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1 THE HONORABLE CATHERINE SHAFFER 2 3 4 5 6 7 SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON IN AND FOR KING COUNTY 8 FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK OF ) CHICAGO, ) 9 ) Case No. 10-2-36526-5 SEA 10 Plaintiff, ) ) AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR 11 v. ) RESCISSION AND DAMAGES ) 12 BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES LLC; ) 13 CREDIT SUISSE SECURITIES (USA) LLC; ) GOLDMAN, SACHS & CO.; RBS ) 14 SECURITIES INC. f/k/a GREENWICH ) CAPITAL MARKETS, INC.; MERRILL ) 15 LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH ) INCORPORATED; LONG BEACH ) 16 SECURITIES CORP.; WAMU ASSET ) 17 ACCEPTANCE CORP.; WAMU CAPITAL ) CORP.; and JOHN DOE DEFENDANTS, 1- ) 18 50, ) ) 19 Defendants. ) ) 20 ) 21 ) 22 23 24 25 26 LAW OFFICES OF KELLER ROHRBACK L .L .P. 1201 THIRD AVENUE, SUITE 3200 AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR RESCISSION AND DAMAGES SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-3052 TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 Table of Contents 2 I. NATURE OF THE ACTION............................................................................................1 3 4 II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE........................................................................................8 5 III. THE PARTIES................................................................................................................10 6 A. Plaintiff................................................................................................................10 7 B. Defendants...........................................................................................................12 8 C. The John Doe Defendants ...................................................................................17 9 IV. FACTUAL BACKGROUND .........................................................................................17 10 A. Mechanics of Mortgage Backed Securities .........................................................17 11 1. The Securitization Process ......................................................................17 12 2. The Rating Process for PLMBS ..............................................................20 13 B. The Mortgage Originators Abandoned Underwriting and 14 Appraisal Standards and Engaged in Predatory Lending. ...................................22 15 1. The Shift from “Originate to Hold” to “Originate to Distribute” Securitization Incentivized Mortgage 16 Originators to Disregard Loan Quality....................................................22 17 2. Mortgage Originators Abandoned Underwriting 18 Guidelines in Order to Initiate Loans for Securitization. ........................28 19 3. Mortgage Originators Manipulated Appraisals of Collateralized Real Estate in Order to Initiate Loans for 20 Securitization...........................................................................................30 21 4. Mortgage Originators Engaged in Predatory Lending to 22 Initiate Loans for Securitization. .............................................................36 23 5. Widespread Defaults and Delinquencies Reflect the Inevitable Consequence of Loans Issued Without 24 Meaningful Underwriting........................................................................39 25 C. Federal and State Investigations, Press Reports, Publicly Available Documents Produced in Other Civil Lawsuits, and 26 Analysis of the Loan Pools Underlying the Certificates Identify Systematic Violation of Underwriting Guidelines, Appraisal LAW OFFICES OF KELLER ROHRBACK L .L .P. 1201 THIRD AVENUE, SUITE 3200 AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR RESCISSION AND DAMAGES - i SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-3052 TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 Guidelines, and Predatory Lending by Long Beach Mortgage Company and Washington Mutual Bank, Whose Loans Back the 2 PLMBS in this Case. ...........................................................................................42 3 1. Washington Mutual Bank and Long Beach Mortgage Co. .....................44 4 a. Government actions and related lawsuits and 5 investigations demonstrate WaMu’s and Long Beach Mortgage’s failure to adhere to sound 6 underwriting practices. ................................................................44 7 b. Long Beach Mortgage and WaMu manipulated the appraisal process..........................................................................49 8 c. Long Beach Mortgage and WaMu engaged in 9 predatory lending.........................................................................58 10 d. Confidential witnesses provide further evidence of 11 WaMu and Long Beach Mortgage’s failure to adhere to sound underwriting practices, predatory 12 lending, and manipulation of the appraisal process.....................60 13 e. The mortgages originated by WaMu and Long 14 Beach Mortgage and securitized in the PLMBS purchased by the Bank provide further evidence of 15 WaMu and Long Beach Mortgage’s failure to adhere to sound underwriting practices.......................................71 16 D. The Securitization Process Was Plagued by Conflicts of Interest 17 and Misplaced Incentives. ...................................................................................72 18 1. WaMu’s Vertical Integration Provided it with Access To 19 Information Regarding the Abandonment of Underwriting Guidelines, Manipulation of the Appraisal Process, and 20 Predatory Lending Practices....................................................................72 21 a. The WaMu and Long Beach Entities Were Vertically Integrated....................................................................72 22 b. The Co-underwriter Defendants also had access to 23 information from their own corporate affiliates. .........................74 24 2. Conflicts of Interest Undermined Adequate Due Diligence 25 and Disclosure to Investors. ....................................................................76 26 LAW OFFICES OF KELLER ROHRBACK L .L .P. 1201 THIRD AVENUE, SUITE 3200 AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR RESCISSION AND DAMAGES - ii SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-3052 TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 a. The Defendants directed the due diligence process and were provided with detailed reports describing 2 the results of the process..............................................................76 3 b. Defendants misused due diligence results...................................80 4 c. Defendants should have known that the sponsor 5 included defective loans in the loan pools...................................82 6 3. Defendants’ Own Due Diligence Identified a High Number of Defective Loans in the Mortgage Pools 7 Backing PLMBS......................................................................................84 8 E. The Securitization Process Was Supported by Credit Ratings that Materially Misstated the Credit Risk of the PLMBS. .........................................85 9 10 1. The Credit Ratings Were Unreliable, Based As They Were on Underwriting Standards That the Rating 11 Agencies Knew Had Been Abandoned. ..................................................86 12 2. The Credit Ratings Were Compromised by Conflicts of Interest, Manipulation and Misinformation.............................................87 13 3. The Credit Ratings Were Unreliable Due to the Use of 14 Inaccurate, Outdated Models, and Inadequate Resources. ......................89 15 4. The Rating Agencies Knew, and the Defendants Should 16 Have Known, That the PLMBS Ratings in This Case Fundamentally Differed from the Ratings of Corporate 17 Bonds.......................................................................................................92 18 5. Subsequent Downgrades Confirm that the Investment Grade Ratings Reported in the Offering Documents Were 19 Unjustifiably High and Misstated the True Credit Risk of 20 the PLMBS Purchased by the Bank. .......................................................93 21 6. The Bank Reasonably Relied on the Credit Ratings Reported in the Prospectuses...................................................................95 22 V. DEFENDANTS’ MATERIAL UNTRUE STATEMENTS AND 23 OMISSIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE SALE OF THESE FIVE CERTIFICATES TO FHLBC .........................................................................................96 24 25 A. Defendants Misrepresented Underwriting Guidelines Utilized by Mortgage Lenders................................................................................................97 26 1. The Materiality of Underwriting Guidelines...........................................97 LAW OFFICES OF KELLER ROHRBACK L .L .P. 1201 THIRD AVENUE, SUITE 3200 AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR RESCISSION AND DAMAGES - iii SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-3052 TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 2. Misstatements Regarding Underwriting Guidelines ...............................97 2 3. Evidence Demonstrating Misstatements in the Offering Documents Regarding the Originators’ Underwriting 3 Practices.................................................................................................102 4 a. Government investigations, actions and 5 settlements, confidential witnesses and evidence developed in other private lawsuits demonstrate 6 systematic and pervasive abandonment of stated underwriting practices by the originators..................................102 7 b. Analysis of loans that backed the PLMBS 8 purchased by the Bank demonstrate the 9 abandonment of stated underwriting practices by the originators............................................................................103 10 B. Defendants Misrepresented the Appraisal Process and Loan-to- 11 Value Ratios (“LTVs”) That Were Based Upon Those “Appraisals” ......................................................................................................104