(Reuters) — A whistleblower will be paid $63.9 million for providing
tips that led to JPMorgan Chase & Co's agreement to pay $614 million
and tighten oversight to resolve charges that it defrauded the
government into insuring flawed home loans.
The payment to the whistleblower, Keith Edwards, was disclosed on
Friday in a filing with the U.S. district court in Manhattan that
formally ended the case.
In the February 4 settlement, JPMorgan admitted that for more than a
decade it submitted thousands of mortgages for insurance by the
Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs
that did not qualify for government guarantees.
JPMorgan also admitted that it had failed to tell the agencies that
its own internal reviews had turned up problems.
The government said it ultimately had to cover millions of dollars
of losses after some of the bank's loans went sour, resulting in
evictions and foreclosures nationwide.
"There were a lot of bad loans made during the financial boom, and
the United States taxpayer was left holding the bag through the VA
and FHA loan programs," Edwards' lawyer, David Wasinger, said in a
phone interview. "Hopefully the settlement sends a message to Wall
Street that this conduct is not allowed, and that in the future it
will be held accountable."
Edwards could not immediately be reached for comment.
About $56.5 million of Edwards' award concerns the FHA portion of
the case, and $7.4 million concerns the VA portion.
Wasinger declined to discuss his legal fees.
Edwards, a Louisiana resident, had worked for JPMorgan or its
predecessors from 2003 to 2008, and had been an assistant vice
president supervising a government insuring unit.
He originally sued in January 2013 under the federal False Claims
Act, which lets individuals sue government contractors and suppliers
for allegedly defrauding taxpayers. The U.S. Department of Justice
later joined as a plaintiff.
Whistleblowers can recover portions of False Claims Act settlements,
which often grow if the government gets involved.
Wasinger also represented Edward O'Donnell, whose tips led to an
October 2013 jury finding that Bank of America Corp was liable for
fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit. The
government is seeking $2.1 billion of penalties in that case.
Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG and Flagstar Bancorp Inc were among
lenders that settled False Claims Act mortgage cases in recent
years.
The Justice Department in December said it had paid out roughly
$1.98 billion of whistleblower awards from 2009 to 2013.
The case is U.S. ex rel. Edwards v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA et al,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-00220.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New
York; editing by Phil Berlowitz and Amanda Kwan)
