California subpoenas Citigroup about mortgage-backed securities.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Sharks smell blood in the water, sounds like.

"California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris has subpoenaed Citigroup Inc. and its banking subsidiary, Citibank, ordering the two entities to answer questions regarding the selling and marketing of mortgage-backed securities in the Golden State, a person familiar with the investigation said.

n May, Harris announced the creation of a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force that would target mortgage fraud of any size. Harris said then that she would tackle corporate fraud, including instances in which bundled mortgages were sold as securities to the state or its pension funds under false pretenses. To prosecute some of the cases, Harris said she would use California's False Claims Act, which makes it a crime to defraud the state.

The probe comes at the same time as several other investigations into the practices of other large banks.

New York and Delaware have more than a dozen attorneys working full time on a wide-ranging investigation into Wall Street's role in the mortgage meltdown. Those investigators have subpoenaed or requested information from 13 financial firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Citi is not a focus of that probe."

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-mortgage-subpoenas-20110805,0,7457467.story


Let us hope something real comes from this instead of the usual "Pay 200.00 to pass GO".