2.25.13 – Emails Prove JPMorgan Committed Massive Mortgage Fraud

Bloomberg reports on the case.

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Emails From Dexia Lawsuit Show JPMorgan Committed Widespread Fraud

New York Times Dealbook

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has tried his best to suggest that the financial crisis was someone else’s fault. But a batch of court documents released this week undermine this claim, indicating that the bank knew the mortgage investments it sold were seriously flawed.

According to the documents, which include emails and transcripts of employee interviews filed in an investor lawsuit by Europe’s Dexia Bank, JPMorgan hired independent analysts to review the quality of the home loans it was packaging for sale prior to the collapse of the housing market.

That review found that 20 to 80 percent of the mortgages did not meet underwriting standards, Bloomberg reports.  These documents show that JPMorgan bundled these mortgages into complex securities anyway and then sold them to investors without disclosing their problems, according to Bloomberg and the New York Times.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Dexia, a Belgian-French bank, is being closely watched on Wall Street. After suffering significant losses, Dexia sued JPMorgan and its affiliates in 2012, claiming it had been duped into buying $1.6 billion of troubled mortgage-backed securities. The latest documents could provide a window into a $200 billion case that looms over the entire industry.