Banking Misconduct Blog

Appeals Court Rules that Illegal Activity Must Continue at Least One Year to Establish Racketeering  
How long must illegal behavior continue before it becomes racketeering? A federal appeals court in Philadelphia recently answered that question in an alleged Ponzi scheme...

Wells Fargo just won’t die. Billions of dollars in fines and penalties. Countless lawsuits. Even probation from bank regulators. Yet the company not only hangs on, it is still earning a profit too.
For many big banks, fines and penalties are a cost of doing business. Their business plan...

Anyone commercial property owner facing a special servicer soon learns the deck is stacked. Many commercial loans today are securitized and packages into loan pools. These pools are sold to a trust that is owned by institutional investors. Unlike a bank that has offices and employees, a CMBS trust...

As I write this post from my hotel room in Kingston, New York, a Toys R Us store sits empty in the parking lot across the street. Toys R Us is one of many big box retailers that have either closed completely or are going through a dramatic downsizing. For mall owners, that could mean...

We don’t often publish fraud warnings, social media is full of them already. This one comes to us from our friends in the U.K. and is certainly worth repeating.
 
Tweeting about Problems with Your Bank Makes You a Target for Fraudsters  
Think about it… you...

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects the interests of employee benefit plan participants by requiring employers to provide accurate plan information to their employees, establishing conduct standards, and ensuring employees receive their benefits even if their employer goes...

Bankers operate in their own world. They are often quick to promise a loan or to renew a loan, but if that promise isn’t chiseled in stone, banks are often the first to renege or add additional conditions at closing. Much of the existing case law deals with contract interpretation and the...

The housing and banking crisis of 2008 is long over. It’s been a decade since many homeowners woke up to find themselves underwater and owing the banks hundreds of thousands of dollars more than their house was worth. For others, it was worse. They woke up to no job and no ability to get...

Distressed investing is the politically correct term these days for buyers of distressed properties.  There will always be property owners that find themselves in over their heads. Sometimes their problems arise from unforeseen market events and at other times, it is just from being...

Court Recognizes “Fiduciary in Fact”, Says Execs Must Face Suit Claiming They Violated Fiduciary Duty to REIT Investors  
Whether there is a fiduciary duty is one of most hotly contested battles in lender liability cases. Often the answer to that question determines whether...