YEREVAN, February 5. /ARKA/. The U.S. government has launched a civil lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s and parent The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc over mortgage bond ratings, the first federal enforcement action against a credit rating agency over alleged illegal behavior tied to the recent financial crisis, Reuters reports.
The government said in a court filing it was seeking civil money penalties from S&P and McGraw Hill.
“Considerations regarding fees, market share, profits, and relationships with issuers improperly influenced S&P’s rating criteria and models,” the government said.
Shares of McGraw-Hill plunged 13.8 percent on Monday after the company said it was expecting the lawsuit, marking their biggest one-day percentage decline since the 1987 stock market crash, according to Reuters data.
The news also caused shares of Moody’s Corp, whose Moody’s Investors Service unit is S&P’s main rival, to slide 10.7 percent.
It is unclear why regulators may now be focusing on S&P rather than Moody’s or Fimalac SA’s Fitch Ratings.
S&P, Moody’s and Fitch have long faced criticism from investors, politicians and regulators for assigning high ratings to thousands of subprime and other mortgage securities that quickly turned sour.
“This lawsuit is significant because it could augur future government action or, even worse for the agencies, more litigation by investors,” said Jeffrey Manns, a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
A civil case involves a lower burden of proof than a criminal case would, and could make it easier for investigators to uncover potential “smoking guns” through subpoenas, he added.
The New York Times reported that talks between the Justice Department and S&P broke down last week after the government sought a settlement of more than $1 billion.—0-
