Jul 16, 2008 2:52 pm US/Eastern
Report: FBI Investigating IndyMac Banks For Fraud
Failed Mortgage Lender Was Seized By Federal Officials Last Week
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
The FBI is investigating now-defunct IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible
fraud involving home loans made to risky borrowers, according to the
Associated Press.
It was not immediately clear how long the FBI's probe of the bank has been ongoing. The investigation is focused on the company -- which was taken over last Friday by the FDIC -- and not individuals who ran it, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
IndyMac Bank's assets
were seized by federal regulators after the mortgage lender
succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and
rising foreclosures.
The
bank is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest
financial institution to close in U.S. history, regulators said.
The Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of the bank to the
FDIC on Friday because it didn't think IndyMac could meet depositor
demand.
Over the weekend, it became IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB,
and by Monday morning the scramble by bank customers to recover their
money was on.
Most depositors were given immediate access to up
to $100,000 in their accounts and 50 percent of any money beyond that
threshold, although depositors with joint accounts or retirement
accounts could immediately withdraw greater sums, said David Barr, a
spokesman for the FDIC, which is now operating the bank.
Depositors were given receivership certificates for any money they
couldn't immediately withdraw and may be able to receive some of that
money after the bank's assets are sold off, he said.
About
10,000 of IndyMac's 275,000 accounts contained uninsured sums, and
uninsured money made up about $1 billion of the bank's $19 billion in
deposits, Barr said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
