Justice Depart To Sue Standard & Poor's Over Ratings

Justice Depart To Sue Standard & Poor's Over Ratings

Mon Feb 4, 2013 3:08pm EST

(Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Monday said it expects to be the target of a U.S. Department of Justice civil lawsuit over its ratings of mortgage bonds prior to the recent financial crisis.

The lawsuit against the McGraw-Hill Cos (MHP.N) unit focuses on its ratings in 2007 of various U.S. collateralized debt obligations (CDO), S&P said.

It would be the first federal enforcement action against a credit rating agency over alleged illegal behavior tied to the financial crisis.

"A DOJ lawsuit would be entirely without factual or legal merit," S&P said in a statement. "The DOJ would be wrong in contending that S&P ratings were motivated by commercial considerations and not issued in good faith."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/us-mcgrawhill-sand...