Civil and criminal litigation stemming from the subprime credit crisis will undoubtedly grow and engender insurance coverage claims under directors and officers and professional liability policies.

Through the first seven months of the year, this is just a sampling of the investigations and legal actions that have been reported:

o In July, the FBI's criminal investigation into potential corporate fraud in the U.S. home mortgage industry had grown to 21 companies, up from 19 in April, according to July 16, 2008 Reuters report.

o According an earlier Reuters story on March 20, 2008, the FBI had assigned 100 agents to investigate corporate fraud in the housing crisis, including subprime lending, 150 agents to investigate related securities fraud, and 153 agents to investigate loan originations.

o In testimony before Congress on April 23, FBI Chief Robert Mueller said the number of agents investigating corporate fraud, including securities, commodities and investment fraud cases, had increased 47 percent to 250 from 177 in 2001. He also said there were nearly 1,750 pending corporate and securities fraud cases.

o On June 19, 2008, two Bear Stearns managers were arrested, publicly hauled away in handcuffs, and charged with securities fraud in connection with the collapse of two hedge funds that bet heavily on subprime mortgages.

o In addition, on the same day, the FBI and the Department of Justice announced that between March 1 and June 18 more than 400 persons involved in the real estate industry had been indicted and arrested as part of its crackdown on mortgage fraud.

o On June 25, 2008, the attorneys general from Illinois and California filed civil actions against Countrywide Financial Corporation, the largest home mortgage lender in the country.

The suit by the Illinois attorney general alleges that Countrywide violated state consumer protection statutes by making unaffordable loans and failing to make adequate disclosures to borrowers about the terms of the loans. The suit seeks to halt all foreclosure proceedings for 90 days to allow the attorney general's office to scrutinize each proceeding to determine whether fraud was involved in the loan process. The suit also seeks restitution for those whose homes were lost to foreclosure.

With recent financial collapses and near bankruptcies of banks and insurers making headlines daily, there is plenty of blame to go around, and the legal net is being cast far and wide.

In late September, the FBI announced that it was investigating possible fraud at four corporations at the center of recent turmoil: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and American International Group, according press reports from the Associated Press, Bloomberg and The Washington Post, among others.

Lawsuits asserting a variety of claims and theories of recovery have been filed against mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and intermediaries, property appraisers, investment bankers, securities underwriters, investment advisors, plan fiduciaries, bond issuers, rating agencies, and others.

According to a recent report by Navigant Consulting, 607 subprime-related lawsuits were filed in federal courts over the 18 months ended June 30, 2008, eclipsing the 559 savings-and-loan cases of the early 1990s handled by the Resolution Trust Corporation. The count includes borrower class actions, securities cases, commercial contract disputes, as well as bankruptcy, employment and other cases.

Other sources, notably the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and the D&O Diary blog published by Kevin LaCroix, tabulated more than 120 subprime-related securities class actions lawsuits through mid-October. In addition, Mr. LaCroix, an insurance broker for Oakbridge Insurance Services in Beachwood, Ohio, counted 24 derivative actions and 18 ERISA cases.

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