Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley—best remembered for her failed campaign against Scott Brown—has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial over alleged mortgage fraud offenses, including the “robo-signing” scandal. The suit also names MERSCORP which produces an electronic mortgage registration system, the Boston Globe reports. Coakley is essentially breaking away from the rest of the country’s attorney generals, who have been haltingly trying to negotiate a settlement en-masse with the banks.
The 50-state settlement will likely come later this month, and the states’ lead negotiator, Iowa AG Tom Miller, says he’s hopeful Coakley will ultimately sign on. “We’re optimistic that we’ll settle on terms that will be in the interests of Massachusetts,” he said, according to the AP. But Coakley and a handful of other AGs, including New York’s Eric Schneidermand and Delaware’s Beau Biden, have said they’re opposed to a settlement protecting the banks from future liability. (More mortgage robo-signing scandal stories.)
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