Pursuits
Moody's Fate in Subprime Probe to Be Decided Soon by U.S.
- Probe is one of Justice Department's last looks at crisis era
- S&P reached $1.5 billion settlement in 2015 over bond ratings
This article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. Justice Department will decide in the next few months whether it will sue Moody’s Corp. for allegedly inflating ratings on mortgage bonds at the heart of the 2008 financial meltdown, according to people familiar with the matter.
The multiyear inquiry into Moody’s is among the remaining live investigations into the mortgage lenders, Wall Street banks and ratings firms that the government has sought to hold accountable for the subprime crisis. A year ago, ratings company Standard & Poor’s, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc., paid $1.5 billion to resolve allegations that it had inflated mortgage-bond ratings to gain business during the housing boom.