On July 1, 2009, the Department of Justice announced that it had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with homebuilder Beazer Homes USA (“Beazer’) in connection with its alleged mortgage and accounting fraud. Under the agreement, Beazer Homes agreed to pay $50 million in restitution to homebuyers who were victimized by Beazer’s allegedly fraudulent practices, which allegedly included: (1) fraudulently retaining so-called “discount points” that should have been used to provide some home-buyers with a decreased interest rate; (2) informing some home-buyers that they were receiving a “gift” from a charity to cover their down-payment when, in truth, the price of the home was increased to offset the supposed “gift”; (3) circumventing HUD’s “Neighborhood Watch” and “Credit Watch” programs to avoid action from HUD in response to the high foreclosure rate of some Beazer Mortgage offices; and (4) instituting a strategy of willful blindness with regard to some stated income loans.
Beazer’s agreement with the Department of Justice comes two months after Beazer reported settled a related securities class action for $30.5 million.
A copy of the deferred prosecution agreement can be found here.
