Links in “Fines, Penalties, Suits, and Settlements”

Scam operators running the so-called "Bill Payment Government Assistance Program" targeted distressed borrowers with promises of paying off the consumer's debt for an advance service charge of $900 to $1,100. Their YouTube video purported an endorsement from the president with a recording of him saying "I approve this message." The FTC is seeking to shut the operators down. [8/25/14]

In an interesting twist, First Premier Bank, an issuer of credit cards to low-income and credit-impaired consumers, is suing CardHub, a consumer education website, that provides consumers with information about credit card products.  First Premier, which is known as an issuer of high-rate, high fee credit cards, is claiming that CardHub is in violation of trademark law by using the bank’s card information on its website. Or is it just that the comparison of its terms to others looks really bad? [8/22/14]

Bank of America agreed to pay a settlement of nearly $17 billion in response to allegation of mortgage loan fraud. Although $800 million will go to the FHA fund and $200 million to Ginnie Mae, the remaining $16 billion of the settlement will be used to resolve fraud claims across the country. Of the $16 billion, $7 billion will be reserved for consumer relief, which will be distributed in a variety of ways to those hit hardest during the housing crisis. [8/22/14]

Though his company is long since gone, having been sold to Bank of America in 2008, former Countrywide Financial CEO and co-founder Angelo Mozilo is not covered by BofA's recent settlement. U.S. attorneys are apparently preparing a civil lawsuit against the man who reportedly earned more than $500 billion between 1999 and 2008. [8/22/14]

Minnesota debt collector gets shut down by the state, but apparently the credit sensitive information he had, such as social security numbers, bank account info, and dates of birth, was too tempting to resist. He would impersonate his victims to take over and steal directly from their accounts. He is looking at 175 months in prison. [8/22/14]

In the attempt to make his casino more hospitable, George Que agreed with a number of high-end gamblers, including some undercover agents, to not file CTRs or SARs. As a result, FinCEN has permanently barred Mr. Que from working within the financial industry due to his willful violations of the BSA. Oh, and there was a $5,000 civil money penalty. [8/21/14]

New York's regulator fines Standard Chartered Bank $300 million for failing to meet the anti-money laundering requirements it agreed to in 2012. In addition, the bank must suspend U.S. dollar clearing services to retail clients of the bank in Hong Kong. [8/21/14]

CFPB hits First Investors Financial Services Group of Houston with $2.75 million fine for overstating amounts past due and inflating the number of delinquent payments. Company counters that it reported the errors when it found them and was in the process of working with its vendor to correct them. [8/21/14]

The 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals has handed NCUA a victory by reinstating its ruling that allowed NCUA to sue several banks over alleged deceptive practices related to their sales of mortgage backed securities to corporate credit unions.  The ruling affects six cases pending in the 10^th circuit.  NCUA has settled similar cases and recovered more than $1.75 billion. [8/20/14]

Another Liberty Reserve executive pleads guilty to charges of money laundering. The digital currency operation, branded as the "bank of choice for the criminal underworld," was shut down by regulators last year. Agencies from 17 countries combined to take Liberty Reserve down. [8/19/14]