Ohio Sues Credit Rating Agencies

[Bozita]

Source: Reuters

November 21, 2009
Ohio Sues Credit Rating Agencies

By REUTERS
Ohio’s attorney general sued Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings on Friday, asserting that they provided misleading credit ratings that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for state funds.

The official, Richard Cordray, filed the lawsuit in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of five Ohio funds that assert they lost more than $457 million because of “false and misleading ratings” of mortgage-backed securities by the ratings agencies.

Officials at Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, which is owned by McGraw-Hill, could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesman for Fitch Ratings, which is owned by Fimalac S.A., had no immediate comment.

Ohio’s lawsuit is the latest in a string of actions against the ratings agencies, which have been criticized for feeding the housing slump and credit market turmoil by assigning high ratings to risky securities that later tumbled in value.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/business/21ratings.html?_r=1&hp

[LuckyLib]

1. Bingo! These rating agencies committed fraud and developed their own ponzi scheme.

And we were left holding the bag. Savvy investment companies, many of them small and local, who knew the properties that were Triple A rated, and knew this was bullshit refused to play their game. Others weren't so smart. We've all been had.

[indepat]

5. Surely Goldman did not merchandise any of those tainted securities for no less personage than CNBC's

Dennis Kneale recently asserted to the effect that none of this financial debacle and near meltdown lays at Goldman's feet.

[chill_wind]

2. K & R

[alstephenson]

3. K & R

[mbperrin]

4. Uh-oh. Who wised the rubes?

Go, Ohio, and I hope more states do the same!

[Kolesar]

7. Cordray is a bitchin' dude

Sharp as a tack

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. K & R