law

The suits are piling up. Angelo Mozilo is looking like the new Ken Lay for Washington.California's attorney general has filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Countrywide Financial Corp. engaged in deceptive advertising and unfair…

Count me in the crowd of Civil Libertarians who are perplexed by Barack Obama's move to the center and rejection of basic civil liberties. He has come out in favor of a bill on wiretapping proposed by the Bush Administration that gives…

I have been following a story for a few months in the Canadian Press on Transat, a tour operator. I hadn't reported on it until now because they were just bailed out. It seems they have gotten tangled in the ABCP (Asset-Backed Commercial…

You probably heard about Morgan Stanley's financial results this past week -- not stellar. What most people seem to be buzzing about is that a rogue trader cost the bank $120 million. The trader has been suspended pending further…

U.S. regional bank M&T has sued Deutsche Bank because of losses M&T suffered on CDOs sold to it by the German bank, according to the German website Der Spiegel. Deutsche Bank allegedly told M&T that the CDOs were "safe" and…

Royal Bank of Canada joins the list of financial institutions sued by clients over the large losses associated with the credit crisis.The Globe & Mail reports:Royal Bank of Canada has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in New…

This is a story I caught over at Michael Panzner's site this morning. Apparently Paramax, a hedge fund, entered into a swap arrangement with UBS based on the value of a subprime CDO back in February 2007. Under the terms of the swap, the…

The risks going forward for financial institutions and their capital base are large and growing. The blog CalculatedRisk has reported on yet another story that should give chills to bankers. This one is very significant: Chapter 7…