Countrywide To Cough Up $600M To Settle Shareholder Lawsuits Alleging Failure To Disclose Loose Lending Standards

In Los Angeles, California, USA Today reports:

• Countrywide Financial will pay $600 million to end shareholder lawsuits alleging that it misled investors, in the largest settlement to emerge so far from the subprime mortgage meltdown. The agreement has received preliminary approval from a U.S. District judge in Los Angeles, and a final approval and hearing is scheduled Nov. 15. Countrywide's accounting firm, KPMG, also agreed to pay $24 million. The defendants admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement. The proposed settlement was first announced in May. "We haven't heard of any larger settlement being reported," says Joel Bernstein, lawyer for the lead plaintiffs, the New York state and city pension funds.

• The lawsuits claimed that Countrywide, once the USA's largest mortgage lender, loosened its lending standards during the housing boom and made loans that entailed greater risks than disclosed to shareholders. Countrywide was near collapse when Bank of America acquired it in July 2008.

For more, see Countrywide to pay $600 million to settle lawsuits.