A US justice department suit against Standard & Poor’s alleges it defrauded investors in mortgage-related securities out of at least $5bn by issuing inflated ratings to win hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.
The 128-page civil lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles late on Monday, is the first against a credit rating agency. Shares in S&P parent McGraw-Hill, also named as a defendant, have fallen 22.1 per cent since the lawsuit was revealed .
DoJ also alleges S&P falsely represented to investors, including Western Federal Corporate Credit Union, Citibank and Bank of America, that its ratings were objective when instead they were influenced by a desire to win fees and market share.