Author Archives: Isaac Gradman
Federal Short Sale Programs Will Face Same Shortcoming As Workouts: Too Much Carrot, Not Enough Stick
With government-backed loan modification programs showing abysmal results, Washington has turned to short sales as the flavor of the week to ameliorate the foreclosure crisis. Pursuant to the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) initiative, effective April 5, loan … Continue reading
Class Action Lawsuit Against Goldman Over ABACUS CDO Signals Time Is Right For Investor Lawsuits
The legal news is not good if you are a lender or investment bank who participated in the creation of mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) and other derivatives over the last few years. But for investors who lost their shirts through their … Continue reading
Say It Ain’t So: SEC Charges "Shoeless" Goldman Sachs With Setting Up CDO To Fail
In a move that represents a significant and unexpected expansion in U.S. regulators’ efforts to crack down on Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged Goldman Sachs, Wall Street’s most powerful bank, with fraud over its marketing … Continue reading
BlackRock Puts Pressure On Banks To Absorb Losses
BlackRock, a major asset management firm and one of the largest investors in U.S. mortgage bonds, announced last week that banks would have to absorb the losses on their holdings in second-lien mortgages before it would resume purchasing “private-label” mortgage … Continue reading
Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Sues Over RMBS Losses As Investor Actions Build Steam
One month ago, with the filing by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle of eleven lawsuits against the major Wall Street creators of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), I speculated that the floodgates of investor litigation may finally be swinging … Continue reading
