AG cautious on lawsuit

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has backed off embracing a legal settlement of muni bonds charges against banks. On July 7, she announced she had joined a settlement negotiated by the federal government and other states with J.P. Morgan Chase in litigation over alleged anticompetitive and fraudulent conduct in the municipal bond derivatives industry.

“I am pleased to work with other states and the federal government in securing this settlement against JP Morgan Chase,” Cortez Masto said in a prepared statement at the time.

But since then, it has been reported that banks want liability waivers covering unrelated operations as part of the settlement—“areas of their mortgage operations besides servicing, including the bundling of loans into securities,” according to Bloomberg News.

Cortez Masto wants assurances that the settlement will not interfere with or undercut her own lawsuits against Bank of America and others over misleading customers on mortgage matters.