Rali Tac Ecf Version
Rali Tac Ecf Version
v. ECF CASE
Defendants.
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 2 of 81
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 3 of 81
ii
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 4 of 81
Court-Appointed Lead Plaintiff and Class Representative New Jersey Carpenters Health
Fund (“Carpenters Health Fund” or “Lead Plaintiff”); Plaintiff and Class Representative New
Jersey Carpenters Vacation Fund (“Carpenters Vacation Fund,” with Carpenters Health Fund,
Retirement System (“IPERS”); Midwest Operating Engineers Pension Trust Fund (“Midwest
OE”); Orange County Employees Retirement System (“OCERS”); and Police and Fire
Retirement System of the City of Detroit (“Detroit PFRS”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) hereby
make their Third Amended Securities Class Action Complaint against the defendants named
below. In so doing, Plaintiffs do not waive and hereby preserve all previously asserted claims
regarding all securities included in the Consolidated First Amended Securities Class Action
Complaint (“First Amended Complaint” or “FAC”) filed May 18, 2009 and the Consolidated
Second Amended Securities Class Action Complaint (“Second Amended Complaint” or “SAC”)
filed January 3, 2011 in this action including any previously dismissed claims or parties, as if
fully set forth herein. Plaintiffs believe that substantial additional evidentiary support for the
allegations set forth below will be developed after a reasonable opportunity for discovery.
I.
“Complaint” or “TAC”) is alleged upon personal knowledge with respect to Plaintiffs, and upon
information and belief with respect to all other matters. This action is brought pursuant to
Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 77k,
77l(a)(2) and 77o, by Plaintiffs on their own behalf and as a class action on behalf of all persons
and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired interests in the Issuing Trusts (as set forth in ¶¶
29-30, infra) (the “Issuing Trusts”) pursuant or traceable to two Registration Statements and
1
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 5 of 81
accompanying Prospectuses filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc. (“RALI”), a subsidiary of Residential Capital, LLC f/k/a
Residential Capital Corporation (“RCC”),1 on March 3, 2006 (No. 333-131213) (the “2006
Registration Statement”) and on April 3, 2007 (No. 333-140610) (the “2007 Registration
Statement,” and together with the 2006 Registration Statement, collectively referred to herein as
sold to Plaintiffs and the Class in forty-one (41) Offerings as set forth below (¶¶ 29-30) (the
“Offerings”). The value of the Certificates was dependent upon the repayment of the underlying
mortgage loans since the principal and interest payments due to investors were secured and
derived solely from cash flows from those loans being repaid and the interest thereon.3
Olson (“Olson”), Ralph T. Flees (“Flees”), Lisa R. Lundsten (“Lundsten”), James G. Jones
(“Jones”), David M. Bricker (“Bricker”) and James N. Young (“Young”); and certain
Underwriters of the Offerings, Defendants Ally Securities LLC f/k/a Residential Funding
1
Defendant RCC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Acceptance Corporation (“GMAC”).
Although GMAC was a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation (“GM”), it is now a GM
subsidiary that is majority-owned by a consortium of investors led by Cerebus Capital LLC (¶¶ 24, 97). For the
purposes of this Complaint, GMAC and GM are collectively referred to as “General Motors.”
2
Plaintiffs recognize that, in its class certification decision, this Court certified a class for four Offerings
limited temporally to ten trading days from each respective Offering date. For pleading purposes Plaintiffs retain
all their rights and retain the original class period asserted in the FAC.
3
As the borrowers on each of the underlying mortgage loans paid their mortgages, distributions were made
to investors through the Issuing Trusts in accordance with the terms of the Offering Documents governing the
issuance of the Certificates. If borrowers failed to pay back their mortgages, defaulted, or were forced into
foreclosure, the resulting losses flowed to the Certificate investors. As set forth in the Prospectus Supplements, the
Certificates were divided into a structure of classes, or “tranches,” reflecting their contractual priorities of seniority,
payment, exposure to risk and default, and interest payments.
2
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 6 of 81
Securities, LLC d/b/a GMAC RFC Securities (“Ally Securities”); Goldman, Sachs & Co.
(“GSC”); Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (“DBS”); Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (“CITI”); and
UBS Securities LLC (“UBS”) (collectively, the “Underwriter Defendants”). RCC; RALI, the
Depositor for each of the Offerings; Residential Funding Company, LLC (“RFC”), the Sponsor
and Seller for each of the Offerings; and Ally Securities, along with their affiliates and
Further, each Prospectus Supplement issued in connection with each Offering represented that
whether or not the loans were originated by Homecomings itself or acquired by Homecomings or
RFC after they were originated, “all the mortgage loans were originated in accordance with the
underwriting criteria of [RFC].” The RFC Guidelines were then summarized identically in each
Prospectus Supplement.
5. As set forth below, these statements misstated and omitted material facts in
violation of Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77k, 77l(a)(2) and 77o,
because in fact the underwriting guidelines were systematically disregarded in originating the
mortgage loan collateral. Defendants are strictly or negligently liable for the material
misstatements and omissions under the Securities Act alleged herein. The Complaint asserts no
6. By the end of 2005, the entity that ultimately came to be known as Ally Financial,
Inc. but at the time was known as GMAC LLC, and its subsidiary, Residential Capital, had
become one of the largest issuers of MBS, not just in the United States, but in the world.
According to Inside Mortgage Finance (“IMF”), in 2005 alone, Residential Capital issued over
3
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 7 of 81
$56.93 billion of MBS, making it the fifth largest issuer of such securities. Residential Capital
was capable of securitizing such massive quantities of mortgage collateral because it created and
operated what was essentially a high-speed assembly line for the securitization of mortgage
loans. Residential Capital had sufficient “product” in the form of mortgage loans because it
owned and operated HFN as its subsidiary. HFN solely acquired and originated non-conforming
(sub-prime and Alt-A) loans. The HFN-originated loans were immediately purchased by RFC
and securitized by RALI.4 Residential Funding Securities, LLC, which later became known as
7. The Certificates could not be sold at all – much less profitably – unless they had
been assigned the highest investment grade rating from one or more Nationally Recognized
(“Moody’s”) and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, a Division of the McGraw-Hill
Companies (“S&P,” and together with Moody’s the “Rating Agencies”). The reason was simple.
Without such ratings, they could not be purchased by the Underwriter Defendants’ principal
potential clientele – institutional investors, namely pension funds and insurance companies.
8. The Certificates were substantially assigned the highest investment grade ratings
by the Rating Agencies. Moody’s and S&P rated $26.1 billion and $26.2 billion, respectively, of
the $27 billion Certificates issued pursuant to the Offerings complained of herein. (¶ 65). At the
time the Certificates were issued, Moody’s assigned its highest investment grade rating of “Aaa”
to 95.22%, or $26.1 billion, of the Moody’s-rated Certificates, and S&P assigned its highest
investment grade rating of “AAA” to 95.22%, or $26.2 billion, of the S&P-rated Certificates.5
4
RALI served as “Depositor” for the Offerings (¶ 27) acquiring the loans from RFC and “depositing” them
to the Issuing Trusts where RALI securitized the cash-flows from the mortgage loans and formed the Certificates.
5
“AAA” and “Aaa” are collectively referred to herein as “AAA.”
4
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 8 of 81
(Id.). These ratings purportedly reflected the risk or probability of default by the borrower
according to the Offering Documents. (¶¶ 64-65). None of the Certificates were initially rated
below “investment grade” (“Ba1” and below for Moody’s and “BB+” and below for S&P). (¶
64).
9. By the time the initial complaint was filed in this Action, the value of the
Certificates had collapsed. Further, the likelihood of these securities ever recovering their value
is severely diminished by the fact that over 37% of the mortgage loans underlying the
Certificates – the source of financial return for Certificate investors – as of the filing of the FAC,
100% of the Certificates had, by May 2009, been downgraded by Moody’s to speculative and
10. Since Certificate investors were dependent on the quality of the underlying
mortgage loan collateral for receipt of a return on their investment, the descriptions of the loan
origination guidelines in the Offering Documents and the originator’s purported compliance with
those guidelines were highly material disclosures to Certificate purchasers. The descriptions of
the underwriting guidelines included in the Offering Documents described the policies employed
by RFC and its wholly-owned subsidiary HFN, in examining borrower creditworthiness and
verifying borrower information. (¶¶ 133-161). These portions of the Offering Documents also
contained misstatements and omissions because, as has emerged only well after issuance of the
Certificates, HFN, its correspondent lenders and other mortgage loan originators systematically
disregarded the stated underwriting guidelines set forth in the Offering Documents. Id. These
misstatements and omissions as well as the defective nature of the Certificate collateral were
further reflected in the fact that the Rating Agencies themselves, in downgrading the Certificates
5
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 9 of 81
from the highest investment grade to junk status, specifically attributed the downgrades to
“aggressive underwriting” in the origination of the mortgage loans (¶ 90) and the utter collapse
of the AAA ratings originally assigned to the Certificates (¶ 65); and the uniform pattern of
increases in delinquency, default and foreclosure rates after the consummation of the various
11. While compliance with those loan underwriting guidelines was highly material to
Certificate investors, who were dependent on the creditworthiness of the borrowers for interest
and principal payments, Residential Capital had no such similar financial interest. Residential
Capital and the Underwriting Defendants each conducted separate due diligence with respect to
whether the loans were originated in conformity with the underwriting guidelines set forth in the
Offering Documents. Residential Capital’s “due diligence” principally occurred not during the
underwriting phase of the Offering by the Underwriter Defendants, but when Residential Capital
acquired the collateral from its subsidiary HFN. (¶¶ 59-60). At that stage, there was a
disincentive for Residential Capital to reject loans as non-compliant with stated guidelines
because the loans were the property of RCC regardless, since the loans were originated by its
subsidiary.
12. Perhaps worse, the Underwriter Defendants’ “due diligence” was extremely
limited and defectively conducted in violation of the Underwriter Defendants’ own internal
guidelines as the Underwriter Defendants were forced to review loans on an expedited basis and
therefore did not commit to a full review of the mortgage loans underlying the securitizations.
(see ¶¶ 73-80).
6
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 10 of 81
13. To assess the overall compliance with the guidelines, prior to each Offering
Defendants examined the loan files of a small sample of loans, purportedly as a proxy for
determining whether the pool of loans as a whole was compliant with guidelines. Rather than
result in a de minimis percentage of non-compliant loans however, the reunderwriting of even the
small samples of loans repeatedly resulted in dramatic findings that as much as 50% of the
sampled loans were non-compliant with guidelines. Such findings should have led to either an
examination of the entire loan pool for compliance with underwriting guidelines, or rejection of
that pool of loans for material non-compliance with the underwriting guidelines. Instead, a small
number of the defective loans sampled would typically get “kicked” from the deal and the
offering would go forward with the remaining unsampled collateral comprising the mortgage
loan pool.
Plaintiffs and the Class have suffered damages for which Defendants are liable pursuant to
II.
15. The claims alleged herein arise under Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the
Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77k, 77l(a)(2) and 77o. Jurisdiction is conferred by Section 22 of
the Securities Act and venue is proper pursuant to Section 22 of the Securities Act.
16. The violations of law complained of herein occurred in this County, including the
dissemination of materially false and misleading statements complained of herein into this
7
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 11 of 81
III.
17. Court-Appointed Lead Plaintiff and Class Representative Carpenters Health Fund
and Plaintiff and Class Representative Carpenters Vacation Fund are Taft-Hartley Pension
Funds. As reflected in the Certification of Securities Class Action filed herein, the Carpenters
Funds purchased the following classes of Certificates pursuant and traceable to the Registration
Amount of Units
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
RALI Mortgage Asset-
Backed Pass-Through
10/5/2006 180,000 $1.01
Certificates, Series 2006-
QO7, Class M1
RALI Mortgage Asset-
Backed Pass-Through
1/1/2007 415,000 $1.01
Certificates, Series 2007-
QS1, Class 1A1
RALI Mortgage Asset-
Backed Pass-Through
1/1/2007 155,000 $1.01
Certificates, Series 2007-
QS1, Class 2A10
RALI Mortgage Asset-
Backed Pass-Through
4/23/2007 80,000 $1.00
Certificates, Series 2007-
QH4, Class A1
in the Certification of Securities Class Action filed herein, the Boilermaker Pension Trust
purchased the following Certificates pursuant and traceable to the Registration Statements and
8
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 12 of 81
Amount of Units
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
RALI Mortgage Asset-
Backed Pass-Through
12/7/2007 961,530.55 $0.96
Certificates, Series 2007-
QO4, Class A1A
Securities Class Action filed with IPERS’ Motion to Intervene on July 30, 2010 (see Dkt. Nos.
98-100), IPERS purchased the following Certificates pursuant and traceable to the Registration
Amount of Units
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
Securities Class Action filed with OCERS’ Motion to Intervene on July 30, 2010 (see Dkt. Nos.
98-100), OCERS purchased the following Certificates pursuant and traceable to the Registration
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Amount of Units Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
9
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 13 of 81
Certification of Securities Class Action filed with Midwest OE’s Motion to Intervene on July 13,
2010 (see Dkt. Nos. 91-93, 95), Midwest OE purchased the following Certificates pursuant and
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Amount of Units Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
22. Detroit PFRS is a pension plan and trust established by the Charter and Municipal
Code of the City of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit PFRS has approximately $3.5 billion of net assets
held in trust for the benefit of the active and retired police officers and firefighters of the City of
Detroit, Michigan. As reflected in the certification filed with Detroit PFRS’ Motion to Intervene
on July 2, 2010 (see Dkt. Nos. 84-86), Detroit PFRS purchased the following Certificates
pursuant and traceable to the Registration Statements and Prospectus Supplements and has been
Amount of Units
Certificates Purchased Date of Purchase Price Paid (Per Unit)
Purchased
Delaware corporation with its principal offices located at 300 Renaissance Center, Detroit,
Michigan.
10
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 14 of 81
24. Non-Defendant Ally Financial, Inc., f/k/a GMAC, Inc., f/k/a GMAC, LLC, f/k/a
“GMAC”), is principally located at 200 Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan 48265. GMAC
was founded in 1919 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, and was
originally established to provide GM dealers with the automotive financing necessary to acquire
and maintain vehicle inventories and to provide retail customers the means by which to finance
vehicle purchases through GM dealers. On November 30, 2006, GM sold a 51% interest in
GMAC for approximately $7.4 billion to FIM Holdings LLC, an investment consortium led by
Cerberus FIM Investors, LLC, the sole managing member, and changed its name to GMAC,
LLC. GMAC was a leading, independent, globally diversified, financial services firm with
approximately $248 billion of assets as of December 31, 2007 and operations in approximately
40 countries. Since its inception, GMAC greatly expanded its business to include the following
primary lines of business – Global Automotive Finance, Mortgage (Residential Capital, LLC)
and Insurance. Largely due to the conduct described herein, GMAC did not survive the financial
crisis. It eventually received a substantial government bailout and changed its name to Ally
Financial. Ally Financial is now approximately 74% owned by the U.S. Government.
Group, LLC, which in turn is a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., and is principally located at
8400 Normandale Lake Boulevard, Suite 600, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55437, has principal
maintains significant presence in states throughout the U.S., including New Jersey, Texas and
California. RCC is the parent company of Defendants RALI, RFC and the principal originator of
11
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 15 of 81
the loan collateral, HFN. At all relevant times, RCC and its subsidiaries originated, purchased,
sold, and securitized residential mortgage loans primarily in the United States, as well as
internationally; provided primary and master servicing to investors in residential mortgage loans
and securitizations; provided collateralized lines of credit, which are referred to as warehouse
lending facilities, to other originators of residential mortgage loans; and held a portfolio of
residential mortgage loans for investment or sale together with interests retained from its
securitization activities. RCC is liable under the Securities Act, but is not named as a Defendant
herein because on May 14, 2012, it petitioned for bankruptcy protection pursuant to Chapter 11
Corporation (collectively referred to herein as “RFC”), acted as the Sponsor for the Certificates
issued pursuant to the Registration Statements. Residential Funding Corporation changed its
status from a Delaware Corporation to a limited liability company in October 2006. Residential
Capital originated or acquired all underlying mortgage collateral for the various Offerings via the
Sponsor, RFC. (¶¶ 59-60). RFC made certain representations and warranties in connection with
the loan pools collateralizing the Certificates. (¶ 157) As set forth in the Registration
Statements, RFC then conveyed the mortgages to the Depositor, RALI, which was formed for
the sole purpose of creating, and thereafter depositing the collateral into, the Issuing Trusts. The
Issuing Trusts then issued the Certificates supported by the cash flows from the assets and were
secured by those assets. RFC’s principal office is located at 8400 Normandale Lake Boulevard,
Suite 600, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55437. RFC is liable under the Securities Act, but is not
named as a Defendant herein because on May 14, 2012, it petitioned for bankruptcy protection
12
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 16 of 81
27. Non-Defendant RALI served as the Depositor for the Offerings and is principally
located at 8400 Normandale Lake Boulevard, Suite 600, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55437. RALI
is the wholly-owned subsidiary of RCC. RALI filed Registration Statements and accompanying
Prospectuses with the SEC in connection with the Offerings. The role of RALI as the Depositor
was to purchase the mortgage loans from the seller and then assign the mortgage loans and all of
its rights and interest under the mortgage loan purchase agreement to the trustee for the benefit of
the Bondholders. RALI, as Depositor, was also responsible for preparing and filing any reports
required under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. RALI is liable under the Securities Act, but
is not named as a Defendant herein because on May 14, 2012, it petitioned for bankruptcy
28. RALI filed the following Registration Statements and accompanying Prospectuses
with the SEC on Form S-3, as subsequently amended on Form S-3/A, under Registration Nos.
6
The amount registered under the 2006 Registration Statement includes $24,723,478,970 previously
registered under Registration No. 333-126732 on July 30, 2005 and which remained unissued as of March 3, 2006.
7
The amount registered under the 2007 Registration Statement includes $27,349,759,494 previously
registered under Registration No. 333-131213 (the 2006 Registration Statement) and which remained unissued as of
April 3, 2007.
13
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 17 of 81
29. RFC and RALI, as Sponsor/Seller and Depositor, respectively, formed the
following twenty-nine (29) Issuing Trusts, by which RFC and RALI issued, or caused to be
RALI Mortgage $1,280,501,451 January 26, 2007 Citigroup Global Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Markets Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS1
RALI Mortgage $304,442,000 May 26, 2006 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QA4
RALI Mortgage $622,965,000 July 27, 2006 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QA6
RALI Mortgage $588,151,000 August 28, 2006 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QA7
14
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 18 of 81
RALI Mortgage $889,857,000 December 27, Goldman Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed 2006 Co Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2006-QO10
RALI Mortgage $644,812,000 March 28, 2006 Goldman Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Co Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QO3
RALI Mortgage $1,071,587,000 May 26, 2006 UBS Securities Residential Residential
Asset-Backed LLC Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QO5
RALI Mortgage $1,290,297,000 June 28, 2006 Goldman Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Co Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QO6
RALI Mortgage $1,288,119,000 October 30, 2006 Lehman Brothers Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2006-QO8
RALI Mortgage $742,487,542 August 28, 2006 Deutsche Bank Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities; Morgan Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Stanley Inc.
Certificates, Series
2006-QS11
RALI Mortgage $531,038,675 October 27, 2006 UBS Securities Residential Residential
Asset-Backed LLC; Goldman Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Sachs & Co. Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2006-QS15
15
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 19 of 81
RALI Mortgage $530,520,315 June 26, 2006 Citigroup Global Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Markets; Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Countrywide Inc.
Certificates, Series Securities Corp.
2006-QS7
RALI Mortgage $953,783,554 July 25, 2006 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Citigroup Global Inc.
Certificates, Series Markets
2006-QS8
RALI Mortgage $533,095,899 July 24, 2006 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Corp.
Pass-Through Deutsche Bank Inc.
Certificates, Series Securities
2006-QS9
RALI Mortgage $410,069,000 January 25, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QA1
RALI Mortgage $366,984,000 February 23, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QA2
RALI Mortgage $348,425,000 February 23, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Goldman Sachs & Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series Co.
2007-QH2
RALI Mortgage $349,476,000 March 28, 2007 Goldman Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Co Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QH3
RALI Mortgage $527,132,000 February 26, 2007 Deutsche Bank Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QO2
16
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 20 of 81
RALI Mortgage $296,295,000 March 28, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QO3
RALI Mortgage $529,765,806 January 26, 2007 Goldman Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Co; Morgan Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Stanley Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS2
RALI Mortgage $736,484,029 March 28, 2007 Deutsche Bank Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Securities; RBS Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Securities Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS4
RALI Mortgage $426,647,013 March 28, 2007 Citigroup Global Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Markets Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Pass-Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS5
30. RFC and RALI, as Sponsor/Seller and Depositor, respectively, formed the
following twelve (12) Issuing Trusts, by which RFC and RALI issued, or caused to be issued, the
RALI Mortgage $ 397,963,000 April 26, 2007 Goldman, Sachs & Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Co./ Residential Accredit Loans, Funding
Through Funding Securities, Inc. Company,
Certificates, 2007- LLC LLC
QH4
RALI Mortgage $882,356,800 April 26, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QA3
17
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 21 of 81
RALI Mortgage $497,503,000 May 29, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Goldman Sachs & Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series Co.
2007-QH5
RALI Mortgage $595,208,000 June 27, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Goldman Sachs & Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series Co.
2007-QH6
RALI Mortgage $540,449,900 September 18, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QH8
RALI Mortgage $231,187,000 August 29, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QO5
RALI Mortgage $300,636,797 September 26, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS11
RALI Mortgage $796,984,867 April 25, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Barclays Capital Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series
2007-QS6
RALI Mortgage $792,849,258 May 29, 2007 GMAC RFC Residential Residential
Asset-Backed Pass- Securities; Accredit Loans, Funding Co.
Through Deutsche Bank Inc. LLC
Certificates, Series Securities
2007-QS7
31. Each of the Issuing Trusts for the various Offerings set forth above was a
common law trust formed for the sole purpose of holding and issuing the Certificates. Each of
18
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 22 of 81
the Issuing Trusts issued hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Certificates pursuant to a
Statement, which broke out and identified numerous classes of Certificates within each Offering.
32. Defendant Bruce J. Paradis (“Paradis”) was, during the relevant time period,
RALI’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Paradis also served as the President of
Defendant RFSC. Paradis signed the 2006 Registration Statement for the Offerings.
33. Defendant Kenneth M. Duncan (“Duncan”) was RALI’s Acting Chief Financial
Officer (Principal Financial Officer). Duncan signed the 2006 Registration Statement for the
Offerings.
34. Defendant Davee L. Olson (“Olson”) was a Director of RALI. Olson signed the
35. Defendant Ralph T. Flees (“Flees”) was, at all relevant times, RALI’s Controller
(Principal Accounting Officer). Defendant Flees signed the 2006 and 2007 Registration
36. Defendant Lisa R. Lundsten (“Lundsten”) signed the 2006 and 2007 Registration
37. Defendant James G. Jones (“Jones”) was RALI’s President and Chief Financial
Officer at the time the 2007 Registration Statement was issued and thereafter. Jones signed the
38. Defendant David M. Bricker (“Bricker”) was a Director of RALI as well as its
Chief Financial Officer at the time the 2007 Registration Statement was issued and thereafter.
19
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 23 of 81
39. Defendant James N. Young (“Young”) was a Director of RALI at the time the
2007 Registration Statement was issued and thereafter. Young signed the 2007 Registration
40. The Defendants identified in ¶¶ 32-39 are referred to herein as the “Individual
Defendants.” The Individual Defendants functioned as directors to the Issuing Trusts as they
were officers and/or directors of RALI and signed either one or both of the Registration
Statements for the registration of the securities which were thereafter issued by the Issuing
Trusts.
41. The Individual Defendants participated with the remaining Defendants in the
wrongful acts and course of conduct or otherwise caused the damages and injuries claimed
herein and are responsible in some manner for the acts, occurrences and events alleged in this
Complaint.
42. Defendant Ally Securities served as the underwriter for twenty-five (25) of the
Offerings as set forth above in ¶¶ 29-30 (collectively the “Ally Offerings”). Ally Securities is an
SEC registered broker-dealer, principally located at 8400 Normandale Lake Boulevard, Suite
600, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55437 and was formerly a wholly-owned subsidiary of RCC. Ally
Securities’ banking operations are limited to broker-dealer functions in the issuance and
Securities only conducts business with institutional clientele. Ally Securities was one of the
leading MBS underwriters in the United States. Ally Securities, as an essential part of its
investment banking business, has substantial contacts within this County and during the relevant
time period transacted and continues to transact business in New York – specifically New York
County (i.e., Wall Street and the financial markets) including through the Offerings. Ally
20
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 24 of 81
Securities actively served as the underwriter in the sale of the Certificates and assisted in drafting
and disseminating the Offering Documents pursuant to which the Certificates were issued.
43. Defendant GSC served as the underwriter for ten (10) of the Offerings as set forth
above in ¶¶ 29-30 (collectively the “GSC Offerings”). GSC is an SEC registered broker-dealer,
principally located at 85 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004. GSC is one of the leading
MBS underwriters in the United States. GSC, as an essential part of its investment banking
business, maintains its principal place of business operations and has substantial contacts within
this County and during the relevant time period transacted and continues to transact business in
New York – specifically New York County (i.e., Wall Street and the financial markets) including
through the Offerings. GSC actively served as the underwriter in the sale of the Certificates and
assisted in drafting and disseminating the Offering Documents pursuant to which the Certificates
were issued.
44. Defendant DBS served as the underwriter for six (6) of the Offerings as set forth
above in ¶¶ 29-30 (collectively the “DBS Offerings”). DBS is an SEC registered broker-dealer,
principally located at 60 Wall Street, New York, New York 10005. DBS is one of the leading
MBS underwriters in the United States. DBS, as an essential part of its investment banking
business, in addition to maintaining its principal offices, has substantial contacts within this
County and during the relevant time period transacted and continues to transact business in New
York – specifically New York County (i.e., Wall Street and the financial markets) including
through the Offerings. DBS actively served as the underwriter in the sale of the Certificates and
assisted in drafting and disseminating the Offering Documents pursuant to which the Certificates
were issued.
21
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 25 of 81
45. Defendant CITI served as the underwriter for four (4) of the Offerings, as set forth
principally located at 399 Park Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10043. Defendant CITI
was intimately involved in the CITI Offerings. CITI is one of the leading MBS underwriters in
the United States. CITI, as an essential part of its investment banking business, has substantial
contacts, including its principal offices, within this County and regularly transacts business in
New York – specifically New York County (i.e., Wall Street and the financial markets) including
through the Offerings. CITI actively served as the underwriter in the sale of the Certificates and
assisted in drafting and disseminating the Offering Documents pursuant to which the Certificates
were issued.
46. Defendant UBS served as the underwriter for three (3) of the Offerings, as set
forth above in ¶¶ 29-30 (the “UBS Offerings”). UBS is an SEC registered broker-dealer,
principally located at 1285 Avenue of the Americas, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10019.
UBS is one of the leading MBS underwriters in the United States. UBS, as an essential part of
its investment banking business, maintains its principal offices and has substantial contacts
within this County and during the relevant time period transacted business in New York –
specifically New York County (i.e., Wall Street and the financial markets) including through the
Offerings. UBS actively served as the underwriter in the sale of the Certificates and assisted in
drafting and disseminating the Offering Documents pursuant to which the Certificates were
issued.
47. Non-Defendant Lehman Brothers Inc. (“LB”), the former investment banking arm
of the now-defunct entity Lehman Brothers Holding, Inc. (“LBHI”), served as the underwriter
for three (3) of the Offerings, as set forth above in ¶¶ 29-30 (collectively the “LB Offerings”).
22
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 26 of 81
LB was an SEC registered broker-dealer, and was principally located at 745 Seventh Avenue,
New York, New York 10019. LB was one of the leading MBS underwriters in the United States.
LB, as underwriter for the LB Offering, is liable under Sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act,
but is not named as a Defendant herein because on September 15, 2008, its parent company,
LBHI, filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and in
liquidate LB.
48. Defendants Ally Securities, GSC, DBS, CITI and UBS are collectively referred to
49. Non-Defendant McGraw-Hill is a New York corporation with its principal place
of business located at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020. Non-
Defendant S&P, a division of McGraw-Hill, provides credit ratings, risk evaluation, investment
research and data to investors. S&P participated in the drafting and dissemination of the
Prospectus Supplements pursuant to which the Certificates were sold to Plaintiffs and other Class
members. S&P provided pre-determined credit ratings for the Certificates, as set forth in the
Prospectus Supplements.
250 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10007, and provides credit ratings, risk evaluation,
investment research and data to investors. Moody’s provided pre-determined credit ratings for
23
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 27 of 81
IV.
BACKGROUND
acquired, pooled together, and then sold to investors, who acquire rights in the income flowing
53. When mortgage borrowers make interest and principal payments as required by
the underlying mortgages, the cash flow is distributed to the holders of the MBS certificates in
order of priority based on the specific tranche held by the MBS investors. The highest tranche
(also referred to as the senior tranche) is first to receive its share of the mortgage proceeds and is
also the last to absorb any losses should mortgage-borrowers become delinquent or default on
their mortgage. Of course, because the investment quality and risk of the higher tranches is
affected by the cushion afforded by the lower tranches, diminished cash flow to the lower
24
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 28 of 81
54. The securitization of loans fundamentally shifts the risk of loss from the mortgage
loan originator to the investor who purchased an interest in the securitized pool of loans. When
the originator holds the mortgage through the term of the loan, it profits from the borrower’s
payment of interest and repayment of principal, but it also bears the risk of loss if the borrower
defaults and the property value is not sufficient to repay the loan. As a result, traditionally, the
originator was economically vested in establishing the creditworthiness of the borrower and the
true value of the underlying property through appraisal before issuing the mortgage loans. In
securitizations where the originator immediately sells the loan to an investment bank, it does not
have the same economic interest in establishing borrower creditworthiness or a fair appraisal
55. In the 1980s and 1990s, securitizations were generally within the domain of
Government Sponsored Enterprises (“GSE”), i.e., the Federal National Mortgage Association
(“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”), which
would purchase loans from originators. Investors in these early GSE securitizations were
provided protections since the underlying loans were originated pursuant to strict underwriting
guidelines.
56. Between 2001 and 2006, however, there was dramatic growth in both non-GSE
loan originations and securitizations, for which there were no such underwriting limitations.
(2007), in 2001, agency originations were $1.433 trillion and securitizations were $1.087 trillion
– far outpacing non-agency originations of $680 billion and securitizations of $240 billion. In
2006, agency originations grew to $1.040 trillion while securitizations declined to $904 million.
However, in that same period, non-agency originations had grown by 100% to $1.480 trillion,
25
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 29 of 81
and non-agency securitizations had grown by 330% to $1.033 trillion in 2006. Further, non-
agency origination of subprime loans grew by 315% – from $190 billion in 2001 to $600 billion
in 2006; and non-agency Alt-A origination grew by 566% – from $60 billion in 2001 to $400
billion in 2006. Non-agency securitizations of subprime loans had also grown exponentially by
415% – from $87.1 billion in 2001 to $448 billion in 2006. Along with the growth of subprime
securitizations the growth of subprime home equity securitizations also grew by 216% – from
57. Residential Capital became a significant issuer in the MBS securitizations market.
According to IMF, Residential Capital issued $42.336 billion and $56.93 billion of non-agency
MBS in 2004 and 2005. (Moody’s, Bloomberg Asset Securitization, January 2008.) In 2005,
RFC was the fifth largest non-agency MBS issuer and ninth largest overall mortgage securities
issuer. In 2006, Residential Capital increased their production to $66.2 billion, making it the
fourth largest non-agency MBS issuer and eighth largest in total MBS issuance. In 2007,
Residential Capital issued $6.6 billion of subprime MBS and an additional $22.2 billion of Alt-A
MBS.
58. In 2005 through 2007, Residential Capital’s RMBS operations were run primarily
out of its offices at 8400 Normandale Lake Boulevard, Suite 600, Minneapolis, Minnesota
55437.
59. Residential Capital derived its profit from the sale of the Certificates for a price in
excess of the amount paid for the underlying mortgage loans. The goal for Residential Capital
was to sell the Certificates for a price above par or $1.00 per unit. As noted, for securitized
Certificates to be marketable to begin with, approximately 80% of the securitization had to have
26
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 30 of 81
the highest rating by the rating agencies. With that condition met, subprime securitizations and
home equity securitizations posed the greater profit potential for Residential Capital.
60. Before securitization could begin, Residential Capital had to acquire the
underlying mortgage loans directly from its loan origination affiliate, HFN. With the
securitization structure in place, the Certificates were then issued through RALI Trusts
designated with specific “Shelf” names. The different shelf names reflected the different types
of mortgage collateral underlying each of the specific RALI Offerings. The underlying
mortgages in the RALI “QA” Shelf Trusts were principally one- to four-family residential,
hybrid adjustable-rate first lien mortgage loans; the underlying mortgages in the RALI “QH”
adjustable-rate first lien mortgage loans with a negative amortization feature; the underlying
mortgages in the RALI “QO” Shelf Trusts were also principally one- to four-family residential,
payment-option, adjustable-rate first lien mortgage loans with a negative amortization feature;
and the underlying mortgages in the RALI “QS” Shelf Trusts were principally one- to four-
family residential first lien mortgage loans. RALI completed ten (10) QA Offerings, seven (7)
QH Offerings, eleven (11) QO Offerings and seventeen (13) QS Offerings pursuant to the 2006
and 2007 Registration Statements, between March 28, 2006 and October 9, 2007, which are all
27
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 31 of 81
61. Following each Offering, monthly reporting of default rates was provided by the
Trustee for the Offering. While these monthly reports contained reporting on defaults or
62. The causes of the default rates were further obscured by the dissemination of
prices and valuations of the bonds well after each Offering that suggested that there was no
63. The increase in delinquencies rates after issuance may be reflective of substantial
instances of “early payment default” (“EPD”) by borrowers on the underlying mortgage loans.
Such defaults are highly indicative of failed and deficient loan underwriting and origination
practices. As reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the “FBI”) in its 2006 and 2007
Mortgage Fraud Reports, a study of three million residential mortgage loans found that between
30% and 70% of early payment defaults were linked to significant misrepresentations in the
original loan applications. The study cited by the FBI and conducted by Base Point Analytics
found that loans that contained egregious misrepresentations were five times more likely to
default in the first six months than loans that did not. The misrepresentations included income
inflated by as much as 500%, appraisals that overvalued the property by 50% or more, fictitious
employers and falsified tax returns. The 2006 FBI report also cited studies by a leading provider
of mortgage insurance, Radian Guaranty Inc., that found the same top states for mortgage fraud –
including the states where the underlying HFN mortgage collateral was principally originated –
were also the same top states with the highest percentage of early payment defaults.
28
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 32 of 81
64. The Rating Agencies rated the Certificates pursuant to the following twenty-three
65. As noted above, Moody’s and S&P rated $26.1 billion and $26.2 billion,
respectively, of the $27 billion Certificates issued pursuant to the Offerings at issue in this
Complaint. At the time these Certificates were issued, Moody’s assigned its highest investment
grade rating of “Aaa” to 95.22%, or $24.86 billion, of the Moody’s-rated Certificates, and S&P
assigned its highest investment grade rating of “AAA” to 95.22%, or $24.90 billion, of the S&P-
rated Certificates. As a general matter, a rating downgrade of even one level – e.g., from AAA
29
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 33 of 81
to AA or from Aaa to Aa – is considered material to the financial condition of the rated entity or
security. Here, the magnitude of the Certificate downgrades is unprecedented. The Certificates
have been downgraded as many as the maximum 23 levels – with, for example, 100% of
Certificates initially rated AAA having now been downgraded to “Ba1” or below, meaning these
Certificates were not only designated “junk,” but are considered in danger of “imminent default.”
The remaining Certificate tranches have fared no better since 100% of the $27 billion of
Certificates at issue herein have been downgraded to speculative or “junk” status. Furthermore,
all of the Certificates rated in the Aa and A range by Moody’s at issuance have been downgraded
to CC and below – from “very high grade” and “upper medium” securities to “extremely
speculative” junk bonds. This historic and dramatic reversal in the financial assessment of the
Certificates by the Rating Agencies underscores that these securities were defective from the
outset.
66. HFN was a principal originator for all 41 Offerings subject to this action. HFN
was an indirect subsidiary of GMAC and a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of RCC. HFN was
founded in 1995 after RCC was purchased by GMAC, and has since served as RCC’s primary
wholesale lender.
67. Following issuance of the Certificates, disclosures began to emerge which further
reflected HFN’s systemic disregard for the underwriting guidelines set forth in the Offering
Documents, its practices and policies of favoring riskier, fee-driven mortgage lending including
sub-prime, Alt-A and option-ARM (hybrid adjustable rate or negative amortization) mortgage
loans and inflating revenue via hidden prepayment penalties and fees.
30
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 34 of 81
investigation into HFN’s policies and practices after an FTC staff review of HFN’s mortgage
loan data report pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 2801-2810,
indicated that African American and Hispanic borrowers paid more for mortgage loans than non-
Hispanic Whites. According to a letter from the FTC to HFN’s counsel, the investigation
focused on whether the underwriting risk and the credit characteristics of the borrowers justified
69. Before the FTC could complete its investigation, on September 3, 2009, RCC
announced that it was shutting its wholesale mortgage origination operations, thereby closing
down HFN, as well as its retail operations, GMAC Mortgage, LLC (“GMACM”). In a January
22, 2009 FTC letter closing the investigation, the FTC explained:
31
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 35 of 81
company of Homecomings, filed a 10-Q Quarterly report for the third quarter of
2008 for ResCap and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Homecomings
(collectively, the “Company”), which states that the ability of the Company to
continue as a going concern is in substantial doubt. The 10-Q further notes that
the Company is heavily dependent on its own indirect parent, GMAC, LLC, for
funding and capital support and that there can be no assurance that such support
will continue. Because of these developments and based on additional
information provided by the Company regarding its financial status, the staff has
closed the investigation. However, the staff will continue to monitor future
developments concerning Homecomings, including whether GMAC’s recent
conversion to a bank holding company and its receipt of financial assistance from
the U.S. Department of the Treasury, may affect Homecomings’ operating and
financial status. If warranted by materially changed circumstances, the staff will
take appropriate action, including the reopening of this investigation.
70. In a March 5, 2009 article titled “Shaky Loans May Spur New Foreclosure
Wave,” the Portland Tribune recounted the events leading up to the massive failures throughout
“In order to keep your market share, you had to be more aggressive,” said Tim
Boyd, who sold subprime loans in the Portland area for six years and then Alt A
loans for seven years for Homecomings Financial.
“The main focus was doing Alt A because that’s where the money was,” said
Boyd, who left the industry. A loan officer arranging a $300,000 Option ARM
loan could collect $10,500 in fees, he said.
Lenders could unload shaky loans by selling them to investors, who often resold
them in what amounted to a worldwide game of financial musical chairs. Wall
Street’s insatiable appetite for more loans kept the pipeline filled, even if the deals
weren’t always sound.
“The V.P.s came down to the office beating the drums about Option ARMs,”
urging mortgage brokers to sell them to customers, Ridge said. “I had Wachovia
march through there; I had GMAC.”
* * *
He said he knows of loan officers who’d tell title agents to keep quiet about
Option ARM loan provisions during document-signing time.
“They’d tell the title officer, ‘Don’t go over this; just glean through it quickly and
get the thing signed.’”
32
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 36 of 81
Tim Boyd said he drew the line at selling Option ARMs because he saw how that
could get people into trouble. “It made me sick,” he said.
71. In late 2002, the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office began an investigation
into predatory lending practices of HFN and another subprime mortgage lender, Fairbanks
Capital Corp (“Fairbanks”). The investigation led to a June 25, 2005 settlement between the
WVAG, Fairbanks and HFN, pursuant to which Fairbanks and HFN agreed to pay $773,000 in
restitution, account credits and refunds for approximately 2,300 West Virginia consumers who
had been charged unlawful fees and who lost their homes through “questionable foreclosures.”
Magazine described HFN’s lending policies as using outrageous pre-payment penalties to keep
borrowers stuck in pay-option ARM loans and their using “fine-print” in contracts to hide
disclosures:
Gordon Burger is among the first wave of option ARM casualties. The 42-year-
old police officer from a suburb of Sacramento, Calif., is stuck in a new mortgage
that’s making him poorer by the month. Burger, a solid earner with clean credit,
has bought and sold several houses in the past. In February he got a flyer from a
broker advertising an interest rate of 2.2%. It was an unbeatable opportunity, he
thought. If he refinanced the mortgage on his $500,000 home into an option
ARM, he could save $14,000 in interest payments over three years. Burger
quickly pulled the trigger, switching out of his 5.1% fixed-rate loan. “The
payment schedule looked like what we talked about, so I just started signing
away,” says Burger. He didn’t read the fine print.
After two months Burger noticed that the minimum payment of $1,697 was
actually adding $1,000 to his balance every month. “I’m not making any ground
on this house; it’s a loss every month,” he says. He says he was told by his
lender, Minneapolis-based Homecoming Financial, a unit of Residential
Capital, the nation’s fifth-largest mortgage shop, that he’d have to pay more
than $10,000 in prepayment penalties to refinance out of the loan. If he’s
unhappy, he should take it up with his broker, the bank said. “They know
they’re selling crap, and they’re doing it in a way that’s very deceiving,” he
says. “Unfortunately, I got sucked into it.” In a written statement, Residential
said it couldn’t comment on Burger’s loan but that “each mortgage is designed to
meet the specific financial needs of a consumer.”
33
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 37 of 81
(Emphasis added).
73. The Registration Statement provided that the loan underwriting guidelines used to
originate the loan collateral is as specifically set forth in each of the Prospectus Supplements.
(¶¶ 133-158). The Prospectus Supplements provide that the mortgage loans underlying the
Certificates were originated pursuant to RFC’s stated underwriting guidelines adhered to by HFN
inadequate due diligence with respect to whether Residential Capital and HFN complied with the
75. Very little if any due diligence was actually conducted by the Underwriter
Defendants themselves. The Underwriter Defendants contracted with external firms to review
whether the loans included in MBS that they underwrote were in compliance with the loan
originators’ represented standards. Residential Capital was a noted client of Clayton Holdings,
Inc. (“Clayton”) and Bohan Group LLC (“Bohan”), among other due diligence firms.
76. In June 2007, the NYAG subpoenaed documents from Clayton and Bohan related
to their due diligence efforts on behalf of the investment banks, such as Residential Capital, that
and the SEC (all of which also subpoenaed documents) have investigated whether investment
banks held back information they should have provided in the disclosure documents related to
34
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 38 of 81
77. In a January 12, 2008 article titled “Inquiry Focuses on Withholding of Data on
An investigation into the mortgage crisis by New York State prosecutors is now
focusing on whether Wall Street banks withheld crucial information about the
risks posed by investments linked to subprime loans.
Reports commissioned by the banks raised red flags about high-risk loans known
as exceptions, which failed to meet even the lax credit standards of subprime
mortgage companies and the Wall Street firms. But the banks did not disclose the
details of these reports to credit-rating agencies or investors.
The inquiry, which was opened last summer by New York’s attorney general,
Andrew M. Cuomo, centers on how the banks bundled billions of dollars of
exception loans and other subprime debt into complex mortgage investments,
according to people with knowledge of the matter. Charges could be filed in
coming weeks.
* * *
The inquiries highlight Wall Street’s leading role in igniting the mortgage boom
that has imploded with a burst of defaults and foreclosures. The crisis is sending
shock waves through the financial world, and several big banks are expected to
disclose additional losses on mortgage-related investments when they report
earnings next week.
As plunging home prices prompt talk of a recession, state prosecutors have zeroed
in on the way investment banks handled exception loans. In recent years, lenders,
with Wall Street’s blessing, routinely waived their own credit guidelines, and the
exceptions often became the rule.
Wall Street banks bought many of the exception loans from subprime lenders,
mixed them with other mortgages and pooled the resulting debt into securities for
sale to investors around the world.
* * *
35
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 39 of 81
* * *
To vet mortgages, Wall Street underwriters hired outside due diligence firms to
scrutinize loan documents for exceptions, errors and violations of lending laws.
But Jay H. Meadows, the chief executive of Rapid Reporting, a firm based in Fort
Worth that verifies borrowers’ incomes for mortgage companies, said lenders and
investment banks routinely ignored concerns raised by these consultants,
“Common sense was sacrificed on the altar of materialism,” Mr. Meadows said,
“We stopped checking.”
78. On January 27, 2008, Clayton revealed that it had entered into an agreement with
the NYAG for immunity from civil and criminal prosecution in the State of New York in
exchange for agreeing to provide additional documents and testimony regarding its due diligence
reports, including copies of the actual reports provided to its clients. On the same day, both the
New York Times (Anderson, J. and Bajaj, V., “Reviewer of Subprime Loans Agrees to Aid
Inquiry of Banks,” Jan. 27, 2008), and the Wall Street Journal ran articles describing the nature
of the NYAG’s investigation and Clayton’s testimony. The Wall Street Journal reported that the
NYAG’s investigation is focused on “the broad language written in prospectuses about the risky
nature of these securities changed little in recent years, even as due diligence reports noted that
the number of exception loans backing the securities was rising.” According to the New York
Times article, Clayton told the NYAG “that starting in 2005, it saw a significant deterioration of
lending standards and a parallel jump in lending expectations” and “some investment banks
36
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 40 of 81
79. A March 23, 2008 Los Angeles Times article reported that Clayton and Bohan
employees “raised plenty of red flags about flaws [in subprime home loans] so serious that
mortgages should have been rejected outright – such as borrowers’ incomes that seemed inflated
or documents that looked fake – but the problems were glossed over, ignored or stricken from
reports” as follows:
The reviewers’ role was just one of several safeguards – including home
appraisals, lending standards and ratings on mortgage-backed bonds – that were
built into the country’s mortgage-financing system.
But in the chain of brokers, lenders and investment banks that transformed
mortgages into securities sold worldwide, no one seemed to care about loans that
looked bad from the start. Yet profit abounded until defaults spawned hundreds
of billions of dollars in losses on mortgage-backed securities.
“The investors were paying us big money to filter this business,” said loan
checker Cesar Valenz. “It’s like with water. If you don’t filter it, it’s dangerous.
And it didn’t get filtered.”
As foreclosures mount and home prices skid, the loan-review function, known as
“due diligence,” is gaining attention.
The FBI is conducting more than a dozen investigations into whether companies
along the financing chain concealed problems with mortgages. And a presidential
working group has blamed the subprime debacle in part on a lack of due diligence
by investment banks, rating outfits and mortgage-bond buyers.
The Los Angeles Times, “Subprime Watchdogs Ignored,” March 23, 2008.
80. Moreover, while underwriters would have sought to have Clayton review 25% to
40% of loans in a pool that was going to be securitized earlier in the decade, by 2006 the typical
percentage of loans reviewed for due diligence purposes was just 5-7%. Bohan’s President,
Mark Bohan, stated that “[b]y contrast [to investment banks in RMBS deals], buyers who kept
the mortgages as an investment instead of packaging them into securities would have 50% to
37
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 41 of 81
81. The limited discovery done in this action to date confirms that the due diligence
of the Offerings was inadequate; but even the limited activities that were performed provided the
warranting disclosure to investors at the very least – the mortgage loan collateral did not comply
with the underwriting guidelines purportedly relied upon to originate the loans.
82. Prior to each Offering, Defendants engaged third-party due diligence firms such
as Clayton, Bohan, Office Tiger Global Real Estate Services (“Tiger”), and Opus Capital
Markets Consultants, LLC (“Opus”) to examine a sample number of loans comparing the
contents of the loan file to the applicable underwriting guidelines for that loan. These firms
assigned a “1” designation to loans that were fully compliant with the guidelines; a “2”
designation to loans that were deficient but still compliant because of compensating factors; and
a “3” designation to loans that were materially non-compliant. A finding that 2-3% of the loans
were non-compliant category “3” loans was deemed acceptable. An internal email produced by
Defendants in this litigation confirmed that the “normal level of declines [i.e., “3” loans] was
2%-3%.” Unbeknownst to investors, however, the level of “3” loans in the reunderwriting of
sample loans in connection with the Offerings was consistently and exponentially higher than 2-
3%. The principal purpose of the sampling done by third-party due diligence firms was to
83. Upon receipt of adverse reunderwriting results Defendants failed to either halt the
Offering until it could be determined whether adverse results existed throughout the entire
38
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 42 of 81
mortgage loan pool or, if the investment bank wished to proceed with the Offering, to disclose
the adverse results to the Rating Agencies and to investors in the Prospectus Supplement.
84.
85.
86.
39
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 43 of 81
various MBS, downgrades of such MBS and potential downgrades of additional MBS in the
future, and the resulting illiquidity in the credit markets, the President of the United States
commissioned the Secretary of the Treasury, the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading
“PWG”) to investigate the causes of the market turmoil. After a seven-month investigation, the
PWG issued its report on March 13, 2008. The PWG found as follows:
(Emphasis added).
88. Further, as noted, relatively soon after issuance, the delinquency and foreclosure
rates of the Certificate collateral began to increase. This performance was an indication to S&P
of pervasive underwriting failures in the origination of the collateral which ultimately led to
widespread and deep downgrades of most of the Certificate classes. On or about July 10, 2007,
S&P publicly announced it was revising the methodologies used to rate numerous MBS
certificates because the performance of the underlying collateral “called into question” the
accuracy of the loan data. This announcement triggered several governmental investigations
40
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 44 of 81
89. S&P announced that it was revising its methodology assumption to require
increased “credit protection” for rated transactions. S&P reiterated that it would also seek in the
future to review and minimize the incidence of potential underwriting abuse given “the level of
90. One day later, on July 11, 2007, Moody’s announced it was also revising its
methodology used to rate the Certificates, and anticipated Certificate downgrades in the future.
Moody’s did in fact significantly downgrade most of the Certificate classes, noting “aggressive
91. Further, as set forth more fully below, disclosures emerged well after the issuance
of the Certificates with respect to each of the Originators which further evidenced that they had
engaged in loan underwriting practices which were wholly inconsistent with the guidelines set
92. Each of the Underwriter Defendants maintained operations through which they
conducted issuance and sale to investors of massive quantities of MBS in 2005 and through
2007. These securities were collateralized with sub-prime and Alt-A mortgage loans originated
under conditions which failed to comply with stated mortgage loan underwriting guidelines. As
Defendants eventually were forced to write-down a significant portion of the value of their
mortgage-related securities holdings, have been and continue to be subject to Federal and State
41
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 45 of 81
investigations and in some cases, have been forced into bankruptcy from the resultant mortgage-
related losses.
93. As set forth in detail above, Ally Securities is a registered broker-dealer engaged
at all relevant times in the business of underwriting and selling securitized MBS to institutional
investors. Ally Securities is an affiliate of Ally Bank. According to the RCC (referred to at
times as “ResCap”) website, Ally Securities was one of the first mortgage conduits in the U.S. to
focus on buying and securitizing single-family, jumbo mortgages, loans with balances above the
94. In 2005, GMAC-RFC was ranked as the fifth largest non-agency MBS issuer with
$56.93 billion in volume, a 4.8% increase over its 2004 level of $42.336 billion. In 2006,
GMAC-RFC was rated by IMF as the eighth largest mortgage securities producer, with $66.24
billion in mortgage securities volume and a 3.2% market share. Of that $66.24 billion, $64.229
95. On July 30, 2007, GMAC and RCC both announced losses as a result of their
residential mortgage business. GMAC’s net income fell to $293 million from $787 million a
year earlier. RCC had a loss of $254 million, compared with a profit of $548 million a year
96. To make matters worse, as reported by Reuters on July 31, 2008, GMAC posted a
$2.48 billion second quarter loss as a result of write-downs and mounting losses at its mortgage
lending unit.
97. On February 22, 2008, as reported by Forbes Magazine, S&P announced that it
42
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 46 of 81
GMAC and its Residential Capital mortgage unit were cut several notches deeper
into junk status by Standard & Poor’s, which said mounting mortgage losses
might require new capital injections from General Motors and Cerberus Capital
Management.
98. On March 29, 2008, Forbes announced “GMAC had reported a heavy first-
GMAC’s loss increased to $589.0 million from $305.0 million a year earlier. The
dent included an $859.0 million loss at its subsidiary Residential Capital. It was
the mortgage unit’s sixth consecutive quarterly loss, though the amount lost fell
from $910.0 million last year.
99. On December 24, 2008, as reported by Reuters, GMAC was forced to seek federal
approval to become a bank holding company, giving it access to government lending programs
and helping it stave off bankruptcy. As reported by the New York Times, the U.S. Department of
the Treasury invested $5 billion in GMAC LLC on December 29, 2008 from its Troubled Assets
Relief Program. At the same time, the federal government gave GM $1 billion so that the
company could support GMAC LLC and invest in its financing arm. On May 21, 2009,
according to the Detroit News, the U.S. Department of the Treasury became a majority stake
holder in GMAC LLC when it invested an additional $7.5 billion in the company, aiming to
support the struggling lender and improve its ability to make loans. On December 30, 2009, as
reported by the New York Times, the U.S. Department of the Treasury invested an additional $3.8
billion in GMAC LLC, raising the government’s total direct investment in the company to $16.3
billion. Including the $1 billion given to GM to support GMAC LLC, the government’s support
of GMAC LLC totaled $17.3 billion. According to Bloomberg News, on May 10, 2010, GMAC,
43
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 47 of 81
100. As alleged herein, Ally Securities failed to conduct proper due diligence and
perform necessary oversight functions in the underwriting, securitization and preparation of the
2. Defendant GSC
101. Defendant GSC is an investment banking firm that through its various
services. As an investment bank, GSC is an underwriter of a wide range of securities and other
Report, GSC’s investment banking revenue skyrocketed from $3.67 billion in 2005, to $5.629
billion in 2006 and $3.671 billion in 2007. In fact, On March 5, 2005, Bloomberg News labeled
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. the world’s most profitable securities firm. In that year, GSC was
102. In 2005, IMF ranked GSC as the ninth largest non-agency MBS issuer and the
sixth largest non-agency MBS underwriter with $38.772 billion and $69.432 billion in volume,
respectively. A year later, GSC was ranked the twelfth largest mortgage securities producer with
$47.5 billion in volume. In 2007, as reported by IMF, GSC issued $3.78 billion in subprime
securities alone and ranked seventh among the largest prime and alt-A underwriters with $28.224
billion in volume.
103. GSC made most of its record profits during this time by betting against the U.S.
mortgage market. On December 15, 2007, the British newspaper, The Times, reported that while
key rivals were losing millions on investments, GSC had raked in over $4 billion by betting on
44
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 48 of 81
They believed that mortgage lending criteria had become so lax that a jump in
defaults on high-risk home loans was inevitable and would drag down the value
of the bonds that they backed.
104. However, GSC’s underwriting practices were as suspect as the rest of the
industry. On January 11, 2007, CNN reported that the City of Cleveland had filed suit against
GSC and twenty other financial institutions alleging that the banks had caused the sub-prime
crisis by creating a process of offering and securitizing loans given to borrowers who could not
afford them.
105. On January 30, 2008, the FBI and SEC launched a joint investigation into 14
investment banks, loan providers and developers as part of a crackdown focusing on the
subprime mortgage crisis. As reported that same day by the Daily Telegraph, GSC confirmed its
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two of Wall Street’s largest investment
banks, have confirmed for the first time that they are embroiled in investigations
into the U.S. sub-prime mortgage collapse.
In its annual report for the year to November 30, Goldman said it had “received
requests for information from various governmental agencies and self-regulatory
organizations relating to sub-prime mortgages, and securitizations, collateralized
debt obligations and synthetic products related to sub-prime mortgages.”
106. BusinessWire reported on March 18, 2008 that GSC’s February 2008 quarterly
report disclosed a 40% drop in underwriting revenues for the investment bank. GSC attributed
into the securitization of subprime loans. The investigation focused on the industry practices
45
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 49 of 81
108. On May 11, 2009, it was reported by both the New York Times and Wall Street
Journal that GSC had agreed to provide $50 million in relief to Massachusetts sub-prime
mortgage holders and pay an additional $10 million to the state to end the investigation into the
At a news conference, [the Massachusetts AG] said that the problem was
industry-wide and that the Goldman settlement would provide “much needed
relief for many in Massachusetts.” Even so, she also criticized what she called
predatory lending that was encouraged by Wall Street firms that bought individual
subprime mortgages and repackaged them into securitized loans for investors.
109. On December 16, 2008, as reported by the New York Times, GSC was forced to
take its first quarterly loss, $2.12 billion, since going public in 1999.
110. A detailed complaint for violations of the federal securities laws was filed against
GSC on February 6, 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Public Employee’s Retirement Sys. of Miss. v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., No. 09-1110.
According to the GSC Class Action Complaint (the “GSC Complaint” or the “GSC Compl.”).
46
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 50 of 81
spread of exotic loans that are now defaulting and foreclosing in record numbers.
(GSC Compl., ¶ 86).
111. As alleged herein, GSC failed to conduct proper due diligence and perform
necessary oversight functions in the underwriting, securitization and preparation of the Offering
3. Defendant DBS
112. Defendant DBS serves as the U.S. investment banking and securities arm of
German Deutsche Bank AG. DBS was founded in 1973 as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG.
DBS is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and is a member of NASD and the New York Stock
Exchange.
113. In 2005, DBS was ranked twenty-second in non-agency MBS issuers by IMF,
issuing more than $17 billion. Moreover, in that same year, DBS was ranked eighth among non-
agency MBS underwriters with $7.05 billion in volume. This was a drastic increase from its
2004 underwriting volume of $29.9 billion. In 2006, DBS climbed two spots among non-agency
MBS underwriters with $72.765 billion. In that same year, IMF ranked DBS and its $25.328
billion in volume as the twenty-first largest mortgage securities producer and the sixth largest
home equity loan security underwriter with $29.46 billion in volume. In 2007, DBS underwrote
$11.94 billion and ranked eighth among the top subprime MBS underwriters.
114. On October 3, 2007, the New York Times reported that DBS expected to write
down $3.1 billion in loans and mortgage-backed assets. On July 31, 2008, as reported by
47
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 51 of 81
Reuters, Deutsche Bank AG announced another $3.6 billion in write-downs primarily due to
DBS’ over exposure to U.S. residential MBS. The July 2008 write-down brought DBS’s total
115. On June 27, 2008 a lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New
York alleging violations of federal securities law against DBS. Massachusetts Bricklayers and
Masons Trust Fund v. Deutsche Alt-A Securities, Inc., No. 08-CV-3178(LDW) (removed to the
Eastern District of New York on August 5, 2008) (the “Bricklayers Complaint” or “Bricklayers
Compl.”). The Bricklayers Complaint alleges that DBS, as underwriter of the mortgage-backed
certificates, failed to perform adequate due diligence on the mortgage loans of DBS including in
116. On March 20, 2009, another lawsuit, this time against Deutsche Bank AG, was
filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that the Bank, its
subsidiaries and its officers violated the Securities Act by issuing false and misleading
al., No. 09-CV-2556 (the “Kaess Complaint” or “Kaess Compl.”). The Kaess Complaint
alleged, inter alia, that Deutsche Bank AG, with respect to its mortgage-related securities:
117. As alleged herein, DBS failed to conduct proper due diligence and perform
necessary oversight functions in the underwriting, securitization and preparation of the Offering
48
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 52 of 81
4. Defendant CITI
118. Defendant Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (“CITI”) is the registered broker-dealer
of the global banking giant Citigroup, Inc. (“Citigroup”). As one of the top underwriters of MBS
in the last five-years, Citigroup has been one of the major contributors to the collapse of the U.S.
sub-prime mortgage market and the current economic crisis. In 2005, CITI was ranked by IMF
as the seventh largest MBS issuer having issued $68.305 billion in MBS. In that same year, CITI
issued 17.9 billion of non-agency MBS alone. In 2006, CITI issued $20 billion of non-agency
MBS, and was ranked as the sixth largest producer of MBS with a volume of $71.782 billion.
119. On January 15, 2008 Citigroup reported its greatest loss in its 196-year history as
it wrote off $18.1 billion and announced $9.8 billion in sub-prime related losses for the fourth
quarter. On April 18, 2008 Citigroup declared another write-down of an additional $15.2 billion.
120. On March 7, 2008 the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
subpoenaed CITI’s former CEO, Charles Prince, seeking information regarding CITI’s role in
the MBS financial meltdown. According to a March 7, 2009 article in the New York Times:
Under Mr. Prince, Citigroup charged aggressively into the trading of mortgage-
backed securities that were the hot product on Wall Street at the time. As late as
the summer of 2007, as evidence mounted of a collapse in the housing market,
Mr. Prince declared that the bank was “still dancing.”
Not much later, the music ended, and Mr. Prince was out in November of that
year as the bank posted a $5.9 billion loss.
That turned out to be the first of many. On Jan. 16, 2009, Citigroup announced an
$8.29 billion fourth-quarter loss, bringing its total losses for 2008 to $27.7 billion,
among the largest in corporate history.
121. On November 5, 2008, a class action complaint for violations of the federal
securities laws was filed against CITI in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York, alleging that, inter alia, in certain public offering documents, CITI materially understated
49
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 53 of 81
loss reserves for the Company’s $213 billion portfolio of residential mortgage loans. In re
Citigroup Bond Litigation, No. 08-CV-9522 (“CITI Complaint” or “CITI Compl”). The CITI
Many of these mortgages carried a high risk of default because they were made to
borrowers who did not document their income or who possessed especially low
credit scores, or because the loans were drawn against the equity value of a
property at a time when housing prices were declining precipitously. While
accounting rules required Citigroup to take reserves based on losses that were
“likely” to occur, the Company allowed its reserves to track – and at times to be
less than – the amount of loans that had already defaulted. Further, despite the
Company’s rapidly expanding portfolio of particularly risky loans, coupled with
the collapse of the housing market, Citigroup reduced its allowance for loan
losses as a percentage of total loans in 2006 and 2007.
CITI Compl., at ¶ 8.
122. In the latter part of 2008, in order to remain viable, CITI received $52 billion in
cash from the Government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) and handed over 36% of
123. As alleged herein, CITI failed to conduct proper due diligence and perform
necessary oversight functions in the underwriting, securitization and preparation of the Offering
5. Defendant UBS
broker-dealer which engages in investment banking activities around the world, including
underwriting, financing and asset management. In 2005, as reported by IMF, UBS issued $12.75
billion of MBS and was the seventh largest underwriter of non-agency MBS ($58.536 billion).
The following year, UBS broke into the top 25 non-agency issuers, issuing $12.752 billion of
MBS, and was the thirty-fifth largest MBS producer, producing $12.847 billion of MBS. In
50
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 54 of 81
125. In 2005, according to its Annual Audit Report filed with the SEC, UBS ended the
year with $127 billion in total assets – $26 billion of which were mortgage-backed obligations.
Furthermore, in 2006, according to its Annual Audit Report, UBS’ assets at year-end totaled
$153 billion, of which over $36 billion were in the form of mortgage-backed obligations. And in
2007, the investment bank’s assets totaled $156 billion with $33.5 billion in the form of
mortgage-backed obligations.
126. By 2008, however, the one-time massive global investment bank now valued its
mortgage-backed obligations at only $8 billion and reported total assets of only $54 billion – a
76% decline in total mortgage-backed obligations and a 65% decline in total assets as compared
to 2007.
127. In December 2007, UBS issued a profit warning, expecting write downs related to
sub-prime mortgage losses and estimating the figure to reach upwards of $10 billion.
128. In January 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported that due to massive exposure to
the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, UBS was forced to take substantial write-downs
UBS, the world’s largest wealth manager, announced the need to write down
another $4 in subprime-related losses. This new write-down brings the total for
UBS subprime losses to over $18.4 billion. Subprime-related losses pushed the
company to its worst year of performance in its institutional history.”
129. UBS has written off nearly $38 billion since the subprime crisis began, over $18
130. In April 2008, a New York Times article reported that “UBS, which has written off
more debt from the sub-prime crisis than any other bank, conceded in a report on Monday that a
blind drive for revenue led it to take more risks than it should have.”
51
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 55 of 81
131. The Wall Street Journal reported on February 2, 2008 that a federal criminal
investigation of UBS had been commenced, focusing on practices of misleading investors about
An SEC probe into similar “mismarking” issues surrounding the bank’s massive
holdings of mortgage securities. The SEC case has recently been upgraded to a
formal investigation.
132. As alleged herein, UBS failed to conduct proper due diligence and perform
necessary oversight functions in the underwriting, securitization and preparation of the Offering
V.
133. The Registration Statements informed investors that each originator will have
The depositor expects that the originator of each of the mortgage loans will have
applied, consistent with applicable federal and state laws and regulations,
underwriting procedures intended to evaluate the borrower’s credit standing and
repayment ability and/or the value and adequacy of the related property as
collateral.
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 12;
cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007, at
18.
134. Omitted Information: This statement failed to disclose that the originators made
little or no attempt to evaluate the borrowers’ credit standing and repayment ability. As has
52
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 56 of 81
emerged, all of the originators loosened or totally disregarded their stated underwriting
guidelines in an effort to increase origination volume. This statement also failed to disclose that,
when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date (from their inadequate due diligence) that a
material percentage of the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants
would go forward with the Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating
135. The Registration Statements each set forth the underwriting guidelines applied in
the origination of the mortgage loan collateral underlying the Certificates.8 In terms of the
“General Standards” applicable to the origination process, the Registration Statements state, in
part:
8
Both Registration Statements and the Prospectus Supplements for Offerings in which the underlying
collateral was originated by Residential Capital’s own HFN include the identical language describing the
Originator’s “Underwriting Guidelines” and refer specifically to “The Program.”
53
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 57 of 81
history and income profile is undertaken by the originator and the underwriting
may be based primarily or entirely on an appraisal of the mortgaged property
and the LTV ratio at origination.
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 12-
13; cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007,
at 18.
streamlined or other “less than full-documentation” programs were referred to as “liar loans”
which were much riskier than suggested by the Prospectus Supplements. Specifically,
Residential Capital took the information on the borrower application as true, performing little if
any review of the underlying documentation, if any such documentation was required. The
below) did not have the ability to verify information entered into it by Residential Capital or
directly by correspondent lenders, and only reviewed the information it was programmed to
review. Because little if any verification was required, borrower and mortgage broker fraud – or
“lies” – were common in these types of applications and ignored by Residential Capital. This
statement also failed to disclose that, when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date that a
material percentage of the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants
would go forward with the Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating
137. The Registration Statements then set forth the process of review by the
Sponsor/Seller, Defendant RFC, in determining whether or not the mortgage was originated in-
54
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 58 of 81
standards and to assess the likelihood of repayment of the mortgage loan from the
various sources for such repayment, including the mortgagor, the mortgaged
property, and primary mortgage insurance, if any. Such underwriting reviews will
generally not be conducted with respect to any individual mortgage pool related to
a series of certificates.
* * *
* * *
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 14-
-16; cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3,
2007, at 19-22.
138. Omitted Information: The above statement was misleading and omitted
information regarding the level of scrutiny with which RFC and HFN examined the collateral
and conducted due diligence. As set forth above, Residential Capital, and RFC and HFN
specifically, were more concerned with “pushing loans through” and increasing fees and profits
from MBS securitizations than kicking-back loans to correspondent lenders. Moreover, the
sample size of the loans that Residential Capital did review was just a small percentage of the
loans it acquired from HFN and correspondent lenders, from which only extreme outliers which
fell outside acceptable parameters were dropped. Regardless, Residential Capital farmed out
55
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 59 of 81
most of the “review” of the mortgage loan collateral to third-party firms, including Bohan and
Clayton, which have publicly disclosed the severe deficiencies in the standards applied in
underwriting and securitizing mortgage loan collateral throughout the relevant time period. This
statement also failed to disclose that, when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date that a
material percentage of the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants
would go forward with the Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating
139. Furthermore, the Registration Statements set forth borrower documentation and
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 15-
16; cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007,
at 21.
lenders to push certain types of mortgage loans, such as hybrid option-ARM loans, also referred
to as Negative Amortization loans (see supra), historically reserved for only those borrowers
56
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 60 of 81
with outstanding credit history and sufficient income. These hybrid loan products allowed
borrowers to “pick-a-payment” for an initial period of one to five years, with the difference
between what was owed and what was paid then added on to the outstanding loan amount. In an
attempt to increase the amount of loans originated, the Originators failed to disclose to borrowers
that once the outstanding loan amount reached a certain level, i.e., 110% of original balance, the
“pick-a-payment” period ended, and borrowers would be required to make monthly payments of
an even larger outstanding amount at an adjusted, and significantly higher, interest rate. As such,
HFN buried or completely omitted information regarding the option-ARM caps and rate
adjustments when originating these types of loans for sub-prime or otherwise unqualified
borrowers in order to increase the volume of origination of these types of loans. This statement
also failed to disclose that, when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date that a material
percentage of the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants would go
forward with the Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating Agencies,
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 16;
cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007, at
21.
142. Omitted Information: As set forth herein in detail, Residential Capital failed to
adhere to these criteria because loans were continuously approved for borrowers with bad credit,
57
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 61 of 81
high LTV or no verifiable employment whatsoever. The public disclosures of late have revealed
that mortgage lenders throughout the country engaged in fraudulent activities in order to obtain
mortgages for borrowers and the fees obtained as payment – HFN being no exception. This
statement also failed to disclose that, when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date that a
material percentage of the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants
would go forward with the Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating
143. The Registration Statements also explained that Residential Capital, in reviewing
which reviewed “most” of the information contained in borrower applications for determinations
58
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 62 of 81
In other cases, the mortgage collateral seller enters the information directly into
the automated underwriting system. Mortgage loans that have been approved
by the automated underwriting system, and submitted to Residential Funding
Corporation for purchase may be reviewed to verify that the information
entered by the mortgage collateral seller accurately reflects information
contained in the underwriting documentation. For most mortgage collateral
sellers, Residential Funding Corporation will verify the accuracy of the
information with respect to a sample of that mortgage collateral seller’s mortgage
loans.
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at 17;
cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007, at
22-23.
144. Omitted Information: The above statements were misleading and omitted
verification of the information in the mortgage application. Residential Capital’s need for non-
conforming mortgage loans in a competitive market caused it to forego any substantial review of
the validity of mortgage loan applications and borrower information. This statement also failed
to disclose that, when Defendants learned prior to the Offering date that a material percentage of
the mortgage loans failed to comply with the guidelines, Defendants would go forward with the
Offering without curing this problem or disclosing it to the Rating Agencies, investors, or the
public.
145. The underlying loan collateral for all of the Issuing Trusts (¶¶ 29-30) was
principally originated by HFN. As set forth above, HFN is a Delaware corporation and wholly-
owned subsidiary of RFC, which, in turn, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Defendant RCC. For
59
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 63 of 81
example, the Prospectus Supplement for the 2006-QO7 Certificates claims that “all of the
mortgage loans in the mortgage pools were originated in accordance with the underwriting
criteria of Residential Funding described under The Program in this Prospectus Supplement.”
RALI Series 2006-QO7 Prospectus Supplement, Form 424B5, filed September 29, 2006, at S-58.
This same statement was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the Offerings.
146. Moreover, the Prospectus Supplements all state that the underwriting guidelines,
or “The Program,” was “administered by Residential Funding on behalf of” RALI, the Depositor.
Id., at S-56.
147. The Prospectus Supplements each similarly described the RFC underwriting
guidelines, supposedly adhered to by HFN in originating the underlying mortgage loan collateral.
For example, the Prospectus Supplement for the 2007-QO4 Offering stated:
Id., at S-54. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the
Offerings.
148. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that in the origination
loan – was largely disregarded. Specifically, these statements failed to disclose that, prior to the
Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the Offerings
demonstrated material noncompliance with these underwriting standards, but Defendants did not
60
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 64 of 81
disclose this information to the Rating Agencies, investors, and the public. Furthermore,
beginning in 2006, RCC, specifically RFC and HFN, began abandoning prudent lending
standards in order to “push more loans through the system.” The company’s approach was to
originate enough loans so that they could outrun their own delinquency rates and raise capital
after GMAC’s credit rating was revised to the lowest possible grade in late 2005, hindering
GMAC and RCC’s access to credit markets and long-term capital. The lax controls led to the
substantial increase of low-quality mortgage loans as more stress was placed on loan quantity at
Based on the data provided in the application and certain verifications, if required,
a determination is made by the original lender that the mortgagor’s monthly
income, if required to be stated, will be sufficient to enable the mortgagor to meet
its monthly obligations on the mortgage loan and other expenses related to the
property, including property taxes, utility costs, standard hazard insurance and
other fixed obligations.
Id., at S-54. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the
Offerings.
150. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that loan origination
guidelines were largely disregarded. Specifically, these statements failed to disclose that, prior
to the Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the
Offerings demonstrated material noncompliance with these underwriting standards, but did not
disclose this information to the Rating Agencies, investors, and the public. In fact, HFN did not
verify the income of borrowers as represented, and was extremely liberal with terms even to
borrowers with low credit scores. Over time, HFN became heavily focused on pushing Option-
ARM and hybrid products to borrowers who could otherwise not qualify for a mortgage loan.
61
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 65 of 81
Moreover, HFN’s correspondent loans routinely included hidden fees and charges to borrowers
Id., at S-55. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the
Offerings.
152. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that loan origination
guidelines were largely disregarded. Specifically, these statements failed to disclose that, prior
to the Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the
Offerings demonstrated material noncompliance with these underwriting standards, but did not
disclose this information to the Rating Agencies, investors, and the public.
Prior to assigning the mortgage loans to the depositor, Residential Funding will
have reviewed the underwriting information provided by the mortgage collateral
sellers for the mortgage loans and, in those cases, determined that the mortgage
loans were generally originated in accordance with or in a manner generally
consistent with the underwriting standards described in the Seller Guide. With
regard to a material portion of these mortgage loans, this review of underwriting
information by Residential Funding was performed using an automated
underwriting system. Any determination described above using an automated
underwriting system will only be based on the information entered into the system
and the information the system is programmed to review.
62
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 66 of 81
Id. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the Offerings.
154. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that loan origination
guidelines were largely disregarded. Specifically, these statements failed to disclose that, prior
to the Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the
Offerings demonstrated material noncompliance with these underwriting standards, but did not
disclose this information to the Rating Agencies, investors, and the public. Further, as set forth
herein, the above statements were misleading and omitted information relating to Residential
Capital’s lack of incentive to perform any review or verification of the information in the
competitive market caused it to forego any substantial review of the validity of mortgage loan
Id., at S-58. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the
Offerings.
156. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that loan origination
guidelines were largely disregarded. Specifically, these statements failed to disclose that, prior
to the Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the
Offerings demonstrated material noncompliance with these underwriting standards, but did not
disclose this information to the Rating Agencies, investors, and the public. Further, exceptions
to guidelines were granted in many circumstances – not only where compensating factors existed
63
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 67 of 81
or substantial compliance was satisfied. The exceptions were granted when the borrower could
not qualify for a mortgage loan. A substantial portion of the loans originated pursuant to the
HFN/RFC Program underwriting guidelines were approved and submitted by mortgage brokers
and correspondent lenders throughout the country. Thereafter, as set forth above, the loans
would be evaluated using a computerized system which could not exercise any degree of realistic
control over the truthfulness of the borrower information contained in mortgage applications.
following:
The depositor and Residential Funding will make certain limited representations
and warranties regarding the mortgage loans as of the date of issuance of the
certificates. The depositor and Residential Funding will be required to repurchase
or substitute for any mortgage loan as to which a breach of its representations and
warranties with respect to that mortgage loan occurs, if such breach materially
and adversely affects the interests of the certificateholders in any of those
mortgage loans. Residential Funding will not assign to the depositor, and
consequently the depositor will not assign to the trustee for the benefit of the
certificateholders, any of the representations and warranties made by the sellers or
the right to require the related seller to repurchase any such mortgage loan in the
event of a breach of any of its representations and warranties. Accordingly, the
only representations and warranties regarding the mortgage loans that will be
made for the benefit of the certificateholders will be the limited representations
and warranties made by Residential Funding and the depositor to the limited
extent described above.
Id. at S-38-39. This same language was repeated in the Prospectus Supplements for each of the
Offerings.
158. Omitted Information: These statements failed to disclose that loan origination
guidelines were largely disregarded. Specifically these statements failed to disclose that, prior to
the Offering date, Defendants knew that their reunderwriting of samples of loans in the Offerings
demonstrated material noncompliance underwriting standards, but did not disclose this
64
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 68 of 81
that would be contained in each of the Prospectus Supplements. With regards to delinquencies
of the underlying collateral as of the cut-off date, the 2006 Registration Statement stated as
follows:
As of the cut-off date, none of the mortgage loans will be 30 or more days
delinquent in payment of principal and interest.
Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed March 3, 2006, at S-
37; cf., Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Form S-3/A Registration Statement, filed April 3, 2007,
at S-39.
160. Each of the Prospectus Supplements contained the same or similar language as set
forth above, indicating that as of the “cut-off date” (defined differently in each Prospectus
Supplement) none of the mortgage loans were 30 days or more delinquent. In addition, the
As of the cut off date, none of the mortgage loans are currently 30 to 59 days
delinquent in payment of principal and interest. As of the cut-off date, one of the
mortgage loans representing 0.1% of the mortgage loans has been 30 to 59 days
delinquent in payment of principal and interest in the past 24 months. As of the
cut-off date, none of the mortgage loans are currently 60 to 89 days delinquent in
the payment of principal and interest. As of the cut off date, none of the mortgage
loans have been 60 to 89 days delinquent in the payment of principal and interest
in the past 24 months. As of the cut off date, none of the mortgage loans are
currently 90 or more days delinquent in the payment of principal and interest. As
of the cut off date, none of the mortgage loans have been 90 or more days
delinquent in the payment of principal and interest in the past 24 months.
RALI Series 2006-QO7 Prospectus Supplement, Form 424B5, filed September 29, 2006, at S-54
(emphasis added).
161. Omitted Information: These statements masked the true impaired nature of the
collateral since the delinquency rates for these loan pools followed the same pattern of
65
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 69 of 81
months after the respective “cut-off dates,” borrower delinquency rates increased by an average
of 48,500%, from 0.00% to almost 4.85% of the outstanding collateral balance, and within six
months that figure further rose to over 6.55%, another 28% increase within just two months and
a combined increase of approximately 65,500% from the cut-off dates. As of April 2010,
delinquency and default rates had increased to an average of over 37% for the pools underlying
the Offerings at issue in this Complaint. As of the date of the filing of this Complaint, borrower
delinquency and defaults remain extremely high and are approximately 37% of the remaining
pool balances.
VI.
162. Plaintiffs bring this action as a class action pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who acquired
the Certificates issued by the Issuing Trusts, as set forth in ¶¶ 29-30 above, pursuant and/or
traceable to the false and misleading Registration Statements and who were damaged thereby
(the “Class”). Plaintiffs purchased pursuant to the Offering Documents. With respect to claims
under Section 11 of the Securities Act, Plaintiffs seek also to represent Class members who have
163. Excluded from the Class are Defendants; the Federal National Mortgage
Association; the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; the officers and directors of the
Defendants, at all relevant times; members of their immediate families and their legal
representatives, heirs, successors or assigns; and any entity in which Defendants have or had a
controlling interest.
66
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 70 of 81
164. The members of the Class are so numerous that joinder of all members is
impracticable. While the exact number of Class members is unknown to Plaintiffs at this time
and can only be ascertained through appropriate discovery, Plaintiffs believe that there are
hundreds of members in the proposed Class. Record owners and other members of the Class
may be identified from records maintained by RCC, RFC, RALI or their transfer agents and may
be notified of the pendency of this action by mail, using the form of notice similar to that
customarily used in securities class actions. Billions of dollars’ worth of Certificates were issued
165. Plaintiffs’ claims are typical of the claims of the members of the Class as all
members of the Class are similarly affected by Defendants’ wrongful conduct in violation of
166. Plaintiffs will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the members of the
Class and have retained counsel competent and experienced in class and securities litigation.
167. Common questions of law and fact exist as to all members of the Class and
predominate over any questions solely affecting individual members of the Class. Among the
questions of law and fact common to the Class are: whether Defendants violated the Securities
Act; whether the Registration Statements issued by Defendants to the investing public
negligently omitted and/or misrepresented material facts about the underlying mortgage loans
comprising the pools; and to what extent the members of the Class have sustained damages and
168. A class action is superior to all other available methods for the fair and efficient
the damages suffered by individual Class members may be relatively small, the expense and
67
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 71 of 81
burden of individual litigation make it impossible for members of the Class to individually
redress the wrongs done to them. There will be no difficulty in the management of this action as
a class action.
169. The Class includes purchasers pursuant or traceable to all 41 Offerings set forth
herein, since the Offerings are substantially similar and require proof of overlapping factual
issues.
170. All of the Offerings had a substantial percentage of HFN-originated loans. The
material misstatements and omissions concerning compliance with the underwriting guidelines
171. Because the Offerings were created and issued within just over 18 months of one
another, the material omissions and misstatements made in connection with one Offering were
172. The Offerings share the same set of Defendants and concern the same course of
loans at issue.
173. The same personnel for each Defendant were responsible for many of the
particular functions described herein relating to the creation, due diligence, and issuance of the
Offerings.
68
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 72 of 81
VII.
CAUSES OF ACTION
174. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege each and every allegation above as if set forth in full
175. This Cause of Action is brought pursuant to Section 11 of the Securities Act, on
behalf of Plaintiffs and the Class, against the Individual Defendants and the Underwriters of the
Offerings. This Cause of Action is predicated upon Defendants’ strict liability for making
material misleading statements and omitting material information from and in the Offering
Documents.
176. The Offering Documents were materially misleading, contained untrue statements
of material fact, omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements not misleading, and
177. The Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants are strictly liable to
Plaintiffs and/or the Class for making the misstatements and omissions in issuing the
Certificates.
178. The Individual Defendants each signed one or both of the Registration
Statements.
179. The Underwriter Defendants acted as underwriter in the sale of Certificates issued
by the Issuing Trusts, directly and indirectly participated in the distribution of the Certificates,
directly and indirectly solicited offers to purchase the Certificates, and directly and indirectly
participated in drafting and disseminating the Offering Documents for the Certificates.
69
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 73 of 81
180. The Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants owed to the Plaintiffs
and/or other Class members the duty to make a reasonable and diligent investigation of the
statements contained in the Offering Documents at the time they became effective to ensure that
such statements were true and correct and that there was no omission of material facts required to
181. The Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants knew, or in the
exercise of reasonable care should have known, of the material misstatements and omissions
182. The Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants failed to possess a
reasonable basis for believing, and failed to make a reasonable investigation to ensure, that
statements contained in the Offering Documents were true and/or that there was no omission of
material facts necessary to make the statements contained therein not misleading.
183. The Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants issued and
dissemination of material statements to the investing public which were contained in the
Offering Documents, which made false and misleading statements and/or misrepresented or
184. By reason of the conduct alleged herein, the Individual Defendants and the
Underwriter Defendants each violated Section 11 of the Securities Act, and are liable to
185. Plaintiffs and other Class members acquired the Certificates pursuant and/or
traceable to the Registration Statements. At the time Plaintiffs and Class members obtained their
70
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 74 of 81
Certificates they did so without knowledge of the facts concerning the misstatements and
186. Plaintiffs and other Class members have sustained damages as a result of the
wrongful conduct alleged and the violations of the Individual Defendants and the Underwriter
Defendants.
187. By virtue of the foregoing, Plaintiffs and other Class members are entitled to
damages, jointly and severally from the Individual Defendants and the Underwriter Defendants,
188. This action is brought within one year after the discovery of the untrue statements
and omissions contained in the Offering Documents and within three years of the Certificates
being offered to the public. Despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, Plaintiffs could not
have reasonably discovered the untrue statements and omissions in the Offering Documents at an
earlier time.
189. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege each and every allegation above as if set forth in full
190. This Cause of Action is brought pursuant to Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act,
on behalf of Plaintiffs and the Class, against the Underwriters of the Offerings.
191. The Underwriter Defendants promoted and sold the Certificates pursuant to the
defective Prospectus Supplements for their own financial gain. The Prospectus Supplements
contained untrue statements of material fact, omitted to state facts necessary to make statements
71
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 75 of 81
192. The Underwriter Defendants owed to Plaintiffs and/or the other Class members
who purchased Certificates pursuant to the Offering Documents a duty to make a reasonable and
diligent investigation of the statements contained in the Offering Documents, to ensure that such
statements were true and that there was no omission of material fact necessary to make the
193. The Underwriter Defendants knew of, or in the exercise of reasonable care should
have known of, the misstatements and omissions contained in the Offering Documents, as set
forth herein.
194. Plaintiffs and other Class members purchased or otherwise acquired Certificates
pursuant to and/or traceable to the defective Offering Documents. Plaintiffs did not know, and in
the exercise of reasonable diligence could not have known, of the misrepresentations and
195. By reason of the conduct alleged herein, the Underwriter Defendants violated
Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act, and are liable to Plaintiffs and/or other Class members
196. Plaintiffs and/or other Class members were damaged by the Underwriter
Defendants’ wrongful conduct. Those Class members who have retained their Certificates have
the right to rescind and recover the consideration paid for their Certificates, as set forth in
Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act. Those Class members who have sold their Certificates are
entitled to rescissory damages, as set forth in Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
197. This action is brought within one year after the discovery of the untrue statements
and omissions contained in the Offering Documents, and within three years of when the
Certificates were sold to the public. Despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, Plaintiffs could
72
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 76 of 81
not have reasonably discovered the untrue statements and omissions in the Offering Documents
at an earlier time.
198. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege each and every allegation above as if set forth in full
199. This Cause of Action is brought pursuant to Section 15 of the Securities Act
200. Each of the Individual Defendants, by virtue of his or her control, ownership,
offices, directorship, and specific acts set forth above was, at the time of the wrongs alleged
herein, a controlling person of RCC, RFC, RALI and the Issuing Trusts within the meaning of
Section 15 of the Securities Act. Each of the Individual Defendants had the power to influence,
and exercised that power and influence, to cause RCC, RFC, RALI and the Issuing Trusts to
and solicitation of offers to purchase the Certificates and specific acts set forth above were, at the
time of the wrongs alleged herein, controlling persons of RCC, RFC, RALI and the Issuing
Trusts within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act. The Underwriter Defendants had
the power to influence, and exercised that power and influence, to cause RCC, RFC, RALI and
the Issuing Trusts to engage in violations of the Securities Act, as described above.
202. The Individual Defendants’ and the Underwriter Defendants’ control, position and
influence made them privy to, and provided them with actual knowledge of, the material facts
and omissions concealed from Plaintiffs and the other Class members.
73
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 77 of 81
203. Each of the Individual Defendants was a participant in the violations alleged
herein, based on their having prepared, signed or authorized the signing of the Registration
Statements and having otherwise participated in the consummation of the Offerings detailed
herein. The Defendants named herein were responsible for overseeing the formation and
operation of the Issuing Trusts, including routing payments from the borrowers to investors.
205. Since the Defendants named herein controlled the ultimate decision of which
mortgage loans would be included and excluded from the securitized pools of loans as well as
the ultimate amount of credit enhancement required in order for the Certificates to be sold to
investors, they controlled all material aspects relating to the acquisition, structure and sale of the
Certificates and thus, the activities of the Issuing Trusts and Individual Defendants within the
206. By virtue of the wrongful conduct alleged herein, the Individual Defendants and
the Underwriter Defendants are liable to Plaintiffs and the other Class members for the damages
sustained.
VIII.
A. Determining that this action is a proper class action and certifying Plaintiffs as
Class representatives;
members against all Defendants, jointly and severally, for all damages sustained as a result of
74
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 78 of 81
C. Awarding Plaintiffs and the Class their reasonable costs and expenses incurred in
75
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 79 of 81
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 80 of 81
-and-
Robin F. Zwerling
Jeffrey C. Zwerling
Justin M. Tarshis
ZWERLING, SCHACHTER &
ZWERLING, LLP
41 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10010
Telephone: (212) 223-3900
Facsimile: (212) 371-5969
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1727624.1
Case 2:08-cv-08781-HB-RLE Document 222 Filed 05/10/13 Page 81 of 81