WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Five of the largest mortgage providers in the United States were fined more than $123 million for illegal foreclosures of the homes of active US military members, according to a US Department of Justice press release.
“The Justice Department announced today that under its settlements with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers, 952 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $123 million for non-judicial foreclosures that violated the Service members Civil Relief Act (SCRA),” the press release, issued on Monday, said.
“These unlawful judicial foreclosures forced hundreds of service members and their families out of their homes,” Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery said on Monday.
The settlement was announced in conjunction with US President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established in 2009 to aggressively prosecute financial crimes, according to the task force’s website.
The task force has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against 15,000 defendants, including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants.
