Phillips & Cohen partner Erika Kelton reacts to an agreement made between the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to eschew the False Claims Act as the primary method of enforcing mortgage lending law in CQ Roll Call.
Erika Kelton, a partner at Washington-based law firm Phillips and Cohen, who regularly handles whistleblower claims, called the agreement “outrageous,” saying it “essentially gives mortgage lenders the green light to ignore the law and defraud government programs.”
“Lenders need to be held accountable for ripping off federal funds, and the False Claims Act is the most effective way to do that,” Kelton told CQ Roll Call.
Kelton said lenders have paid more than $3 billion to the federal government to resolve False Claims Act cases.
Read the entire article, “HUD, Justice Department agree to avoid False Claims Act for loan violations,” courtesy of CQ Roll Call.