http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/201332014211634185.html
Freddie mac is suing a dozen banks on grounds of colluding to hide financial troubles and boosting profit. The mortgage giant filed a complaint on march 14th on more than a dozen banks including bank of america, JP morgan Chase, UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG. the colluding allegedly took place from 2007 to 2010. Freddie mac and Fannie mae have been said to lose $30 billion due to the colluding. Freddie mac also discovered fraud in britain's barclays which paid $453 million in fines to US and UK authorities. UBS and Royal Bank of Ireland were also fined in december for fiddling with interest rates. Collusion and fraud are nonstop problems in financial world because the profits are far greater than the fines.
I think what Freddie Mac is doing is good and raising awareness of this problem. Especially between the years of 2007 and 2010, during our economic troubles, it is not surprising that this fraud and colluding was happeneing. During times when people are desparate to make profits and avoid financial troubles (or at least the appearance of them), people will do anything to survive. In fact, I have a feeling that Freddie Mac has only broken the surface of this problem and that there is much more of this going on behind closed doors than we think.
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