The argument that the Federal Housing Finance Agency waited too long to sue Wall Street for selling shoddy mortgage-backed securities hasn’t panned out so well for the banks. Just ask the 15 banks that have already shelled out a combined $15 billion in settlements with the FHFA. But that doesn’t mean the remaining defendants are done trying.
Three holdout banks that have refused to settle with the FHFA—Nomura Holding Inc., HSBC North America Holdings Inc. and the Goldman Sachs Group Inc.—made a final plea Friday to defeat the agency’s claims that they misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the riskiness of billions of dollars in securities backed by home loans. The banks say that despite a series of rulings to the contrary, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in another case has finally vindicated their position that the FHFA’s claims are time-barred.
