United States of America ex rel. Edward O'Donnell

  1. September 24, 2013

    Feds Say Countrywide Hawked Bad Loans To Fannie, Freddie

    Bank of America Corp. unit Countrywide Financial Corp. issued thousands of bad mortgages then sold them to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, government lawyers told jurors Tuesday, opening a long-awaited fraud trial against the bank.

  2. September 23, 2013

    Fall Trial Preview: 3 Securities Cases To Watch

    October is shaping up to be an eventful month in the securities bar, with trials scheduled in high-profile government actions against Bank of America Corp., Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and five former employees of Bernie Madoff’s collapsed firm.

  3. August 19, 2013

    Rakoff Takes Broad View Of Bank Fraud Law In $1B BofA Suit

    U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Monday explained his decision not to dismiss a $1 billion mortgage fraud suit against Bank of America, saying that plain language of the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery Enforcement Act allows civil prosecutors to go after "self-affecting" fraud at federally insured financial institutions.

  4. August 13, 2013

    Gov't Defends $1B BofA Lawsuit Over 'Defective' Mortgages

    Evidence shows that a Bank of America Corp. unit deliberately wrote and sold faulty mortgages in the run-up to the financial crisis, government lawyers argued Tuesday, asking a New York federal judge to let their $1 billion fraud case against the bank go to trial.

  5. August 07, 2013

    BofA Calls Feds' $1B Suit Over Faulty Mortgages A Bluff

    The federal government was bluffing when it sued Bank of America Corp. for $1 billion and accused it of selling defective mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through a fraudulent origination program, the bank said in a New York federal court Wednesday.

  6. May 08, 2013

    Prosecutors Get Last Laugh In $1B BofA Fraud Case

    A controversial legal theory at the heart of a $1 billion mortgage fraud suit against Bank of America Corp. could become a go-to enforcement tool for civil prosecutors in the wake of a New York federal judge's surprise ruling Wednesday, experts say.

  7. May 08, 2013

    $1B BofA Mortgage Suit OK'd Under Controversial Fraud Law

    U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Wednesday pared a $1 billion mortgage fraud suit against Bank of America Corp., dismissing False Claims Act allegations but allowing civil prosecutors to seek penalties under a controversial 1989 law designed to protect banks from fraud.

  8. May 06, 2013

    Rakoff Ruling In $1B BofA Case May Halt DOJ Hot Streak

    Prosecutors have seized on an obscure 1989 law to launch a series of splashy cases against banks in recent years, but a prominent New York federal judge with a penchant for scrutinizing government actions could soon reverse the trend in a $1 billion mortgage fraud suit against Bank of America Corp.

  9. April 29, 2013

    Rakoff Casts Doubt On Gov't Claims In $1B BofA Fraud Suit

    A federal judge on Monday indicated that he had doubts about an aspect of the government's $1 billion suit against Bank of America Corp. over allegedly bad mortgages, questioning its novel use of a law designed to protect banks from fraud.

  10. April 12, 2013

    BofA Says Feds' $1B Junk Mortgage Claims Too Vague

    Bank of America Corp. again urged a New York federal judge on Thursday to dismiss a $1 billion False Claims Act suit against the bank over junk mortgage loans, arguing that the U.S. government's allegations of a fraud scheme are too vague and relied on misinterpretations of federal law.