The trial of the century—a long-awaited determination of the damage perpetrated by Wall Street institutions in the financial crisis—began Monday in New York. But it’s only happening because one bank—unlike Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America—refused to settle out of court. The Japanese firm Nomura stands accused of lying to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of mortgages pooled into securities during the housing bubble. The case will finally reveal hard data on just how much money Nomura, and the rest of the industry, made through fraud.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sued 18 of the biggest banks in the world in 2011. As an investor, Fannie and Freddie purchased $196 billion in mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007, filled with loans that did not meet specific underwriting guidelines. Sixteen of the 18 banks

On a side note: Green Tree is part of the Walter Investment Management group. Green Tree’s sister companies are ditech, Security 1 Lending, and Reverse Mortgage Solutions.

Ocwen Loan Servicing, a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Green Tree Loan Servicing, for the sale by Ocwen of an Agency mortgage servicing rights portfolio with a total principal balance of $9.6 billion, according to an announcement from Ocwen on Wednesdaymorning.

According to Ocwen, the portfolio consists of approximately 55,000 performing loans owned by Freddie Mac. The transaction is subject to approval by Freddie Mac and its conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as well as other customary conditions. Ocwen reported that it expects the transaction to close by April 30, 2015, and expects the loan servicing to transfer in May 2015.

“We are pleased with the progress we are making on executing our plan,” Ocwen CEO…

BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AND THIRD-PARTY DEFENDANT, HOMEFOCUS SERVICES, LLC,
Appellants,
v.
PHILLIP V. PATE AND BARBARA PATE, ROBERT L. POHLMAN AND MARCIA L. CROOM,
Appellees.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
CASE NO. 1D14-251
_____________________________/

In this civil foreclosure case, the trial court found that Appellant Bank of America (the Bank) engaged in egregious and intentional misconduct in Appellee Pates’ (Pate) purchase of a residential home. Thus, based on the trial court’s finding that the Bank had unclean hands in this equity action, it did not reversibly err in denying theforeclosure action and granting a deed in lieu of foreclosure. In addition, the trial court did not err in ruling in favor of the Pates in their counterclaims for breach of contract and fraud, and awarding them $250,000 in…