A $5 Billion U.S. Fraud Case Against Standard & Poor's Enters Critical Phase
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Thrilling depositions. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Not when it comes to civil fraud lawsuits.
The U.S. Department of Justice has scheduled depositions in its potential landmark suit against rating agency Standard & Poor’s. The suit, pending in federal court in California, offers one of the last, best hopes for a full accounting of how the major rating companies allegedly inflated their evaluations of mortgage-backed securities in the runup to the 2008 financial crisis. S&P has admitted that its ratings were woefully inaccurate but has denied it committed fraud or any other wrongdoing.