martin Smith Talks About The DOJ’s Failure To Prosecute Wall Street
By 1.29.13
Last week, PBS’ Frontline dedicated an entire hour to the Justice Dept.’s failure to prosecute a single high-ranking bank executive involved in the financial crisis of 2008. Consumerist recently got the chance to discuss the topic with the show’s producer/writer Martin Smith. [More]
Report: Asst. Atty. General Who Shied Away From Wall Street Prosecutions To Step Down
By 1.23.13
Less than 24 hours after his appearance on PBS’ Frontline, where he struggled to explain why his office had brought not one single indictment against a high-level Wall Street executive related to the 2008 financial crisis, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer has reportedly decided to step down. [More]
‘Nuclear Holocaust’ & ‘Sh!tBag’ Among Clever Names Morgan Stanley Bankers Gave To Toxic Mortgage-Backed Security
By 1.23.13
Federal prosecutor Lanny Breuer insists he has yet to find enough evidence to bring an indictment against a single Wall Street executive over the 2008 mortgage meltdown, yet lawyers in private lawsuits against the banks continue to turn up some gems — like this one from the Morgan Stanley e-mail vault. [More]
10 Highlights From Frontline Report On Why No Wall Street Execs Are In Jail Over Mortgage Mess
By 1.23.13
Last night, PBS’ Frontline looked at a question many Americans have asked — Why have no top Wall Street executives been prosecuted for their part in the 2008 financial crisis? — and took it right to man at the Justice Dept. who isn’t bringing those charges. [More]
