Monday, February 18, 2013

LPS To Fork Over $35M To Feds To Settle Criminal Charges For Its Role Surrounding Alleged 6-Year Scheme To Prepare, File 1M+ Bogus Mortgage Documents In Land Records Offices Nationwide

Reuters reports:
  • The mortgage servicing company Lender Processing Services Inc has agreed to pay $35 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation into foreclosure fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.

    The settlement resolves allegations over the Jacksonville, Florida-based company's involvement in what the government called a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage documents in property recorders' offices nationwide.

    It followed a guilty plea last November by Lorraine Brown, the former chief executive of LPS' DocX LLC unit, to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud over the scheme, which ran from 2003 to 2009.

    LPS entered into a two-year non-prosecution agreement that requires it to meet many conditions, including cooperating in federal probes, and alert the government to any abuses in mortgage or foreclosure documentation services at the company.

    The $35 million payment includes criminal penalties and forfeiture and must be made within 10 days to the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Treasury, the Justice Department said.