Daily Real Estate News  |  June 30, 2009  |   High Court: NY AG Can Investigate Mortgage Bias
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the New York attorney general’s office can investigate whether banks discriminated against minorities seeking mortgages.

In 2005, Eliot Spitzer, then New York’s attorney general, began investigating possible racial discrimination in mortgage lending at national banks, including Wells Fargo, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup.

Both the banks and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal agency that oversees nationally chartered bank, sued, saying the New York AG doesn’t have the authority to investigate national banks. A federal judge and a New York-based appeals court ruled against the investigation.

But the nation’s top court saw things differently. Speaking for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia concluded the probe can go forward, although the AG's office can’t issue subpoenas.

The investigation has been supported by real estate and consumer rights organizations.

Source: Reuters (06/30/2009)