Misc: Ernst & Young accused of fraud, Banks accused of illegal break-ins

New York AG sues Ernst & Young in Lehman probe
NEW YORK: New York's Attorney General is suing Accounting giant Ernst & Young, accusing it of helping defunct Investment Bank Lehman Brothers hide billions of dollars in Debt from investors even as it teetered on the brink of financial collapse. The civil Lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, days before he's due to be sworn in as the state's Governor, marks the first government legal action stemming from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the first milestones of Wall ...

Ernst & Young accused of hiding Lehman troubles
Source: Reuters Giant Accounting Firm Ernst & Young was sued by New York prosecutors over allegations it helped to hide Lehman Brothers' financial problems, in the first major government legal action stemming from the Wall Street firm's 2008 downfall. The civil Fraud case contends that Ernst & Young stood by while Lehman used Accounting gimmickry to mask its shaky finances. The Lawsuit says Lehman ran "a massive Accounting Fraud," but it did not name as defendants any former top executives at th...

New York state AG sues Ernst & Young
Cuomo sues Ernst & Young Posted by Colin Barr December 21, 2010 11:31 am New York sued the giant Accounting Firm Ernst & Young Tuesday, saying it helped Lehman Brothers deceive investors about its true health for seven years. The complaint, filed in state Supreme Court, seeks the repayment of at least $150 million in fees the audit firm collected between 2001, when Lehman's aggressive Accounting began, and 2008, when the venerable bank collapsed, precipitating a global bank run. Se...

New York sues Lehman Brothers' accountants
The Investment Bank collapsed in September 2008, serving as an immediate and symbolic reality check for Wall Street -- one of the giants in the financial world coming up short on funds in a high-stakes run on the bank. New York's Governor-elect and current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Lehman's Accounting Firm, starting in 2001, helped shift as much as $50 billion in assets to foreign banks just before they would need to appear on the bank's Financial Statements, The Wall Street Journal re...

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Sues Ernst & Young In Lehman Brothers Fraud Scheme
With the fervor of a man who knows he's going to be out of a job in a few weeks (albeit to move up to a very good new one), Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is settng the law dogs on Ernst & Young in a Martin Act suit, charging the Accounting Firm "with helping Lehman Brothers Holding, Inc. engage in an Accounting Fraud involving the surreptitious removal of tens of billions of dollars of Fixed Income securities from Lehman’s Balance Sheet in order to deceive the public about Leh...

Ernst & Young May Face Fraud Charges in the Lehman Debacle
Accounting giant Ernst & Young is expected to face civil Fraud charges by New York prosecutors over its alleged role in the spectacular collapse of Lehman Brothers, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The Lawsuit could come as early as this week and would mark the first time a Big Four Accounting Firm has been charged in regard to the Financial Crisis. But for some it may come as no surprise that prosecutors are targeting Ernst & Young. In fact, it may have seemed inevitable. Ea...

Cuomo Sues Ernst & Young Over Lehman
The New York Attorney General on Tuesday sued Ernst & Young, accusing the Accounting firm of civil Fraud for helping its client Lehman Brothers mislead investors about the Investment Bank’s financial health. The Lawsuit, coming more than two years after Lehman collapsed and the Global Economy buckled, is the first major legal action stemming from the collapse of the investment bank. Ernst & Young, Lehman’s longtime outside auditor, certified the Financial Statements of Leh...

Ernst & Young May Be Charged In Lehman Collapse
NEW YORK (AP)  - Accounting Firm Ernst & Young LLC may face civil Fraud charges in New York for its alleged role in the demise of Lehman Brothers, according to a report. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said in a Monday article that State Attorney General and New York Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo may file the Lawsuit this week, with the state possibly seeking fines and other penalties. The case alleges that Ernst & Young did not act in the appropriate mann...

Banks Break Into Homes, Not Always Legally
Banks have made the occasional huge mistake in the massive home Foreclosure crisis of the last decade, including illegally ordering home break-ins once in a while. When Homeowners are behind on their Mortgage payments, or attempting to modify their home loan, or even on occasion fully paid up but lost in the bureaucratic shuffle, they are in danger of having their home broken into and their possessions removed by the banks. A New York Times report details the occasional terrible mistakes banks h...

Ernst & Young in Lehman lawsuit
Accountancy giant Ernst & Young has been sued by New York's Attorney General over its role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers during the Financial Crisis in 2008. Andrew Cuomo claimed the firm was complicit in a "massive Accounting Fraud" perpetrated by Lehman. Ernst & Young said that it would "vigorously defend" itself. "There is no factual or legal basis for a claim to be brought against an auditor in this context," it said. Mr Cuomo takes a different...

Cuomo suit: Ernst & Young hid Lehman losses
As predicted by several news outlets yesterday, AG Andrew Cuomo has filed suit against the Accounting Firm of Ernst & Young, charging that the outfit helped Lehman Brothers conceal the fact that it was on the verge of collapse. From the AG’s news release: The Attorney General’s Lawsuit claims that for more than seven years leading up to Lehman’s Bankruptcy filing in September 2008, Lehman had engaged in so-called “Repo 105” transactions, explicitly approved by E&Y. Th

Ernst & Young faces suit over Lehman
New York state prosecutors filed a civil Lawsuit against Ernst & Young alleging the auditing firm helped Lehman Brothers “engage in an Accounting Fraud” and deceive the public by using an Accounting move that reduced Debt at quarter end. The Lawsuit filed by Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General, in New York state court, alleges that Ernst & Young was “fully aware” of the Accounting treatment, known as Repo 105, which gave investors the impression that Lehman had less Deb

Ernst & Young accused of hiding Lehman troubles
Giant Accounting Firm Ernst & Young is being sued by New York prosecutors over allegations it helped to hide Lehman Brothers' financial problems, in the first major government legal action stemming from the Wall Street firm's 2008 downfall. The civil Fraud case contends that Ernst & Young stood by while Lehman used Accounting gimmickry to mask its shaky finances. The Lawsuit says Lehman ran "a massive Accounting Fraud," but it did not name as defendants any former top executives at the i...

Banks Accused of Illegally Breaking Into Homes
TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend Ski Trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks. Arriving at her home in Truckee, Calif., Mimi Ash found it had been cleared of her possessions. When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words &ldquo...;

When banks burglarize
When Bank of America bought Countrywide, did it know that as a consequence it would start being associated in the public mind with meltwater reeking of rotten halibut? In Texas, Bank of America had the locks changed and the electricity shut off last year at Alan Schroit’s second home in Galveston, according to court papers. Mr. Schroit, who had paid off the house, had stored 75 pounds of salmon and halibut in his refrigerator and freezer, caught during a recent Alaskan fishing Vacation. “La...

New York state AG sues Ernst & Young
Cuomo sues Ernst & Young Posted by Colin Barr December 21, 2010 11:31 am New York sued the giant Accounting Firm Ernst & Young Tuesday, saying it helped Lehman Brothers deceive investors about its true health for seven years. The complaint, filed in state Supreme Court, seeks the repayment of at least $150 million in fees the audit firm collected between 2001, when Lehman's aggressive Accounting began, and 2008, when the venerable bank collapsed, precipitating a global bank run. Se...

Cuomo lashes out at Ernst & Young
Say what you like about Andrew Cuomo, he gives good complaint: E&Y substantially assisted Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., now bankrupt, to engage in a massive Accounting Fraud, involving the surreptitious removal of tens of billions of dollars of securities from Lehman’s Balance Sheet in order to create a false impression of Lehman’s Liquidity, thereby defrauding the investing public… Not only were the transactions concealed, but Lehman’s Financial Statements affirmatively, and f

Ernst & Young sued over Lehman
New York prosecutors accused Ernst & Young of helping Lehman Brothers engage in a “massive Accounting Fraud” by approving a move that temporarily reduced the brokerage firm’s Debt and gave investors an impression it was in a stronger financial condition. The civil Lawsuit, filed in a New York state court, alleges the auditing firm “substantially” helped Lehman mislead investors from 2001 until the brokerage firm’s 2008 Bankruptcy filing by signing off on the Accounti

Prosecutors to sue Ernst & Young over Lehman collapse: report
Bangalore | Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:57am EST Bangalore (Reuters) - Prosecutors in New York are set to file civil Fraud charges against Accounting Firm Ernst & Young LLC over the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. The suit, led by Andrew Cuomo, could come as early as this week and may seek to impose fines and other penalties, the paper said. No one at Ernst & Young was available for comment outside regular U.S. bus...

Its Official: Cuomo Sues Ernst & Young Over Lehman Debacle
As The Wall Street Journal indicated yesterday, Attorney General and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is filing a civil suit against Ernst & Young, Accounting Firm to epically bankrupt firm Lehman Brothers. (Read more...) ...

Prosecutors to sue Ernst & Young over Lehman collapse: report
Bangalore | Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:57am EST Bangalore (Reuters) - Prosecutors in New York are set to file civil Fraud charges against Accounting Firm Ernst & Young LLC over the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. The suit, led by Andrew Cuomo, could come as early as this week and may seek to impose fines and other penalties, the paper said. No one at Ernst & Young was available for comment outside regular U.S. bus...

It's Official: Cuomo Sues Ernst & Young Over Lehman Debacle
As The Wall Street Journal indicated yesterday, Attorney General and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is filing a civil suit against Ernst & Young, Accounting Firm to epically bankrupt firm Lehman Brothers. Mr. Cuomo's office alleges that Ernst & Young "explicitly approved" Lehman's Repo 105 transactions, Accounting moves that helped Lehman disguise its leverage levels in quarterly Financial Statements. Repo 105, according to Mr. Cuomo, helped mislead investors about the soundness of Lehman...

Banks Accused Of Breaking Into Homes
Arriving at her home in Truckee, Calif., Mimi Ash found it had been cleared of her possessions New York Times: TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend Ski Trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks. When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the word...

Ernst & Young 'sat by silently' as Lehman Brothers tried to hide financial troubles, lawsuit alleges
Ernst & Young (E&Y) "sat by silently" as Lehman Brothers tried to conceal its Financial Troubles from investors in the months leading up to its implosion, New York state prosecutors have alleged in a Lawsuit....

Its Here: Cuomo Files Suit Against E&Y; Over Lehman Meltdown
By Ashby Jones Ever since Monday, when the WSJ broke the news that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was eyeballing a Lawsuit against Ernst & Young for helping Lehman Brothers hide its financial weakness, we’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting for that hammer to fall. It has. Tuesday morning, Cuomo filed that suit against Ernst & Young for civil Fraud, according to the WSJ’s Liz Rappaport. The allegation: that the Accounting Firm helped Lehman shield the truth about its f...