$FNMA RELATED NEWS: Former BofA exec Mairone ha
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Former BofA exec Mairone has been working for J.P. Morgan
October 23, 2013, 6:57 PM
Rebecca Mairone has been busy — on trial for her work as a mortgage executive at the former Countrywide Financial Corp., and holding down a day job at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
On Wednesday, a jury found that Marione was liable for fraud related to her work selling mortgages, which were later bundled into investments and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The jury found that Bank of America Corp. BAC , which bought Countrywide in 2008, was also liable.
ProPublica previously reported that Marione left Bank of America last year JPM for a job in J.P. Morgan’s mortgage unit, where she helped with the Independent Foreclosure Review. That is the legal settlement that requires certain banks to compensate homeowners who have been wrongfully foreclosed on.
A J.P. Morgan spokeswoman confirmed that Mairone now works in another unit of the bank, and is no longer in mortgage banking.
“We are reviewing the decision,” the bank said, referring to the jury’s verdict.
Mairone’s lawyers said Wednesday that she, contrary to the jury’s verdict, pushed for quality improvements during Countrywide’s so-called Hustle program, which was designed to get mortgage applications through processing quickly. Her lawyers said they would continue to fight the charges.
Prosecutors had argued that Countrywide rushed mortgage applications through with little regard for whether customers could actually afford them, then misled investors who bought them, including Fannie and Freddie, about the quality of the mortgages.
Bank of America said the verdict concerned a short-lived Countrywide program that ended before Bank of America bought the lender. The bank also said it would “evaluate our options for appeal.”
– Christina Rexrode
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