“WASHINGTON — A financial reform group hoping to block the government’s $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase faces a steep uphill climb.
“Better Markets filed suit last week, claiming the Justice Department ignored a statutory provision that required court approval for settlements of this kind.
“But the group may struggle to convince a court it has legal standing to challenge the settlement. To do so, it must prove it has somehow been harmed by the outcome.”
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“The Justice Department announced in November that it reached a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase to resolve a range of allegations, including that it knowingly bundled and sold shoddy mortgages to investors.
“But Better Markets’ challenge mostly turns on a specific part of the settlement, which included a $2 billion civil money penalty for alleged violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. The group claims that FIRREA specifically requires Attorney General Eric Holder to submit the fine for judicial review.
“DOJ ignored the explicit provisions in FIRREA that requires a court to assess any civil money penalty sought pursuant to that statute,” says the complaint, which was filed Feb. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”
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Read full American Banker article here
