USDOJ

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced today that it will commit to scaling green buildings to more than 5 billion square feet (478 million square meters) over the next five years through the LEED and EDGE green building rating systems. USGBC’s commitment was made at Buildings Day, an official event at the United Nations climate negotiations conference known as COP21.

Franklin American Mortgage Company has agreed to pay the United States $70 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today. Franklin American is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee

The Justice Department filed a complaint and proposed consent order today to resolve allegations that Sage Bank, headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) by engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in the pricing of its residential mortgage loans

A Virginia man and woman who recruited participants into a multi-year, multi-property mortgage fraud scheme in Roxbury and Dorchester were sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Boston.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the owners and manager of three Michigan apartment complexes – Parkside East Apartments, in East Lansing, Michigan, Holt Manor Apartments in Holt, Michigan, and Kelly Manor Apartments in Owosso, Michigan – for discriminating against families with children.

Michael David Scott, 51, of Mansfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 135 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of over $11,374,201and to forfeit $7,413,712. In June 2015, Scott pleaded guilty to counts of 32 counts of wire fraud, 14 counts of bank fraud, and 22 counts of money laundering.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the owners and manager of the Westland Apartments (Westland), a 28-unit apartment complex in Lakewood, Colorado, alleging that they have discriminated against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MATTHEW GOLDREICH, 46, of East Lyme, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to two years of probation, including three months of home confinement, for producing and disseminating false advertisements for mortgage modification services. Chief Judge Hall also ordered GOLDREICH to pay a $100,000 fine and $75,794 in restitution.

Joan Ruggiero, 78, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to nine months in prison and nine months of home detention, and was ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and restitution of $4.1 million to the lenders. In October 2013, Ruggiero pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy

The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program has entered into a national settlement agreement with Wells Fargo Bank N.A. (Wells Fargo) requiring Wells Fargo to pay $81.6 million in remediation for its repeated failure to provide homeowners with legally required notices, thereby denying homeowners the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of mortgage payment increases.

The Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the launch of a federal Domestic Violence and Housing Technical Assistance Consortium to better address the critical housing needs of victims of domestic violence and their children.

In an effort to reduce barriers for justice-involved youth, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced a new Juvenile Re-Entry Assistance Program: a $1.7 million initiative to help Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and legal assistance organizations address challenges to housing and employment among justice-involved individuals

Thank you, Timothy [Burniston], for your kind words, for inviting me to speak and for bringing us all together as we reflect on our country’s challenges and opportunities in fair lending.  I also want to thank my colleagues in attendance from our Housing and Civil Enforcement Section – Chief Steve Rosenbaum and Deputy Chief Jon Seward – for joining us today and for the engaged, innovative leadership they bring to this vital work.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal district court has approved a supplemental consent decree between the United States, the Maryland Disability Law Center and the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC). The original consent decree contained remedies for HABC’s failure to provide accessible housing to persons with disabilities. The supplemental consent decree, which was approved today by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz of the District of Maryland, continues and amends certain terms in the original consent order in United States v. HABC, and Bailey v. HABC, entered on Dec. 20, 2004

A Georgia real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Georgia. Trent Gaines admitted that he and others conspired not to bid against one another at public real estate foreclosure auctions from October 2008 to November 2010 in Fulton County, Georgia, and from September 2006 to February 2011 in DeKalb County, Georgia.

Under a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Municipality of San Juan has agreed to make substantial upgrades to its storm sewer systems.  The upgrades and related cleaning activities are aimed at eliminating or minimizing daily discharges of large volumes of raw sewage and will minimize discharges of other pollutants into nearby water bodies, including the San Juan Bay Estuary and the Martin Peña Canal.  The estimated cost of the upgrades and actions over the life of the agreement is $180 million.

The United States resolved for $4 million a False Claims Act action against the estate and trusts of the late Layton P. Stuart, former owner and president of One Financial Corporation, and its subsidiary, One Bank & Trust N.A., both based in Little Rock, Arkansas. One Bank, another victim of Stuart’s frauds that is now under new management, will receive an additional $6.9 million.

The United States has taken comprehensive enforcement action to resolve several years of significant noncompliance by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) with its obligations under the federal Clean Water Act and the permit that governs day-to-day operations of its stormwater drainage systems, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha for the District of Rhode Island and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 Administrator H. Curtis Spalding.

A Georgia real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Fulton and DeKalb counties, Georgia. Morris Podber admitted that he conspired with others not to bid against one another at public real estate foreclosure auctions on selected properties.

Green Building Japan (GBJ) and USGBC announced a collaboration that is designed to further accelerate the adoption of LEED v4, the latest version of the LEED building program, in Japan LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.