Missouri joins suit filed by several states, including Illinois, against Standard and Poor's
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and Secretary of State Jason Kander, both Democrats, are participating in a national lawsuit that seeks “to hold Standard and Poor’s accountable for alleged misconduct involving the company’s rating of mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the nation’s financial crisis.”
The suit is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and restitution.
Koster filed Missouri’s legal complaint this morning in Jackson County Circuit Court. The suit alleges that Standard and Poor’s was “influenced by its desire to earn lucrative fees from its investment bank clients,” so the investment ratings firm “knowingly assigned inflated credit ratings to toxic assets packaged and sold by the Wall Street investment banks.”
According to the complaint, the two officials say, “S&P adjusted its analytical models for rating residential mortgage-backed securities and collateral debt obligations to allow it to assign as many AAA ratings as possible, allowing it to earn additional revenue from its investment banking clients.”
https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/29242/koster_kander_suit_020513?coverpage=2652
